Gulf, Mobile & Ohio E7s 101A and 103 lead train 3, the Abraham Lincoln for St. Louis, away from Chicago Union Station. Classic Trains coll. […]
“The Abe” departs Chicago
Section: Photo of the Day
Three-way crossing at Tuscola, Ill.
The small east-central Illinois town of Tuscola hosted an at-grade crossing of three railroads: Illinois Central (double-track, now Canadian National), Baltimore & Ohio (lower left, now CSX), and Chicago & Eastern Illinois (lower right, now UP). Gordon E. Lloyd photo […]
Ball signal at Whitefield, N.H.
As the caboose of a Maine Central train passes, the operator resets the ball signals at the Maine Central/Boston & Maine crossing at Whitefield, N.H., in 1979. This was the last surviving ball signal in commercial use on a U.S. railroad. Ben Bachman photo […]
B&O Budd cars at Cumberland, Md.
The Budd Co. of Philadelphia introduced its self-propelled Rail Diesel Car in 1949. The RDC came in five versions with different arrangements of passenger, baggage, and mail compartments. Here, a train of Baltimore & Ohio Speedliners, as B&O called its RDC’s, is stopped at Cumberland, Md., during a westbound run in the early 1950s. B&O […]
Empire Builder leg-rest coach
Great Northern’s 1951 Empire Builder featured 44-seat, leg-rest coaches for long-haul travelers. Great Northern photo […]
Challenger on Helmstetter’s
Western Maryland 4-6-6-4 1203 rounds famous Helmstetter’s Curve west of Cumberland, Md., with a train for Connellsville, Pa., on May 15, 1953. Edward Theisinger photo […]
Celebrity PA on the GM&O
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Alco PA No. 292 leads local train 11 to St. Louis across PRR’s Chicago River drawbridge and onto home rails at 21st Street, Chicago, in October 1950. This unit powered the 1947 Freedom Train, evidenced by the plaque just ahead of the ladder to the cab. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Alco RSDs in Utah
On the Utah Railway, three six-motor Alco diesels —RSD4 301, RSD5 306, and RSD4 302 — descend Soldier Summit with a loaded coal train in 1970. J. David Ingles photo […]
CB&Q troop train departing Aurora
Burlington Route 2-8-2 5304 pulls out of the station at Aurora, Ill., 38 miles west of Chicago, with 22 empty standard Pullmans and troop sleepers in February 1946. The equipment is likely headed to the Pacific Coast for a load of demobilizing troops. Henry J. McCord photo […]
Wabash 4-8-2 out of Detroit
A Wabash Railroad Detroit–Decatur, Ill., freight departs Oakwood Yard outside the Motor City behind Mountain type 2812 in 1940. Robert A. Hadley photo […]
TH&B Geeps on a freight
Although its tracks didn’t reach the first and last places in its name, the 110-mile Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo served several important points in southern Ontario. Here, maroon-and-cream GP7 No. 76 and GP9 No. 402 lead a Toronto–Coburg freight on the rails of TH&B parent Canadian Pacific in April 1976. A. J. Sutherland photo […]
SP’s Lucin Cutoff
The Southern Pacific’s original transcontinental line north of Ogden, Utah, and around the top of the Great Salt Lake via Promontory was operationally difficult. In 1904, SP opened the 102-mile Lucin Cutoff, a shorter, flatter, straighter route that included a 12-mile trestle across the lake. Classic Train coll. […]
