Shortline savior

Red-and-white diesel switcher locomotives in a road crossing

Shortline savior North Carolina’s Laurinburg & Southern was a GE 70-tonner bastion in the Southeast. A pair works Dixie Guano in Laurinburg in September 1984. The GE small locomotive line enabled great savings for short lines that adopted them, keeping some of them running for years longer than if powered by steam. Jim Wrinn photo […]

Read More…

Great Lakes outpost

Blue diesel switcher locomotive by Great Lakes carferry boat

Great Lakes outpost Chesapeake & Ohio SW9 No. 5251 idles by the carferry City of Midland 41 in Milwaukee in 1978. The C&O’s Milwaukee trackage was reached only by the carferries across Lake Michigan. Brian Buchanan photo […]

Read More…

Lonely Rock Island

Red and yellow commuter train under Chicago skyline

Lonely Rock Island An inbound Rock Island commuter train arrives at the mostly vacant LaSalle Street Station on Dec. 27, 1972. The Chicago skyline shown here is drastically different from what visitors today would see. Denny Hamilton photo […]

Read More…

General Electric C44-9W profile

Freight trains with orange diesel locomotives pass on curve

General Electric’s 4,400 hp C44-9Ws were, by far, the most popular D.C. traction locomotives the company every produced, with almost 3,600 copies built for North American customers. Sales began in the early 1990s just as A.C. traction was taking hold in the industry. Many railroads were still either wary of the new A.C. technology and […]

Read More…

Bob’s Train Box episode 70

Hal Miller and Bob Keller next to a layout

On this episode of Bob’s Train Box, Bob takes a look at a Lionel steam locomotive that he acquired, sold, and bought again. We’ve all been there, right? Then, he and CTT editor Hal Miller have a look at some structures for small and odd spaces on your layout. Then they both have a look […]

Read More…

Bob’s Train Box episode 70

Hal Miller and Bob Keller next to a layout

On this episode of Bob’s Train Box, Bob takes a look at a Lionel steam locomotive that he acquired, sold, and bought again. We’ve all been there, right? Then, he and CTT editor Hal Miller have a look at some structures for small and odd spaces on your layout. Then they both have a look […]

Read More…

Doug Harrop’s Utah

Sun highlight diesel locomotive exhaust of train in curve

Doug Harrop retired from Union Pacific in 2003. He hired out with the Southern Pacific in 1967 in Arizona. He left the management ranks a decade later to return to Utah to enter engine service out of Ogden. Known for his photographic coverage of Utah, Harrop’s enthusiasm for railroads took him across the continent. He […]

Read More…

Grain train on the prairie

Diesel powered freight train switches cars at wooden grain elevator

Grain train on the prairie A Canadian Pacific GP9 switches the grain elevator at Headingley, Manitoba, in August 1980. In this time of transition, the cars to be loaded are a mix of cylindrical covered hoppers and boxcars. John Uckley […]

Read More…

Interurban legacy

Diesel locomotives on coal train in cut

Interurban legacy Seaboard Coast Line GP30s hustle 16 cars through Greer, S.C., on July 10, 1974, on former Piedmont & Northern trackage. SCL merged the P&N, which dropped its last mainline wires in 1954, 15 years later in 1969. Photo by Curt Tillotson […]

Read More…

B&O freight under wire

Road-switcher diesel locomotives with freight train

Two GP38s and a GP40 lead a Baltimore & Ohio freight out of Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac’s Potomac Yard in Arlington, Va., in April 1971. The train will soon enter Washington, D.C., via the “Long Bridge” over the Potomac River. The catenary is for Penn Central freight trains, which also use “Pot Yard.” David Ingles […]

Read More…