Pacific with Santa Fe mail and express

20180223

A mail-and-express train running as the second section of Santa Fe train 20 descends Edelstein Hill west of Chillicothe, Ill., around 1950. Six express reefers trail the locomotive, followed by several baggage express cars. The locomotive, Pacific No. 3434, has its smokestack extension raised. T. H. Cole Jr. photo […]

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Fire-fighting 4-6-0

20180221

Southern Pacific 4-6-0 No. 2248, built in 1896, remained active into the 1950s providing motive power and pumping capacity for a fire train in the Sierra Nevada. Since the early 1990s, No. 2248 has been in tourist service around Fort Worth. SP photo […]

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Early Texas type

20180220

Texas & Pacific was the first road to adopt the 2-10-4 type, hence the name “Texas” for the wheel arrangement. T&P amassed a fleet of 70 nearly identical 2-10-4s, Nos. 600–669, built by Lima between 1925 and 1929. Classic Trains coll. […]

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CA&E train at Wheaton

20180212

A Chicago-bound local of interurban Chicago Aurora & Elgin prepares to leave the Wheaton station. The first car is one of 10 built for CA&E in 1945, among the last interurban cars built. William D. Middleton photo […]

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A brief encounter with Argent Lumber

Steam locomotive under log flume

If you’re driving on Main Street through Hardeeville, S.C., it’s easy to miss the little steam locomotive tucked away in a small open shelter alongside the city’s library. As engines go, it doesn’t get much smaller than Argent Lumber Co. narrow-gauge 2-8-0 No. 7.   I found the engine, though, during a brief stop last […]

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Missouri Pacific pumpkin pie

pumpkin pie on a table

Missouri Pacific pumpkin pie is a delicious variation of a holiday favorite. It includes molasses, which makes the pie a darker orange color. I cut back the sugar a bit from the original recipe, as I didn’t want it to be overly sweet. The original ingredients also included dots of butter, which I omitted as […]

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President Grant on the march

20180202

Seen from a troop train out of Fort Meade, Md., Baltimore & Ohio 4-6-2 5316, formerly named President Grant, hurries east with Cumberland–Baltimore passenger local No. 34 near Rockville, Md., in May 1953. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Lehigh Valley locomotives remembered

Lehigh Valley Railroad steam locomotive seen at low angle below power lines

Lehigh Valley locomotives were known by the road’s early Cornell red and black paint scheme. Later, units carried gray-and-yellow and white-and-black colors. The Lehigh Valley dieselized with EMD FTs and F3s and Alco FAs (the last steam ran in 1951), and remained a prolific Alco customer through the 1960s. For a small railroad, the LV […]

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EMD NW3 locomotive: A diesel that didn’t

EMD NW3 locomotive in rail yard

The EMD NW3 locomotive was the builder’s first entry into the eventually lucrative road switcher category, although it was intended as a passenger terminal switcher.     Locomotive builders can be inconsistent when it comes to aesthetics. EMD, which on one hand could create stylish, wind-splitting passenger units would, if the situation warranted, produce some […]

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