Dispatcher’s delight

Missouri-Kansas-Texas 4-6-2 400 in Denison, Texas

Missouri-Kansas-Texas 4-6-2 400 leaves Denison, Texas, with an extra in late 1948. Above the engine, awnings shade the windows of the dispatcher’s office, where the photographer then worked. One of 10 members of the Katy’s H-3-c class Pacifics, No. 400 was built in 1920 by Lima. Photo by Harold K. Vollrath […]

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Small town railroading

Santa Fe local 42 in California

Santa Fe local 42, with 4-6-2 3445, rolls along Duarte Road in the community of Duarte, Calif., east of Los Angeles on January 1, 1952. The railroad had 50 locomotives in the class, Nos. 3400–3449, built by Baldwin in 1919–1924 and retired in the early 1950s. Photo by Stan Kistler […]

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Missabe 2-8-0 at work

Duluth Missabe and Iron Range 2-8-0 at Rainy Junction, Minn.

Missabe 2-8-0 at work Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 2-8-0 No. 1218 has hold of a side-door caboose as it switches cars around Oliver Iron Mining Co.’s plant at Rainy Junction, Minn., in September 1954. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Steamy snow scene

Canadian Pacific 2-8-2s travel along the Eaton River valley

A pair of Canadian Pacific 2-8-2s, Nos. 5410 and 5329, drift with their grain extra down into the Eaton River valley just west of Cookshire, Quebec, in the mid-1950s. Cookshire was home to one of five water tanks on the line east from Montreal into Maine, and most eastbound trains would stop there. Photo by […]

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East Broad Top eyes restoration of Coles Valley Branch

ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — The nonprofit organization that now owns the East Broad Top Railroad is considering rebuilding a mountainous branch line that’s been inactive since the 1940s, a move that would provide spectacular ridgetop vistas and increase the number of destinations available to visitors. The nonprofit EBT Foundation, Inc., owner of the historic narrow-gauge […]

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Niles Canyon Railway photo charter to feature ‘Skookum,’ benefit restoration of SP No. 1744

SUNOL, Calif. — The Pacific Locomotive Association and the Niles Canyon Railway will operate railfan photo specials featuring “Skookum,” Columbia River Belt Line 2-4-4-2 No. 7, on Dec. 5-6 to benefit restoration of recently acquired Southern Pacific M-6 steam locomotive No. 1744. Both days will feature a historically accurate freight train, while ticketholders will ride […]

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Photo of the Day

20200619

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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Photo of the Day

20190909

B&O steam Baltimore & Ohio S-1 class 2-10-2 No. 6174 backs up the hump at Willard, Ohio, with reefers. The railroad had 125 such locomotives in the class, built by Baldwin and Lima between 1923 and 1926. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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