Steam’s Lost Empire

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Day with an SP Hogger

32 photos document the last L.A.–Bakersfield round trip for 48-year veteran Bascom Farrow

90 MPH on a 4-6-4

A breathtaking — yet routine — ride on the Milwaukee Road

Standard Railroading

Reflections on the glorious heyday of steam and steel

Roundhouse Foreman

Looking after men and their machines on the Canadian Pacific required a special set of skills

12 Hours with a Niagara

Follow an NYC 4-8-4 as it is serviced and then turned loose with the Empire State Express

Gulf Summit: July 4, 1946

Heavy Pacifics, 2-10-2s, and Berkshires do battle with the Erie Railroad’s toughest grade

Contingencies Not Covered in the Fireman’s Manual

There was never a dull moment for a fireman on Pennsy’s New York Division in the 1940s

Ten Days in March

A Californian finds a paradise of steam and snow on the Rio Grande narrow gauge in 1963

A Railfan Goes Railroading

How a young man put aside his camera to go firing on UP’s Los Angeles Division in 1941

Engineers I Have Known

Remembering the heady days of wooden cars and iron men on the Southern Railway

Home-built 4-8-2 on the Run, pg. 6
Baltimore & Ohio T-3 in Ohio

600 Tons for a 2-8-8-2, pg. 24
4-percent grade on a Northern Pacific branch

Citadel of CB&Q Steam, pg. 34
Mikado at Centralia, Ill., in 1957

A Quiet Corner of the Santa Fe, pg. 58
2-10-0 on a New Mexico mixed train

“Nickel Plate High-Speed Service”, pg. 66
A Berkshire approaches Leipsic, Ohio

The Last True Believer, pg. 76
Norfolk & Western Y3 2-8-8-2

North Western’s “Zeppelin” 4-8-4s, pg. 76
Lineup of eight class H Northerns

Last Corner of Big Steam’s Empire, pg. 114
Nacionales de Mexico 2-6-6-2 in 1962

C&O Behemoth, pg. 122
2-6-6-6 Allegheny on coal hoppers