Looking west at Frankfort, Ind., in 1944, we see the westbound yard with its east-end ladder angling off to the right, and in the distance the eastbound yard’s east ladder running the other way. Beyond the east yard ladder are the icing platform and the ice plant. Jay Williams photo […]
In the Nickel Plate Road’s roundhouse at Conneaut, Ohio — one of the last citadels of high-speed steam freight locomotives — Berkshire 731 and another engine rest on March 16, 1957. Classic Trains coll. […]
Being a safety supervisor at a small regional railroad entailed more than being a statistician. When promoted to the position on the Maine Central in early 1982, I was part of a two-man team, tasked with promoting safety. This required meeting train crews, riding with them, learning the rudiments of their tasks; talking with engineering […]
In a stunt meant to demonstrate the free-rolling characteristics of freight cars equipped with Timken roller bearings, three women — Jackie White, Jean Crow, and Chris Roberts — heave on a new 55-ton hopper car at Western Maryland’s Port Covington yard in Baltimore in the 1950s. Classic Trains coll. […]
With Mt. Shasta rising in the background, a Baldwin road-switcher works the Southern Pacific yard at Dunsmuir, Calif., in the 1950s. Mac LeFebre photo […]
Amtrak GG1 No. 912 dashes through the snow at Bowie, Md., with a four-car Metroliner train in February 1978. The high-speed M.U.’s did not do well in snow, and were often towed by GG1’s when the flakes began to fly. Walter Feibelman photo […]
Baltimore & Ohio class Q-4 2-8-2 No. 4479 steps along a manicured right of way with a westbound freight near Walkerton, Ind., in the early 1950s. Linn H. Westcott photo […]
Union Pacific NW2 No. 1091, with extra ballast and low-speed gearing, shoves the last cars of a freight train up the hump. Behind the diesel is the new yard’s car-inspection station. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Like its Midwest rivals, the Chicago & North Western Railway jumped on the idea of brand-named passenger trains. However, it took a different route with the name in the form of a three-digit number: 400. The name [or number] stuck as the railroad rolled out a prominent fleet of Chicago & North Western 400 passenger […]
A July 1947 aerial view shows the Pennsylvania Railroad’s big roundhouse at Crestline, Ohio. The long engine at middle left is No. 6100, the 6-4-4-6 duplex of 1939. Classic Trains coll. […]
An operator pulls the armstrong levers to align a route at busy State Line Tower, near Hammond, Ind., on the Chicago & Western Indiana. As the track diagram shows, several railroads operated through the 200-plus lever plant. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
A Southern Pacific 2-8-0 pulls a log train on the Cloudcroft branch near Alamogordo, N.Mex. This view is from 1946, three years before the line was abandoned. Henry Garcia photo […]
