Two of Rio Grande’s Krauss-Maffei diesel-hydraulics spent almost three weeks testing on the New York Central in early 1963. Here crews on New York Central Advance BF-3 change at Bellefontaine, Ohio, on February 24, 1963. Photo by Si Herring […]
Conrail 6070, a former Erie Lackawanna SD45, assists a westbound freight up Pennsylvania’s Horseshoe Curve on July 25, 1981, just a few months after removal of one of the Curve’s four tracks. Photo by Robert S. McGonigal […]
Army half-tracks are loaded onto flatcars at an unidentified location during World War II. This image is from the 1943 Office of War Information film Troop Train, a 10-minute short depicting the movement of an armored division to the West Coast. Photo by Classic Trains collection […]
Jumbo 100-ton covered hoppers revolutionized rail handling of grain in the 1960s. The Great Northern staged this publicity photo near terminal elevators in Minneapolis after receiving a new order of cars in 1967. Photo by Great Northern […]
PCC car 7352 passes the imposing York Road car house in June 1960; this and six other Baltimore barns were designed by E. Francis Baldwin, architect of many notable Baltimore & Ohio Railroad buildings. Photo by Linn H. Westcott […]
Built in 1910 by Baldwin, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe No. 1485 is one of 23 similar locomotives that operated into the 1950s. The railroad had 171 such locomotives built by Baldwin, and one built by the railroad itself. Photo by Harry Hall […]
Armstrong levers – so named because they took some arm strength to move – were used to throw turnouts and change signal indications. Especially in older installations, each lever had its own personality and required various amounts of finesse to operate. Photo by Union Switch & Signal […]
The Rio Grande passenger train named Royal Gorge paused for 10 minutes of sightseeing at the bottom of the chasm in the 1960s. Here we see the train running in its namesake Colorado gorge. Photo by Bob Borcherding […]
Alco’s distinctive pre-war DL passenger locomotives were styled by industrial designer Otto Kuhler. The diesels also featured a distinct sound, with a pair of 539 engines—the post-war PAs had a single 244 power plant. Gulf, Mobile & Ohio’s pair frequently pulled trains 15 and 16, the Gulf Coast Rebel, between St. Louis and Mobile. Photo by […]
Former Atlantic Coast Line E7 537 was relettered for Seaboard Coast Line following ACL’s mid-1967 merger with Seaboard Air Line. ACL owned 30 of the 2,000 EMD passenger diesels, while SAL bought 35. Photo by Seaboard Coast Line […]
A hostler tops off the fuel tank of an Illinois Central E unit at the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal locomotive facility in 1954. The E unit will go out later on the Panama Limited to Chicago. Photo by James G. La Vake […]
Central Vermont 0-8-0 501 stands by as a New Haven sleeping car is turned on the turntable at St. Albans, Vermont, in September 1955. Photo by Philip R. Hastings […]
