Polishing the rails for General Electric

nyc9363

New York Central S3 No. 9363 stands on the West Side line in Manhattan in 1967. Thirteen years earlier and 150 miles to the north, the road used another Alco switcher in a novel attempt to capture special-train business. Elliot Kahn, Louis A. Marre coll. In a lifetime of reading about railroading, I’ve seen the […]

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Pennsy T1 comes to life in a St. Louis shop

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ST. LOUIS – Gary Bensman walks through Continental Fabricators in St. Louis, holding a washout plug for the boiler of Pennsylvania Railroad T1 No. 5550. Bensman grips the plug much like a judge would hold a gavel, as he holds court over the fabrication of the boiler for a locomotive class whose last member of […]

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The “middle” order

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Baldwin road-switcher 1615 passes the Hertford, N.C., depot with Norfolk Southern freight 88 in January 1965. A few months later, removal of a siding here would cause some confusion. Harry Bundy Telegraph operators working from the extra list rolled with the punches. They were on call 24/7, as they say now, to fill vacancies created […]

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Billy Graham ran into career doubts because of Altoona NEWSWIRE

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Billy Graham Milwaukee Journal; Trains archive WAUKESHA, Wis. — It is hard to imagine that a revival in Altoona, Pa., made the Rev. Billy Graham doubt his calling. Graham died this morning at his home in Montreat, N.C., at age 99. But the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that before the Southern Baptist preacher dazzled thousands in […]

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Big Boy versus Allegheny

COAllegheny

This C&O 2-6-6-6 strains mightily to get her 70 loads of eastbound coal moving at Thurmond, W. Va., in 1956. The Balky 1624 had slipped down, then cut off and run ahead to put down sand, and is now trying again. A full third of her tremendous engine weight rests on her lead and trailing […]

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Where to find Big Boy locomotives

UPBigBoy4004Cheyenne

With clouds overhead mimicking steam, Big Boy No. 4004 sleeps in October 2013 at Cheyenne’s Holliday Park, just a few blocks from UP rails. Jim Wrinn No. 4004 • Holliday Park, Cheyenne, Wyo. BUILDER’S DATE: September 1941 SERIAL NUMBER: 69575 HISTORY: The fifth Big Boy constructed seems to have had an uneventful career. LIFETIME MILEAGE: […]

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Book Review: Guide to North American Diesel Locomotives

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Guide to North American Diesel Locomotives By Jeff Wilson Kalmbach Books; 350 pages, 400+ photos, softcover, 8.25 x 10.75 inches; $27.99. www.kalmbachhobbystore.com Back in the late 1950s/early 1960s, many “old guard” railfans held the opinion that the hobby of train watching would gradually die out concurrently with the demise of steam. In 1963, Lucius Beebe, […]

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Catherine Taylor, longtime CSRM leader, dies NEWSWIRE

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Catherine Taylor Bullock Museum AUSTIN, Texas — Catherine Taylor, director of the Bullock Texas State History Museum and a longtime leader at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, has died after a brief illness. A native of Texas, Taylor lived in California for most of her life. She earned a BA in history at […]

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