A string of single-sheathed boxcars awaits coopering at an elevator on the Milwaukee Road in Sisseton, S.Dak., in 1939. Single-sheathed boxcars could be found in grain service into the 1960s. John Vachon, Library of Congress photo […]
Section: Photos
Georgia Steam
Gainesville Midland 2-8-0 No. 301 switches at Gainesville, Ga., in the 1950s. The two-story building above its stack is the road’s headquarters and former depot. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Photographs by Charlie Erler
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F is for freight
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 […]
Georgetown Loop
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 […]
Sideswipe survivor
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 […]
Superlative steam
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 […]
U-boats on the Fall Brook
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 […]
Universal rival
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 […]
North Coast Limited
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 […]
N&W standard
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 […]
Overseas Alco
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 […]