It’s been said that Milwaukee Road’s class F6 4-6-4s, built 1930–31, looked like they were going fast even when standing still. There does seem to be a rakish “leaning-forward” quality to this photo of nearly new No. 6402. MILW […]
Milwaukee racer
Tag: Railroads
Santa Fe RDC on the Reading
En route from Philadelphia’s Budd Co. to its owner, Santa Fe Railway Rail Diesel Car DC-192 is added to the rear of the Reading’s Harrisburg Special at RDG’s Outer Station in Reading, Pa., in May 1952. At right, a Reading G-3 Pacific stands with another passenger train. George W. Gerhart photo […]
C&O at Elkhorn City
The Chesapeake & Ohio and Clinchfield met end-to-end at this yard at Elkhorn City, Ky. In this misty 1973 scene, a C&O train is ready to head north with a string of hopper cars from the Clinchfield. Tony Koester photo […]
Famous railroads with unique official nicknames
Railroads with cumbersome names that can be a mouthful to say and a headache to remember often opted for nicknames. These aliases served to enhance brand identity and solidify their legacy. Commonly, railroads used city names in their nicknames, as seen with the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific, popularly known as the Milwaukee Road. […]
Pennsy’s “Big Engine” in the snow
The Pennsylvania’s one-of-a-kind class S1 6-4-4-6 duplex drive No. 6100 shrugs off an early Chicago winter snow storm as it pauses at Englewood Union Station with the eastbound Manhattan Limited in November 1939. Harold Stirton photo […]
The diesel 100 years later
Walk around the halls of Baltimore’s B&O Railroad Museum and you will encounter many first, last, and only railroad objects. There is the William Mason, an 1856 4-4-0 steam locomotive that pulled Abraham Lincoln’s train as he snuck through Baltimore prior to his presidential inauguration. You will see B&O No. 51, an EMC EA, the […]
Santa Fe FT’s on Tehachapi
An A-B-B-A set of Santa Fe FT diesels leads a westbound freight just below famous Tehachapi Loop in 1949. This train met an eastbound Southern Pacific freight at Walong siding on the Loop itself; steam from the SP train’s cab-forward helper is visible in the distance. Linn H. Westcott photo […]
WM Pacific at Baltimore
Handsome Western Maryland 4-6-2 No. 204 is ready to depart the road’s Hillen Street station in Baltimore with the daily train to Hagerstown, Md., in April 1951. Russ Wilcox photo […]
A remarkable coincidence
[Ed. — This adventure is excerpted from a story originally appearing in Trains, September 1984. It, along with 45 other railroad stories, can be found in a forthcoming Trains/Classic Train book: Tales of the Rails, due out in March 2026. Visit shop.trains.com to order your copy.] On June 27, 1955, I witnessed a veteran locomotive […]
San Francisco Chief connection
Santa Fe trains 93, the West Texas Express, and 94, the Eastern Express, were the Amarillo–Lubbock connection for the San Francisco Chief. Between 1955 and 1965, the trains looked like this: an E8M (rebuilt from an E1), baggage-express car, coach, and sleeper. Fred M. Springer photo […]
CN’s roundhouse at Moncton, New Brunswick
In fall 1953, Canadian National 4-6-2 5545 simmers inside the roundhouse at Moncton, New Brunswick. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Milwaukee’s original Hiawatha departs Chicago
Class A 4-4-2 No. 2 hauls the Milwaukee Road’s newly launched Hiawatha up the hill and around the curve out of Chicago Union Station in mid-1935. Alexander Maxwell photo […]
