The New York Central had several auto-carrier Flexi-Vans in the early 1960s. This is a publicity shot of carriers with new Chryslers on their way to New York City in 1960. New York Central photo […]
Chryslers for Gotham
Magazine: Classic Trains
Cab-forward conundrum
A 4200-series 4-8-8-2 cab-forward steam locomotive is cut in behind a 4-8-4 to double-head Southern Pacific’s Overland Limited upgrade out of Colfax, Calif., in April 1950. The cab-forwards were a special design unique to the Southern Pacific to spare head end crews from the accumulation of exhaust in the railroad’s lengthy and frequent tunnels and snowsheds. That […]
The history of Railway Post Offices
Railway Post Offices Mail moves by train In the 1830s, shortly after the establishment of the first railroads in the U.S., the Post Office Department began to ship mail by rail. The year 1838 saw some sorting of mail en route between Washington and Philadelphia, but the first Railway Post Office car is generally thought […]
Branchline accommodation
Gas-electric motorcars were the first successful application of internal combustion on railroads. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy No. 9838 was an Electro-Motive product built by St. Louis Car Co. in 1927. It was powered by a 275-hp gasoline engine. The car pauses at Virden, Ill., south of Springfield, to load goods and passengers on this day. […]
611 at speed
Only seven years old, but already facing an uncertain future, Norfolk & Western J Class 4-8-4 No. 611 sprints at better than a mile-a-minute pace across the summit at Blue Ridge, Va. Behind the now-famous locomotive are 15 cars on train No. 46, the eastbound Tennessean, bound for Lynchburg, Va. The top of the skyline […]
Ultimate dual-service engine: New York Central 4-8-2 Mohawks
The New York Central 4-8-2 Mohawks were the ultimate dual-service steam locomotives. For some railroads in the steam era, it wasn’t enough to have success with a single example of a standard wheel arrangement. Instead, new competitive challenges and evolving technology often caused railroads to rethink a given locomotive class and turn it almost entirely […]
New York City High Line railroad history
The New York City High Line a sight to behold on Manhattan’s West Side. It was born of a vast improvement program in the 1930s, which took West Side freight trains off city streets. The trains were then powered by electric traction north of 30th Street and behind diesel power south of 30th Street. […]
Oiling a Wabash Mogul
At Bluffs, Ill., a veteran hostler oils around Wabash 2-6-0 No. 576 before she and sister 573 set off up the Keokuk Branch with freight in September 1954. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
NYC Pacific with the Sycamore
Former Pittsburgh & Lake Erie class K-5a Pacific 4920 is just out of the station at Lafayette, Ind., and onto the Wabash River bridge with the westbound Sycamore in 1950. Robert Aldag Jr. photo […]
Nickel Plate Berks
Nickel Plate Road Berkshires pose at Bellevue, Ohio. The 772 was built in 1949 for NKP proper, while 802 is ex-Wheeling & Lake Erie 6402, built in 1937. “The Wheeling” joined the Van Sweringen brothers’ railroad family when NKP finally merged it in 1949. In 1923, the “Vans” successfully effected the only significant merger of […]
Milwaukee monolith
Terminal elevators on lakes and rivers feature rail unloading on the inland side, lots of rail storage tracks, and loading and unloading gear for boats and barges on the water side. This scene along the Chicago & North Western in Milwaukee is from the early 1950s. Photo by William A. Akin […]
Herington pusher
Rock Island train 39 heads west from Kansas City, Kans., on UP trackage rights (as far as Topeka) on March 2, 1963. Tagging along behind the Southern Pacific coach for Los Angeles at the rear of the train is RDC3 9016, the “Herington pusher.” At that Kansas junction, it will uncouple and go 73 miles […]
