Missouri Pacific 2-8-4 No. 1119 rolls a southbound freight over a new highway bridge at Austin, Texas, in 1948. Bruce F. Wilson photo […]
MoPac 2-8-4 on the move
Section: Railroads
Five mind-blowing Conrail facts
Mind-blowing Conrail facts Arguably, the Consolidated Rail Corp. story is one of the darkest and yet brightest chapters in American railroad history. Consolidated Rail Corp. or Conrail — originally spelled ConRail — was the government-led and financially backed bailout of six Northeastern railroads. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the demise of the Penn […]
A one-of-a-kind Conrail locomotive
Conrail locomotive Locomotives fascinate us, amaze us, and move us across landscapes — and our imaginations. A railroad selects locomotives based on factors that include operational need, affordability, maintenance cost, applicability for a certain service, and what models might be available at the time. Stories are woven throughout the industry’s history of locomotive models that […]
SP “Black Widow” F units
An A-B-B-A quartet of Southern Pacific F units dressed in the distinctive “Black Widow” livery lift an eastbound freight up into the town of Tehachapi, Calif., in 1949. Exhaust from a 4-8-8-2 cab-forward helper rises in the distance. Linn Westcott photo […]
Cincinnati Union Terminal roundhouse
An aerial view from the 1940s shows the roundhouse for Cincinnati Union Terminal, opened in 1933. Marsh Photographic Studios photo […]
Twin Zephyr hoopla
Crowds swarm around Burlington Route 9901 and 9902, the original three-car Twin Zephyr diesel trains, during a publicity event before the pair entered service between Chicago and the Twin Cities in April 1935. CB&Q photo […]
Closing the gap on the Santa Fe
A crane places one of four 100-foot deck girders between piers 1 and 2 of the Santa Fe’s new bridge over the Colorado River at Needles, Calif. The double-track bridge opened in 1944 to replace a single-track span from 1890. Santa Fe photo […]
Icing the reefers at Roseville
Workers load ice blocks into the end bunkers of refrigerator cars at the big ice dock at Roseville, Calif., on the Southern Pacific in 1948. Jim Morley photo […]
The search for real heritage locomotives
Heritage locomotives Over the last few decades, railroads have rolled out dozens of specially painted locomotives. Whether they were wrapped or painted, we’re fortunate to live in an era where honoring a company’s past is so visual. We are also lucky we live in an era where paint booths are far and few between and […]
New England States at Chicago
A red cap walks past businessmen who’ve just arrived at Chicago’s LaSalle Street Station on New York Central’s New England States streamliner one morning in 1952. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
“Black Marias” on the New Haven
Alco’s initial answer to EMD’s wildly successful FT freight diesel of 1939 was a three-unit locomotive built as a testbed/demonstrator in 1945. Its lines and paint job led observers to dub it “Black Maria,” a slang term for a police wagon. Nos. 1500A, B, and C tested for barely a year on several New England […]
Historical Hot Spot: Santa Paula station still open for business
Santa Paula station In the 1880s, Santa Paula was a bustling little farming community in Southern California’s Santa Clara River Valley. A hub of local agricultural products, it was an ideal area to grow fruit and vegetables, with its mild temperatures and cool breezes flowing in from the nearby Pacific Ocean. It still is today. […]
