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Steam booster
Tag: Fallen Flags
Plowing snirt in Nebraska
The year was 1978, and I was an assistant roadmaster for the Burlington Northern out of Lincoln, Neb. Through February, the winter weather had been mild and dry, and I’d mostly been overseeing repairs to several sets of outfit cars used to house production gang workers. On the first Tuesday of March, however, a […]
F is for freight
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The day the GG1 fleet called in sick
I became a railfan at age three, near the end of World War II. Awaiting the return of my naval officer father, I sat in our West Philadelphia kitchen window facing one of the busiest divisions of the Pennsylvania Railroad — the four-track electrified main line to Harrisburg. The parade of wartime tonnage, plus express […]
CCC special on Tennessee Pass
A 2-8-8-2 assists a 4-8-2 on a special Denver & Rio Grande Western train carrying Civilian Conservation Corps workers climbing Tennessee Pass near Mitchell, Colo., in March 1940. R. H. Kindig photo […]
A brief encounter with Northwestern Pacific
More than a few times, photographs in the Kalmbach library have sent me searching for railroads and places I’ve never encountered, and a few weeks ago some 8 x 10 prints lined up perfectly with travel plans. The destination: Mendocino, Calif., the charming old lumber town up the coast 155 miles from San Francisco. My […]
Western Maryland 2-10-0 pusher
Engine 1126, one of Western Maryland’s colossal class I-2 Decapods, assists a train upgrade at Helmstetter’s Curve west of Cumberland, Md., in May 1952. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Southern Railway archives now available at Atlanta History Center
ATLANTA — The archives of the Southern Railway are now open to the public by appointment, the Atlanta History Center has announced, and a collection of more than 11,000 photos from the images are beginning to be made available online. The archives were donated by Norfolk Southern Railway in 2021 [see “Norfolk Southern to donate […]
Troop train Pullman porter
At Fort George G. Meade, Md., the porter assigned to the rear Pullman of a troop train watches as supplies are loaded aboard the kitchen car of another train. It’s May 1953 — two months before the end of the Korean War. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Restored Fairbanks Morse switcher debuts in Southern California
PERRIS, Calif. – After sitting dormant for more than 30 years, a rare Fairbanks Morse H12-44 switcher made its public debut on Saturday, Jan. 20, following a multi-year restoration at the Southern California Railway Museum. Built in 1956, ATSF No. 560 was part of an order of six H12-44s built for the Santa Fe. They […]
Spot of trouble for a 4-4-0
In May 1952, Chicago & Illinois Midland 4-4-0 500 simmers at Oakford, Ill., as crewmen investigate a problem with one of the engine truck’s journal boxes. The problem was soon remedied, and the American type resumed its run with Springfield–Peoria train 6. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Wabash locomotives remembered
Wabash locomotives were distinctive in both steam and diesel eras. After depending on more than 150 2-8-2s for freights that succeeded typical smaller types, Wabash in 1930 received 50 handsome 4-8-2s and 4-8-4s (25 each) from Baldwin. Perhaps more remembered were seven 4-6-4 Hudsons, rebuilt at Decatur from unsuccessful three-cylinder Mikados in the […]
