F is for freight

20200623

A northbound Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac freight rolls into Alexandria, Va., almost at its destination of Potomac Yard, on Dec. 29, 1949. The A-B-A set of blue-and-gray F units is nearly brand new. Charles Wales photo […]

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Georgetown Loop

20200618

A Colorado & Southern train climbs toward Silver Plume, Colo., ducking under Devil’s Gate bridge on the Georgetown Loop shortly before the end of service in 1938. The bridge was restored for tourist trains in 1984. R. H. Kindig photo […]

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Sideswipe survivor

20200506

The remains of Santa Fe GP38 No. 3552 lie in a ditch following a sideswipe incident at Booth, Texas, on April 14, 1973. A southbound train struck the rear cars of a northbound train. The subsequent derailment and fire destroyed three GP38s. Steve Patterson photo […]

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Superlative steam

20200514

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific had a fleet of 85 4-8-4 Northerns, largest in the country. Here, No. 5058 leads a westbound freight near Lawrence, Kans., in January 1952. Robert P. Olmsted photo […]

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U-boats on the Fall Brook

20200513

Snow begins to melt on an early spring day in 1974 as two six-axle General Electric “U-boats” head south along Seneca Lake at Geneva, N.Y., on the former New York Central “Fall Brook” line. Ken Kraemer photo […]

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Universal rival

20200508

The U23B was General Electric’s competitor to the EMD GP38. The little U-boat has a 12-cylinder FDL engine, necessitating six tall engine access doors on each side. Buyers included Santa Fe, Conrail, Delaware & Hudson, Lehigh Valley, Milwaukee Road (pictured), Monon, Penn Central, Western Pacific, and others. Most rode on AAR type B trucks, but […]

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North Coast Limited

20200520

Officially a Burlington Northern train but looking just as it had under the Northern Pacific, the North Coast Limited pauses at Butte, Mont., on April 10, 1970, just over a month after the merger. The train retains a complete set of equipment in the paint scheme by famous industrial designer Raymond Loewy. Steve Patterson photo […]

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N&W standard

20200505

Rare elsewhere, the 4-8-0 was Norfolk & Western’s top freight engine until 1910, when the first articulateds arrived. Out of an original fleet of 286 Twelve-Wheelers, by 1954, three dozen remained, including 1906-built 475, switching at Potts Valley Junction on the Radford Division. Today this engine hauls tourists, and sometimes freight, at the Strasburg Rail […]

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Overseas Alco

20200501

For World War II, the U.S. military adopted a six-axle variation of Alco’s 1941 RS1 for overseas duty. U.S. Army No. 8052 is shown at Tehran, Iran, in 1945. Alco photo […]

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Prairie State steam

20200522

Chicago & North Western train 6, heavy with mail and express, speeds east near Dekalb, Ill., in 1949. H-1 class 4-8-4 No. 3014 is one of 24 such rebuilt locomotives on the roster, built by Baldwin in 1929 as the H class and retired between 1950 and 1956. Classic Trains collection […]

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Royal Gorge

20200511

The Rio Grande’s Tennessee Pass line traversed Colorado’s Royal Gorge west of Pueblo on the road’s route to Utah. Here, the Royal Gorge passenger train with an Alco PA for power pauses for its customary sightseeing stop in its namesake. W. A. Peters photo […]

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