Baltimore & Ohio P-7 Pacific 5305 passes through the interlocking at Halethorpe, Md., as semaphore signals are being replaced by color position light signals. Warren E. Olt photo […]
New signals at Halethorpe
Switching Sacramento Northern’s ferry
Steeple-cab motors 604 and 603 prepare to pull cars off Sacramento Northern’s ferry Ramon at Mallard, Calif., on the south shore of Suisun Bay in 1951. Reginald McGovern photo […]
Servicing the Olympian Hi
Engine crewmen confer beside the cab ladder as the two Fairbanks-Morse diesels heading Milwaukee Road’s eastbound Olympian Hiawatha are fueled and watered during a passenger and service stop at Miles City, Mont., in the late 1940s or early ’50s. Don E. Wolter photo […]
Southern and L&N diesels
L&N freight No. 66 is just two miles out of its initial terminal at Norton, Va., as the Interstate Railroad’s First Hill Crew, using diesels from parent Southern Railway, waits in the clear at Dorchester Junction, Va., on May 10, 1967. When the L&N train clears, the Southern EMDs will cross over to pull the […]
Electric Railways of North America in Color, Vol. 1 book review
The electric railways of North America served a variety of purposes: carrying commuters, industrial switching, and mainline freight and passenger service. From coal-hauling, six-axle, red-white-and-blue motors in British Columbia to plain green electric M.U. cars in New Jersey, there can be broad interest in electric railroads. Noted railfan Matthew Herson has lent his photographic collection […]
So long, Ma & Pa
On Aug. 5, 1958, the last Maryland & Pennsylvania train from Baltimore heads north across the trestle at Sharon, Md., shortly before the road abandoned the south half of its 77-mile line between Baltimore & York, Pa. Lawrence W. Sagle photo […]
Shortline railfan special
Railfans festoon the caboose roofs and crowd the Alco diesel switcher’s cab during an excursion on the Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville in 1950. Edward Theisinger photo […]
Fifty Years of Amtrak Trains book review
Fifty Years of Amtrak Trains is a beautifully crafted 256-page, all-color hardbound volume. It is a time capsule of relevant information on the first 50 years of Amtrak’s existence, including a comprehensive survey of Amtrak routes between 1971 and 2021. The volume accounts for all Amtrak routes and trains (the book is divided into state […]
Santa Fe’s Crookton line change
In 1960, the Santa Fe opened a 44-mile line between Williams and Crookton, Ariz., to reduce grades and curvature. This view shows one of the new line’s deep cuts from the fireman’s seat on an F unit. Donald Sims photo […]
Santa Fe FT diesels
An A-B-B set of Santa Fe FT diesels rolls a 127-car freight extra west at Galesburg, Ill., in June 1953. R. R. Malinoski photo […]
Old trainshed on the CV
Nearly new Central Vermont GP9 4557 leads freight train 201, whose first car is a baggage car, through the old wooden trainshed at Essex Junction, Vt., in 1957. The venerable structure was demolished by 1960. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
Alco RS27 failure — a diesel that didn’t
Alco RS27 failure: It’s tough when professional engineers create a decent locomotive that builds on successes, and pitfalls, of the past and still nobody really wants it. That was the Alco RS27, also referred to as the DL640. Its 16-cylinder, 251B prime mover pushed out 2,400 hp. Coincidentally, only 27 were built between December 1959 […]
