Kansas City Southern’s flagship, the Southern Belle, is ready to depart New Orleans for Kansas City behind an EMD E6 in August 1950. The train, the first such direct service between the points, is the result of the railroad’s acquisition of the Louisiana & Arkansas in 1939. James G. La Vake photo […]
A refrigerator car rolls into the bowl of Union Pacific’s North Platte, Nebr., hump yard. The box to the right contains a radar speed-monitoring device. Union Pacific photo […]
A Missouri Pacific Mountain-type 4-8-2 rolls an 83-car train under the coaling tower at Gurdon, Ark., in 1952. Soon, diesels would render the locomotive, and coaling tower, obsolete. The railroad had 29 such MT-73 class engines, Nos. 5308–5316 and 5335–5344, built by Alco between 1921 and 1930. All were retired by the end of 1956. […]
Nature quickly began to reclaim the right-of-way at High View Tunnel soon after New York, Ontario, & Western abandoned in 1957. This 1963 view at the south portal shows rails and tie plates gone and weeds encroaching upon the weathered ties. George Weidner photo […]
Arrival and departure boards at New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal’s main entry are chock-full of trains in the mid-1950s. The $25.5 million facility had 12 tracks and opened in May 1954. James G. La Vake photo […]
Santa Fe mechanical reefer No. 51164, built in 1966, is from the railroad’s largest group of mechanical cars, the 700 57-footers of class Rr-89. It wears the late all-orange scheme. J. David Ingles collection […]
Train 26, New York Central’s eastbound 20th Century Limited, pauses at Buffalo, N.Y., on its final run in December 1967. Edward J. Joscelyn photo […]
Santa Fe requested the custom U30CG from General Electric, offering 3,000 hp and a steam generator in a distinctive cowl body considered more aesthetically suitable for passenger service than a road-switcher. The railroad carried six such units on its roster, Nos. 8000–8005, which went into freight service following the 1971 transfer of passenger service to […]
A blue lantern hanging by the pilot of E7 No. 539 at Florence, N.C., indicates that the train is not to be moved during its 5-minute station stop. William D. Middleton photo […]
A clear signal over track 2 beckons the Pennsylvania’s St. Louisan near Radebaugh, Pa. On track 1, a J1 2-10-4 pushes on an eastbound freight while a set of Baldwin Sharknose helpers approaches on track 3. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
New York Central’s Flexi-Van system, unveiled in spring 1956, employed truck trailers with detachable wheels that locked on special flat cars, saving time, weight, and height. Other railroads that bought into the concept included Illinois Central and Milwaukee Road. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
Missouri-Kansas-Texas MP15AC No. 58 is a 1980 product of EMD. The locomotive’s model designates the use of an alternator and rectifiers instead of the traditional generator to produce D.C. power for the traction motors. Other major U.S. buyers included Long Island Rail Road, Louisville & Nashville, Milwaukee Road, Seaboard Coast Line, and Southern Pacific. Lee […]
