Denver & Salt Lake train No. 1, the day train to Craig, rounds a sharp curve in Rollins Canyon just east of Rollinsville, Colo. The D&SL’s low-drivered 2-8-0s like No. 122 were ideal for its route, but not much good for heavier trains. Few lasted long after the 1947 merger with the Denver & Rio […]
On May 12, 1962, Rock Island “motor” 9006 has a typically short train as it heads west with mixed No. 79 near Horton, Kan. The first of the 10 “baggage-car locomotives” left the roster in 1948, and by 1960 only the 9006, 9013, and 9014 remain. Frank Tatnall photo […]
An article about the Pennsylvania Railroad’s new Keystone train in October 1956 Trains magazine (reprinted in 2015 in Classic Trains’ special edition More Trains of the 1950s) was titled “The Ankle-View Train” because of the unusual perspective the low-profile coaches afforded their riders when stopped at high-level platforms. This scene at Newark, N.J., explains all. Pennsylvania Railroad photo […]
Louisville & Nashville converted these 43-foot flatcars for trailer-on-flatcar service in 1955 by adding rub rails and jack connections. L&N marketed its service as “TOTE,” Trailer On Train Express.The trailers are an exterior-post, 32-foot type. Louisville & Nashville photo […]
With the westbound Pocahontas in tow, Norfolk & Western J class 4-8-4 No. 611 passes the tower at South Norfolk, Va., in July 1957. The locomotive still steams occasionally for Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke. H. Reid photo […]
I can. You can. We can. Chessie System reminded its employees to remain safe on the job with this sign at Barr Yard near Chicago. Jim Hediger photo […]
Montpelier & Wells River 2-8-0 No. 20, a former Boston & Maine engine, leads train 1 with a milk car behind the tender. A combine brings up the rear of the mixed train. The M&WR, which linked its namesake Vermont communities with a 44-mile route, operated six locomotives and one passenger car in 1944. William […]
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy’s Texas Zephyr, with Colorado & Southern-lettered E5 No. 9955 on the point, pauses at Pueblo on Jan. 23, 1966. The Burlington acquired control of the C&S in 1908, gaining a route from Denver to the Gulf of Mexico at Galveston, Texas, and a route from Denver north into Wyoming. Steve Patterson photo […]
In a March 1942 scene at Raceland Junction, La., on Southern Pacific’s Texas & New Orleans subsidiary, 4-6-2 No. 612 approaches with a westbound troop extra as First 242 waits in the clear. Harold K. Vollrath photo […]
Three Southern Railway E8s curve through Atlanta with the New Orleans cars of the Southern Crescent, running in two sections this August 1977 day. Southern began painting its passenger steam power green with gold trim in the 1920s. Its early passenger diesels wore an ornate green-white-gold livery, simplified in the 1940s to match the lines of […]
The Nickel Plate Road’s road-switcher scheme of black with three yellow stripes, plus yellow safety stripes on the ends, was simple but eye catching. Here, GP9s 510, 486, and 454 roll through Bellevue, Ohio, in summer 1959. The small “NYC&StL” on the short hood alludes to the road’s formal name: New York, Chicago & St. […]
Pennsylvania Railroad GP9s on westbound piggyback train TT1 pass J1 class 2-10-4 No. 6166, which has stopped on the main line near Johnstown, Pa., to take water from an overhead spout, in September 1956. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
