An interior view at Tower 19 near Dallas (Texas) Union Terminal shows the track diagram (“model board”) of the territory controlled by the tower and some of the levers that controlled the switches and signals. This is an electro-pneumatic interlocking, in which switches are operated by compressed air. Historic American Engineering Record photo […]
New York Central E8 diesels idle at La Salle Street Station, Chicago, awaiting departure with two sections of the 20th Century Limited in November 1953. Robert W. Carper photo […]
A long string of stock cars is tucked in behind Santa Fe 2-8-2 No. 4085 on train 44, the Perishable Express, near Henrietta, Mo., in 1946. Behind the stock cars are 33 refrigerator cars. Robert R. Malinoski photo […]
This is a typical standpipe (also called water crane, water column, or water plug) used to fill steam locomotive tenders with water, which is supplied by pipe from a tank. A single tank might supply several standpipes. When not in use, they were swung away from the track. The bucket-like object between the end of […]
A Daylight 4-8-4 and a 4-8-2 doublehead the Los Angeles-bound San Joaquin Daylight upgrade at Allard, Calif., a dozen miles north of famous Tehachapi Loop, in May 1953. W. E. Malloy Jr. photo […]
Four F7s take a train of refrigerator cars through a horseshoe curve near Gleed, Ariz., in the 1950s. A major line change in 1960 eliminated tough operating conditions like this for the Santa Fe across northern Arizona. Santa Fe photo […]
Denver & Rio Grande Western 4-8-2 1705 raises an impressive smoke plume as it lifts a troop train up the Front Range of the Rockies at Tolland, Colo., on May 16, 1943. Robert McKell photo […]
Wabash E8 1007 brings the Wabash Cannon Ball into Litchfield, Ill., near the beginning of its St. Louis–Detroit run in March 1956. John C. Illman photo […]
Electro-Motive 952, completed in August 1949, was the first E8 built. After a stint as a demonstrator, it became Rock Island 643. Electro-Motive photo […]
Townsfolk of New Lisbon, Wis., inspect Milwaukee Road Class A No. 2 after the 4-4-2 clipped off 14 miles at a steady 112.5 mph on a Hiawatha pre-inaugural test run on May 15, 1935. MILW photo […]
Dirty Chicago & North Western class H-1 4-8-4 No. 3029 departs Chicago with train 13, a local for Omaha, on June 8, 1953. R. R. Malinoski photo […]
Maryland & Pennsylvania four-wheel caboose 2003 — a little car with a big number — whiles away the day at the Ma & Pa’s Baltimore terminal in May 1955. William E. Warden Jr. photo […]
