A Pacific Fruit Express mechanical car stands out among Santa Fe and PFE 40-foot ice-bunker cars in this early 1960s train. Mechanical cars were developed for frozen goods but began hauling more fresh produce by the 1960s, eventually pushing ice cars out of service in the 1970s. J. David Ingles collection […]
The fireman of Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 4913 has descended the cab-side ladder to snag a train-order hoop from the operator at Odenton, Md., in October 1953. A blocked track ahead at Baltimore has necessitated orders for the Tuscan red electric, which today is preserved at the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum. H. N. Proctor photo […]
This Milwaukee Road 4-6-4 is an oil-burner — note the lack of an open coal bunker on the tender. The rear stenciling indicates a capacity of 18,000 gallons of water and 7,000 gallons of oil. The engine has been converted from coal-firing for service in Idaho and Washington. Milwaukee Road photo […]
Wabash Railway passenger trains: All through January 2024, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the Wabash. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Wabash Railway passenger trains, originally published online in May 2019. […]
Thirty miles into its overnight run from Eureka, Calif., to San Rafael on San Francisco Bay, Northwestern Pacific train 3 picks its way along a trestle at the base of Scotia Bluff on June 20, 1953, three months before the end of steam on the Southern Pacific subsidiary. Richard C. Brown photo […]
Perched high above the tracks, interlocking Tower A controlled the many signals and switches at Cincinnati Union Terminal. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Seaboard Air Line motor car 2027 (St. Louis Car/Electro-Motive, 1936) leads Savannah, Ga.–Montgomery, Ala., local train 11 near Rochelle, Ga., in 1947. The RPO apartment is part of the motor, and the REA express messenger gets some air in the open door of his car. David W. Salter photo […]
Milwaukee Road Fairbanks-Morse H10-44 shows the high (cab-roof-level) hood needed to clear FM’s tall opposed-piston engine. The roof overhang on the back of the cab was a feature on H10-44s and early H12-44s. Milwaukee Road photo […]
Oahu Railway 2-8-2 No. 70, a 1927 Alco, leads a train for Kahaku beside the Pacific Ocean east of Kaena Point in the 1940s. The railroad’s C-shaped main line extended from Honolulu on the south side of the island clockwise to Kahuku on the north side. Kent W. Cochrane photo […]
A Southern RS3, coach, post office car, and FTB steam heater car comprise a Dec. 16, 1966, remnant of the Augusta Special in Warrenville, S.C. This service ended soon after this image was made. George Weiss photo […]
Great Northern class O-8 2-8-2 3393 approaches the depot at Monticello, Minn., in September 1954. The big Mikado is heading west with a caboose to pick up another train of grain for Minneapolis. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
E units belonging to Louisville & Nashville, Chesapeake & Ohio, New York Central, and Pennsylvania idle on the ready tracks near the Cincinnati Union Terminal roundhouse in September 1952. Baltimore & Ohio, CUT, Norfolk & Western, and C&O steam engines populate the whisker tracks in the background. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
