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A Camelback switcher like Lehigh Valley 3421, pictured at Jersey City in 1939, was a powerful magnet for a couple of young boys. Stanley D. Crews My buddy Mike and I were sitting on our bikes at a Lehigh Valley yard in northern New Jersey one day in 1950. We had our eyes on a […]
Union Pacific SD70ACe No. 4141 letter for former President George H. W. Bush led Bush’s funeral train from Houston to College Station, Texas, in Dec. 2018. 18345-3 Bradley Bates Q: Painting locomotives is expensive. I’m curious to know why railroads would spend this kind of money painting heritage units? — David Berg, Minneapolis, Minn. A: […]
Illinois Central train No. 22, the Green Diamond, led by E7 No. 4016, rolls north from Springfield, Ill., headed for Chicago on May 7, 1966. Thomas Hoffmann photo […]
Articulated steam locomotives rest at Cumberland, Md.’s 31-stall roundhouse in April 1934. A coal strike has sidelined the big engines, which otherwise would be working. Bruce D. Fales photo […]
The Super Chief was the first scheduled Santa Fe passenger train to beat the running time of the famous special that the railroad operated for Walter E. Scott, better known as “Death Valley Scotty,” in 1905. Here, the eight-car Chief is led by an A-B set of EMD diesels. Santa Fe Railway photo […]
The Pennsylvania Railroad station in Fort Wayne, Ind., was busy each afternoon and evening as the railroad’s eastbound passenger train fleet rolled in. Here, a distinctive T1 class 4-4-4-4 receives some attention under the lights. William N. Clark photo […]
Pennsylvania Railroad’s Broadway Limited, left, and New York Central’s 20th Century Limited race each other from Englewood on Chicago’s South Side to Gary, Ind., in the 1930s. Both trains shared stations at each location. Classic Trains collection […]
Baltimore & Ohio F7s tackle the twisting approach to the Sand Patch summit in southern Pennsylvania with an eastbound coal train in February 1953. The B&O had almost 300 F7 A and B units, in addition to FT, F3, and FP7 models. S.K. Bolton Jr. photo […]
A row of Sycamore trees marks the passage of the California Zephyr behind Western Pacific F units at Union Park in Stockton, Calif., on Feb. 13, 1967. That day, regulators in Washington, D.C., voted to keep the train running, which WP continued to do until 1970. Tom Taylor photo […]
The Erie’s Pacific Express calls at Meadville, Pa., in 1951 with new E8s in charge. Lead unit No. 833 survives on the New York & Greenwood Lake south of Buffalo after spending time in Conrail’s executive locomotive fleet. J. William Vigrass photo […]
Denver & Rio Grande Western K-28 class narrow gauge 2-8-2 No. 474 steams at Gunnison, Colo., in 1940. The railroad had 10 such locomotives, Nos. 470-479, built by Alco in 1923. They were retired in 1946. R.H. Kindig photo […]
Travelers during World War II swarm the New York Central ticket windows in Grand Central Terminal. Signs above the windows caution against “unnecessary travel” during wartime. New York Central photo […]
