What do Photographer Andrew J. Russell, the Civil War, and Union Pacific Railroad have in common?

FULL SCREEN Andrew J. Russell, Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-11750 General Hermann Haupt (rear, center) supervises a construction site in 1863 at Devereaux Station of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad in Clifton, Virginia. The locomotive bears his name. At right is J. H. Devereaux, superintendent. FULL SCREEN Andrew J. Russell, Library of Congress, LC-B8184-10161 Ornately decorated […]

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How I became ‘Old Smoky’

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In October 1953, about the time author Les Clark was a fireman here, a Union Pacific freight climbs the grade out of the Snake River Valley near Reverse, Idaho. Challenger 3838 is on the point; 2-8-8-0 pusher 3528 was added at Glenns Ferry. David W. Salter October was a favorite month for me in southern […]

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John Walker Barriger III: He Healed Railroads Using Pictures

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FULL SCREEN Photograph by John Walker Barriger III. Courtesy of the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, St. Louis Mercantile Library, University of Missouri, St. Louis. A westbound, steam-powered freight train on the Santa Fe Railway framed by the front window of an early diesel locomotive at Matfield Green, Kansas, circa 1940. The diesel, […]

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Atlantic Coast Line/Seaboard Air Line merger study

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This Map of the Month appeared in the February 2005 issue of  Trains magazine. Say good-bye to two successful railroads,” was the startling way Seaboard Coast Line introduced itself in magazine advertisements in summer 1967. Below the picture of two streamlined diesels blurring nose-to-nose into each other, the ad continued with a gushing declaration: “The new […]

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Illinois Central’s roots

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This Map of the Month appeared in the October 2007 issue of  Trains magazine. Like other great American railroads, the Illinois Central was a melting pot of many smaller lines — some acquired through lease or purchase, others set up by IC to construct new routes. This map charts the 88 different names that made up […]

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