Pennsylvania Railroad E8 No. 5795 leads train 32, the New York–bound St. Louisan, out of one of the twin tunnels at Spruce Creek, Pa., in the mid-1950s. Don Wood photo […]
PRR E8 exits a tunnel
Train Topic: Fallen Flags
A hard way to make a living
Illinois Central 2-8-2 Mikado 1544 is eastbound at Villa Park, Ill., on a cold day in 1951. Henry M. Stange Some years ago, after a reunion of my old 10th Engineer Battalion at Springfield, Ill., I boarded Amtrak’s Statehouse for Chicago. I’d never ridden the former Chicago & Alton before, but I was eager to […]
Mixed train through the muskeg
Near Conklin, Alberta, NAR mixed train 77 ambles toward Fort McMurray on June 26, 1972, the second day of author Armstrong’s four-day adventure. James B. Armstrong At 5 o’clock every Sunday and Wednesday evening, mixed train No. 75 would trundle slowly out of Dunvegan Yards (Edmonton), headquarters and southern terminus of the Northern Alberta Railways, […]
Whatever happened to the anthracite roads?
The Northeast was laced with anthracite roads — those carriers that made a name for themselves hauling hard coal out of the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. With its high heat value, clean-burning anthracite was far superior to wood for warming homes and offices, and moving this coal by rail fueled the growth of the East’s […]
Kindnesses on the Omaha Road
Omaha Road 4-6-2 No. 500 departs Minneapolis with a train for Superior, Wis., in August 1950. Bob Borcherding At nearly 70 years of age, I am still enthralled at the passage of trains. Today’s trains—often featuring high-horsepower diesel locomotives, radio-controlled helpers, rotary-dump coal cars by the unit-trainload, and containers carrying products from halfway around the […]
Book Review: Rock Island Requiem: The Collapse of a Mighty Fine Line
Rock Island Requiem: The Collapse of a Mighty Fine Line By Gregory L. Schneider University Press of Kansas, 2502 Westbrooke Cir., Lawrence, KS 66045; 392 pages, 26 photos; hardcover, 6.125 x 9.25 in.; $37.50 This impressive volume chronicles the long, sad decline of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, and illustrates how federal regulation […]
WM 44-tonner
Western Maryland 76, one of two GE 44-tonners the road had, both built in 1943, does some switching at WM’s Hillen Street terminal in Baltimore in July 1948. H. A. McBride photo […]
What kind of day did you have?
Bystanders inspect a sedan deluged with coke during a derailment of an L&N train in Chattanooga. C. K. Marsh Jr. One day in 1965, a friend and I were searching for the obscure terminal of the Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia Railroad in the Alton Park section of Chattanooga. Coming up on a railroad crossing, we […]
Designer of Conrail “can opener” logo dies NEWSWIRE
Conrail-painted Norfolk Southern heritage unit No. 8098. Tom Danneman NEW YORK — Many never knew his name, but that didn’t change the mark he left on the rail industry. Literally. The designer of the famous Conrail “can opener” logo, Tony Palladino, has died at age 84, the New York Times reports. “People don’t want to […]
The Erie’s Otisville tunnel
The concrete west portal of Erie’s Otisville (N.Y.) tunnel — from which a Berkshire-powered freight emerges — is fairly simple, but with pilasters and the inscription “19–OTISVILLE–08” in embossed lettering overhead. Note the early installation of welded rail on the eastward track. Wayne Brumbaugh photo […]
Pennsy T1 on the Broadway
PRR T1 4-4-4-4 No. 5507 clatters through 21st Street interlocking in Chicago with the Broadway Limited for New York. A T1 on the Broadway is relatively rare, as dieselization of PRR’s top trains came soon after the giant duplexes arrived. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Milwaukee racer
It’s been said that Milwaukee Road’s class F6 4-6-4s, built 1930–31, looked like they were going fast even when standing still. There does seem to be a rakish “leaning-forward” quality to this photo of nearly new No. 6402. MILW […]
