Capitol-bound

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Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 No. 4890 rolls past C Tower, a mile from its destination, Washington Union Station. This locomotive survives on display at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wis. E. John Long photo […]

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Diesel slumber

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A variety of road-freight locomotives, including EMD Geeps and Alco FAs, stand at the servicing tracks at New York Central’s West Detroit, Mich., terminal in the early 1960s. J. David Ingles photo […]

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Blue Streak

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The Cotton Belt’s Blue Streak rolls west of Mount Pleasant, Texas, on Oct. 1, 1931. The train is led by 4-6-0 No. 659, built by Baldwin in 1913. Formally known as the St. Louis Southwestern, the railroad began as the 3-foot-gauge Tyler Tap Railroad between Tyler and Big Sandy, Texas, in the 1870s. Harold K. Vollrath […]

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Yooper utility

Yooper utility

Two of the Lake Superior & Ishpeming’s three Alco RS2 road-switchers power one of the railroad’s freight trains. The LS&I, which once stretched 103 miles linking Munising, Marquette, and Ishpeming in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, continues to haul iron ore. A. C. Kalmbach photo […]

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Trailer On Train Express

Trailer On Train Express

Louisville & Nashville converted these 43-foot flatcars for trailer-on-flatcar service in 1955 by adding rub rails and jack connections. L&N marketed its service as “TOTE,” Trailer On Train Express.The trailers are an exterior-post, 32-foot type. Louisville & Nashville photo […]

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Steam queen

Steam queen

With the westbound Pocahontas in tow, Norfolk & Western J class 4-8-4 No. 611 passes the tower at South Norfolk, Va., in July 1957. The locomotive still steams occasionally for Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke. H. Reid photo […]

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Quintessential New England

Quintessential New England

Montpelier & Wells River 2-8-0 No. 20, a former Boston & Maine engine, leads train 1 with a milk car behind the tender. A combine brings up the rear of the mixed train. The M&WR, which linked its namesake Vermont communities with a 44-mile route, operated six locomotives and one passenger car in 1944. William […]

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Pueblo pause

Pueblo pause

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy’s Texas Zephyr, with Colorado & Southern-lettered E5 No. 9955 on the point, pauses at Pueblo on Jan. 23, 1966. The Burlington acquired control of the C&S in 1908, gaining a route from Denver to the Gulf of Mexico at Galveston, Texas, and a route from Denver north into Wyoming. Steve Patterson photo […]

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Nickel Plate diesels

Nickel Plate diesels

The Nickel Plate Road’s road-switcher scheme of black with three yellow stripes, plus yellow safety stripes on the ends, was simple but eye catching. Here, GP9s 510, 486, and 454 roll through Bellevue, Ohio, in summer 1959. The small “NYC&StL” on the short hood alludes to the road’s formal name: New York, Chicago & St. […]

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Mountain meet — Pennsy

Mountain meet

Pennsylvania Railroad GP9s on westbound piggyback train TT1 pass J1 class 2-10-4 No. 6166, which has stopped on the main line near Johnstown, Pa., to take water from an overhead spout, in September 1956. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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