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Northern Pacific’s westbound Mainstreeter carries several head-end cars as it rolls near Missoula, Mont., in 1966, including four NP express baggage cars, a Union Pacific baggage car, and an RPO. Philip C. Johnson photo […]
Passengers line up along the marble ticket counter just inside the front entrance of New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal shortly after its opening in 1954. James G. La Vake photo […]
In September 1955, Pennsylvania Railroad M1 4-8-2 6894 leads an ore train west at Alexandria, Pa., on the road’s Hollidaysburg & Petersburg Branch, part of a route that enabled mainline trains to bypass Altoona. Unseen at the rear, a 2-10-0 pushes behind the cabin car. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
New York Central J-3a Hudson 5414, modified with twin sealed-beam headlight and high-capacity centipede tender, departs La Salle Street Station, Chicago, with a local for Toledo on June 1, 1953. R. R. Malinoski photo […]
GG1 4901’s nose door is ajar as it leads sister 4894 on the Pennsy’s Liberty Limited out of Baltimore in September 1954. The train came in from Chicago behind diesels; the track arrangement at Baltimore required it to be hauled backwards to Washington (note the observation car behind the second G). H. N. Proctor photo […]
Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 779 hurries west with a freight beside Lake Erie between Lorain and Vermilion, Ohio, in April 1957. The 8-year-old Berkshire was the last steam locomotive built by Lima Locomotive Works. John A. Rehor photo […]
Western Maryland 4-6-6-4s up front and at mid-train lift a freight upgrade around Helmstetter’s Curve in the late 1940s or early ’50s. Today, Western Maryland Scenic Railway tourist trains still traverse this landmark a few miles west of Cumberland, Md. George C. Corey photo […]
A single photo from the 1950s of C&O’s ‘Sportsman’ at a small-city station at Staunton, Va., reveals plenty of small, easily overlooked details. 1 – Freight house Staunton (“Stan-ton”) in 1950 had a population of 19,927. All towns of this significance once had a freight house where less-than-carload (LCL) freight was handled. Warehousemen used a […]
1 Split-point derail device. Considered more effective than a lifting-block derail when there is extra risk of cars rolling out onto the main line from a “house track” or “back track” (terms for station trackage other than a passing siding), or from an industry track, especially when there is a descending grade toward the switch, […]
A close-up image of the terra cotta sculpture that was once part of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s train shed at Broad Street Station in Philadelphia. This photo was taken with permission from the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority. David T. Rohdenburg An exterior view of what’s left of the former Pennsylvania Railroad station. The terra cotta […]
Gerald Murdock, SP’s last chief engineer ST. GEORGE, Utah — Gerald Lee Murdock, the last chief engineer of the Southern Pacific and the subject of a 1983 Trains story, died at age 90. Murdock hired out as a rodman in Ogden, Utah, on SP’s Salt Lake Division in 1947 and worked his way through the […]
A southbound CN freight passes the former Soo Line station in Waukesha, Wis., in 2012. Brian Schmidt Q How did Canadian National end up operating the former Soo Line route through Wisconsin. I thought the Soo was affiliated with Canadian Pacific. – Kirk Gobain, Dodge City, Kan. A The Soo Line acquired the Milwaukee Road […]
