Passengers wait in the shade at Des Moines, Iowa, as Rock Island train 10, the Corn Belt Rocket from Omaha, pulls in on April 15, 1960. Ed Wojtas photo […]
Corn Belt Rocket at Des Moines
Train Topic: Fallen Flags
News photos: Santa Fe 2926 takes a short trip
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Restored Santa Fe 4-8-4 No. 2926 made about a half-mile move down the spur track from its restoration site to a local brewery on Saturday, May 6, 2023, drawing thousands of onlookers for a fundraising event. The movement was the first time in 20 years the engine, built by Baldwin in 1944, […]
Clearing a Rio Grande rotary
During an epic battle to reopen Cumbres Pass after a late December 1951 storm, a worker uses a shovel to clear the discharge chute of Denver & Rio Grande Western narrow gauge rotary OM of heavy, wet snow. John Norwood photo […]
Santa Fe El Capitan of 1956
The 1956 Santa Fe El Capitan was a special train that deserves attention of its own merit. Just say “Santa Fe” to anyone in the realm of railroading and they’ll likely think “Super Chief”! Truly, that Chicago-Los Angeles first-class-only streamliner was about as top notch as they got here in North America — […]
BL2 at Muskegon
EMD’s BL2 of 1948–49 was conceived to be as versatile as a road-switcher yet attractive enough to give passenger trains a respectable appearance. Chesapeake & Ohio 1841 illustrates the BL2’s bi-directionality as it idles at the head of a passenger train at Muskegon, Mich., in the 1950s. David W. Richter photo […]
B&O tower at Deshler, Ohio
Baltimore & Ohio’s DR Tower, pictured before daybreak in 1952, guards the crossing of the road’s Chicago and Toledo divisions at the small town of Deshler in northwest Ohio. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
4-8-4 entering Moffat Tunnel
Rio Grande engine 1703, from the road’s first group of 4-8-4s, heads a westbound train out of Denver into the 6.2-mile darkness of Moffat Tunnel in August 1950. W. R. Berg Jr. photo […]
Penn Central history remembered
Penn Central history began existence on Feb. 1, 1968. More accurately, it was incorporated in 1846 as the Pennsylvania Railroad; changed its name to Pennsylvania New York Central Transportation Co. on Feb. 1, 1968, when it merged the New York Central; and adopted the name Penn Central Co. on May 8, 1968. On Oct. 1, […]
NYC 2-6-6-2 in West Virginia
A long way from the broad, flat Water Level Route, New York Central 2-6-6-2 Mallet 1940 is seen in an undated photo on the road’s line to Charleston and other West Virginia points. Classic Trains collection […]
C&O book showcases photographer William M. Rittase
The railroad industry has created more than its share of publicity photographs over the past 150 years. Here, standing in Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Memorial Library, I’m surrounded by tens of thousands of them, mostly 8 x 10 black-and-white prints, all of which came flooding into the company after the 1940 launch of […]
Rio Grande 2-8-8-2 on Tennessee Pass
There’s a dusting of snow on the ground as Rio Grande 2-8-8-2 No. 3613 approaches the Tennessee Pass tunnel with an eastbound freight in October 1946. R. H. Kindig photo […]
Pennsy race track specials in Maryland
E7s, E8s, and a pair of Baldwin switchers on trains from Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington wait for horse-racing fans to finish their business at Bowie Race Track in December 1953. H. N. Proctor photo […]
