Missouri-Kansas-Texas locomotives were modernized under the watch of President Matthew Sloan in the 1930s. They were mostly built before World War I, with higher boiler pressures and superheaters. As a light-rail granger road set in mostly prairie country, Katy needed only modernized engines. Premier mainline power was 154 Mikados and 62 Pacifies, with yard work […]
Amtrak San Diego service has seen a gradual increase since startup. Amtrak operated two daily trains on the San Diego to Los Angeles route when it started service on May 1, 1971. The trains retained the San Diegan branding inherited from the Santa Fe, which continued to operate freight service over the line. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Great Northern’s 1951 Empire Builder featured 44-seat, leg-rest coaches for long-haul travelers. Great Northern photo […]
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 […]
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 […]
Some books seem to have a will of their own. Nothing, not the passing of decades, not even the passing of the author, will keep them down. If the story is compelling enough — and if it is blessed with passionate believers — the story will win out. That’s how I feel about “The Diesel […]
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 […]
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 […]
A Wabash Railroad Detroit–Decatur, Ill., freight departs Oakwood Yard outside the Motor City behind Mountain type 2812 in 1940. Robert A. Hadley photo […]
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 […]
