Few would argue that Ted Benson is a great writer and photographer. His contributions to Trains over the years have been among our readers’ favorites. But did readers of our February 1977 issue realize Benson might also be prophetic? In “Andover Afterward,” he wrote of Southern Pacific 4449 returning to mainline rails after a 16-year […]
Just another day: the first-trick tender of Norfolk Southern’s ex-Nickel Plate drawbridge over the Cuyahoga Valley in Cleveland heads to work on March 22, 2005. Scott Lothes Union Pacific’s business train looks nice heading south near Albany, Ore., on an October morning in 2009, but says little about the nature of the railroad. Scott Lothes […]
Led by a new MP36PH-3C, a MARC commuter trains curves past the historic depot at Point of Rocks, Md., on its afternoon run from Washington, D.C., to Brunswick, Md., June 10, 2010. Photo by Alex Mayes […]
Three Union Pacific diesels muscle a southbound intermodal train under classic Southern Pacific searchlight signals near Mojave, Calif., on Sept. 3, 2010. In the background are the Tehachapi Mountains, site of one of the world’s most impressive railroad crossings of a mountain range. Photo by William Steck […]
Depot and diesel wear different heralds, but nothing is out of the ordinary as a Chicago Great Western freight ambles past the Rock Island station in Waterloo, Iowa, in June 1961. Richard J. Anderson A family visit took me to Waterloo, Iowa, on a June day in 1961, but it was good ol’ railfan instinct […]
Two Wisconsin & Southern MP15s switch the MillerCoors brewery on July 1, 2010. The lead unit’s heritage is unmistakable, thanks to the Milwaukee Road lettering and “bandit” colors. Railroads and brewing propelled Milwaukee’s industrial might in the 20th century. Matt Van Hattem photo […]
The Santa Fe established a major shop complex at Albuquerque to maintain and repair steam locomotives. At their peak in 1940, the shops were one of the city’s largest employers, with 1787 workers. The shops declined as the Santa Fe dieselized, and, as the road’s last steam backshop, perfromed their final locomotive work in March […]
Illinois Central wasn’t the first railroad in Chicago, but it was one of 10 Class 1’s headquartered there and became arguably the most visible, thanks to its lakefront location. Its Romanesque Revival-style Central Station, built on fill in Lake Michigan for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, served IC plus New York Central’s Michigan Central and […]
To handle maintenance and repairs on its substantial hopper-car fleet, coal-hauler Chesapeake & Ohio in 1930 built this systemwide freight-car shop at Raceland, Ky., at the west end of its massive Russell Yard, a facility built to classify coal cars moving west to Cincinnati and Chicago, as well as north to Lake Erie docks for […]
The Norfolk & Western Railway transported much of the coal mined in southwestern Virginia and West Virginia. Many loads went north to Lake Erie, others to “tidewater” at N&W’s big terminal in Norfolk, Va., opened in 1885. Here it was loaded in vessels for shipment to ports up the East Coast or for overseas export. […]
SP’s Los Angeles General Shops UCLA Dept. of Geography, Air Photo Archives Southern Pacific facilities dominate three views of Los Angeles. Much in this 1934 scene is gone, or greatly changed. SP’s Los Angeles General Shops, the most complete railroad maintenance facility the city has ever seen, was replaced by an intermodal yard in the […]
This 1940’s afternoon photo looks northeast from over the Cape Fear River across the north end of downtown Wilmington, N.C. (the ocean is 6 miles to the east). Atlantic Coast Line’s history in the port city dates to 1840, when the Wilmington & Raleigh opened a 161-mile line northwest to Weldon. After the Civil War […]
