The Newburg & South Shore’s Alco S2 switcher 1003 hits the B&O diamonds in the Cleveland “Flats” on its way to a steel mill switching assignment in July 1965. The employee in charge of the tilting signal protecting the crossing is keeping an eye on things from the front porch of his shanty. Chris Burger photo
Cleveland’s Terminal Tower looms in the background as Kinsman Marine Transit’s steamship C. S. Robinson negotiates the twists and turns of the Cuyahoga River with the assistance of a tug in July 1965. Built in 1906, the 545-foot-long lakeboat was sold for scrap in 1973. Chris Burger photo
Alco S2 No. 101 of short line Fairport, Painesville & Eastern sits in the road’s engine terminal on a weekend day in May 1965. The FP&E was built to serve the Diamond Alkali Co.’s new chemical plant and other industry at Painesville, Ohio, and controlled by Diamond from the commencement of operations until its final day in July 1984. Chris Burger photo
Elgin, Joliet & Eastern’s Baldwin twin-engine center-cab DT-66-2000 No. 726 has a short local freight in tow approaching the C&O diamond at Griffith, Ind., in September 1965. The 726 was built in 1950 as No. 126 and got new Baldwin prime movers and the number 726 in 1961. Chris Burger photo
Monon’s Thoroughbred from Louisville is on the last lap to Dearborn Station at Pullman Junction on Chicago’s South Side in September 1965. Monon, IC, CB&Q, NKP, B&O, C&O, RI, BRC, Wabash, and EL movements through this busy junction were governed by gates and signals controlled by switchtenders and operators. Monon passenger service would end two years later in September 1967. Chris Burger photo
A westbound South Shore midday train leaves the siding at Burns Harbor, Ind., through a spring switch on its way to Chicago in September 1965. The NYC’s main line is visible to the left and is not far from Burns Harbor Yard, where Burger was assistant trainmaster at the time. Chris Burger photo
Derailments, especially on yard tracks, were depressingly common as track conditions worsened in the 1960s. That’s the case here on the Park Manor lead on the south end of NYC’s Englewood Yard in Chicago in March 1966. Burger, terminal trainmaster at Englewood at the time, says Baldwin DRS-44-1500 No. 5991 looked big enough when things were normal, but even bigger when derailed. A pair of F7s and a mechanical department truck have teamed up with trackmen to straighten it all out. Chris Burger photo
Monon BL2 No. 31 is at the Chicago & Western Indiana’s 81st Street tower with a transfer run in July 1966. The Monon was one of nine railroads with GP7 predecessor BL2 locomotives, having 9 of the 59 built. Chris Burger photo
The fireman of Burlington 2-8-2 No. 4960 strikes a classic pose atop the tender while taking water at Aurora, Ill., during a fantrip in July 1966. Chris Burger photo
