Spying on SPUD

20200305

St. Paul Union Depot Co. Vice President and General Manager Harry P. Congdon looks out on a Chicago Great Western F unit from the top floor of the yard office. At the time, the station was busiest between 7:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. with 22 arrivals and 21 departures. Arthur F. Hager photo […]

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Steam for speed

20200320

The clouds of smoke from double-headed steam locomotives illustrate a disadvantage to riding behind them — particularly with open windows. Here a troop extra rolls east of Staple Bend, Pa., on the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Pittsburgh–Philadelphia main line. Several distinctive troop sleepers are in the consist. Wayne Brumbaugh photo […]

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Tehachapi cab-forward

20200330

Southern Pacific 4-8-8-2 cab-forward No. 4203 works hard in pusher service on Tehachapi Grade near Woodford, Calif., in August 1948. SP commissioned the specially designed locomotives to minimize crews’ exposure to tunnels in the lengthy tunnels and snowsheds on its system, a benefit that did not always apply to locomotives further back in the train. […]

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Perishable pioneer

20200319

Fruit Growers Express helped pioneer mechanical refrigerator cars. This 55-foot, 60-ton car was built in 1957 and just had a new refrigeration unit installed before this 1975 photo. Jeff Wilson collection […]

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Red River revealed

20200316

Great Northern inaugurated the Red River connecting Grand Forks, N.Dak., and points east on June 25, 1950, as a four-car train. This view shows the spotless new coffee shop in the train’s observation car. Great Northern photo […]

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Santa Fe oddity

20200318

SD39 No. 4007 works freight on the Santa Fe at Las Cruces, N.Mex., in 1970. Only 59 of this 12-cylinder, turbocharged model were built for the Santa Fe; Illinois Terminal; Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern; and Southern Pacific. Chris Raught photo […]

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Sign of the times

20200325

A New York Central switcher pulls a string of loaded open-rack cars in the early 1960s. The auto rack car, introduced in 1960, quickly became popular and regained finished-auto traffic for railroads. J. David Ingles collection […]

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Southern Belle

20200326

Kansas City Southern’s flagship, the Southern Belle, is ready to depart New Orleans for Kansas City behind an EMD E6 in August 1950. The train, the first such direct service between the points, is the result of the railroad’s acquisition of the Louisiana & Arkansas in 1939. James G. La Vake photo […]

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Modern railroading

20200327

A refrigerator car rolls into the bowl of Union Pacific’s North Platte, Nebr., hump yard. The box to the right contains a radar speed-monitoring device. Union Pacific photo […]

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MoPac Mountain

20200323

A Missouri Pacific Mountain-type 4-8-2 rolls an 83-car train under the coaling tower at Gurdon, Ark., in 1952. Soon, diesels would render the locomotive, and coaling tower, obsolete. The railroad had 29 such MT-73 class engines, Nos. 5308–5316 and 5335–5344, built by Alco between 1921 and 1930. All were retired by the end of 1956. […]

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Mother Nature’s wrath

20200324

Nature quickly began to reclaim the right-of-way at High View Tunnel soon after New York, Ontario, & Western abandoned in 1957. This 1963 view at the south portal shows rails and tie plates gone and weeds encroaching upon the weathered ties. George Weidner photo […]

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New Orleans’ new terminal

20200313

Arrival and departure boards at New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal’s main entry are chock-full of trains in the mid-1950s. The $25.5 million facility had 12 tracks and opened in May 1954. James G. La Vake photo […]

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