Transition was under way for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad’s coal-hauling operations during the 1960s. The railroad’s traditional coal-loading points reflected its historic single-car movements, but the 1960s also marked the development of the unit train, with coal loaded at high speed “flood” loaders in a single train for a single consignee. Pioneering this trend […]
Long stretches of elevated main line gave the New York Central RR’s 30th Street Branch its High Line nickname. New York Central RR’s 30th Street Branch was known as the High Line because of its long stretch of elevated mainline track. Learn all about this interesting prototype railroad in the article below originally published in […]
PRR J1 2-10-4 No. 6480 crests the hill in Irvington, heading east from downtown Indianapolis with a freight during the switchmen’s strike at Hawthorne Yard in the winter of 1951-52. Martin E. Biemer The winter of 1951–52 brought a new thrill for us railroad-crazy boys in the Indianapolis neighborhood of Irvington: Freight trains! Irvington, a […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page In this segment of the hit PBS series Tracks Ahead, you’ll visit Jim Munns’ Chicago & North Western Ry. HO scale layout set in Wisconsin during the mid-1950s. […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page In this segment of the hit PBS series Tracks Ahead, you’ll visit Jim Munns’ Chicago & North Western Ry. HO scale layout set in Wisconsin during the mid-1950s. […]
The Rock Island used a variety of diesel power on its Chicago suburban trains, but Alco RS3s predominated. In 1966, maroon RS3 499 has just departed La Salle Street Station with three cars. Duane Darnell photo […]
Pennsylvania Railroad P5a electric 4737 brings a freight into Philadelphia from the west after a heavy snowfall in early 1958. The motor is passing the station at Overbrook, easternmost of the suburban stops on the Main Line to Paoli. Aaron G. Fryer photo […]
Well into the 1950s, the Nickel Plate Road believed its superb 2-8-4 Berkshires to be better than diesels for its fast freight service. Because it dieselized late, NKP had no freight cab units, only road-switchers. Don Wood photo […]
The Frisco’s 4200-series Mikados of 1930 were among the most powerful 2-8-2s on any railroad. They were rated at 68,500 lbs. tractive effort — 78,100 lbs. with booster — and could wheel fast freights at 50 mph. Frank E. Ardrey photo […]
Union Pacific’s City of Denver curves away from North Western Station in Chicago at the start of its run west. Sister streamliner City of Portland once made an unscheduled stop at Oak Park, 9 miles west. Wallace W. Abbey In spring 1955, I was working as a ticket clerk at Chicago & North Western’s Oak […]
New York Central 4-8-4 Niagara 6023 is near the end of its short life as it rambles through Millbury Junction, Ohio, (7.5 miles east of Toledo) with nine-car mail-and-express train X-78 in September 1955. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Two Pennsylvania Railroad P5a electrics roll northward with a freight at Halethorpe, Md., in the 1940s. Early P5a’s had box-cab carbodies; later versions with streamlined bodies, such as this pair, were known as “P5a modifieds.” Frank Clodfelter photo […]
