In a view taken halfway up a light tower we see Union Pacific’s modern hump yard at North Platte, Neb., around 1950. At the bottom left is the hump tower, and the two cars just above it are rolling free toward the master retarder. Union Pacific photo […]
Section: Photo of the Day
Automotive anachronisms
Several Chevrolets await loading at General Motors’ Tarrytown, N.Y., assembly plant in 1951. Tracks extend along both sides of an elevated platform. In the intervening decades, railroads and manufacturers have switched to multi-level auto racks for the shipment of new automobiles. New York Central photo […]
California commerce
The Southern Pacific had large trailer-on-flatcar ramps in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Multiple trains could be loaded and unloaded at the same time. This view is from the early 1960s. Southern Pacific photo […]
Western Star
EMD SDP45s were the last passenger locomotives Great Northern purchased. A few months after the Burlington Northern merger, SDP45 No. 9860 leads the Western Star at Eureka, Mont., on September 7, 1970. Doug Wingfield photo […]
New Mexico tragedy
On September 5, 1956, the Santa Fe’s Chief and Fast Mail collided at Robinson, N.M., killing 20 passengers and crew. Here, sleeping car Pine Rapids and an F unit from the Chief rest perpendicular to the tracks after the incident. Johnny Casick photo […]
Pennsy steam prowess
A Pennsylvania Railroad T1 4-4-4-4 pauses with an eastbound train at Fort Wayne, Ind. The railroad had 52 such “duplex” steam locomotives, along with other wheel arrangements. Robert A. Hadley photo […]
Rutland review
An eastbound milk train from Ogdensburg, N.Y., passes the joint Rutland/Central Vermont station at Alburgh, Vt., in October 1951, behind green-and-yellow Alco RS3 No. 204. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
Thompson Falls
In the Rocky Mountains, an agent hoops up orders to an eastbound freight at Thompson Falls, Mont., powered by W-5 class 2-8-2 No. 1849. John W. Maxwell photo […]
Granger scene
At terminal elevators, grain doors were stacked, collected, and sorted by the Western Weighing and Inspection Bureau for shipment back to originating railroads. These doors are stored by Milwaukee Road outside-braced boxcars. Library of Congress photo […]
Katy steam
Missouri-Kansas-Texas 4-6-2 No. 385 leads the Katy Limited south of Dallas in February 1948. The railroad’s locomotives characteristically had lots of white trim along with enameled heralds on the tender sides. C.W. Witbeck photo […]
Lindenwood Yard
St. Louis-San Francisco 4-8-2 No. 1516 leads train No. 1 through Lindenwood Yard in St. Louis in 1940. The Frisco had 30 such locomotives, Nos. 1500–1529, built by Baldwin beginning in 1923. William Barham photo, Don Wirth collection […]
Man power
In the 1910s, automobiles were shipped as “knock-downs,” with the bodies removed from the chassis and then loaded in boxcars. This is Ford’s Highland Park, Mich., plant in 1915. Ford Motor Co. photo […]