Factory fresh

20190927

  Railway Express Agency bought 500 new steel plug door reefers from American Car & Foundry in 1947-48. They initially wore a green and aluminum scheme, but were repainted all green in the 1950s. American Car & Foundry photo […]

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Fs for freight

20190920

Minneapolis & St. Louis was known for its freights that ran south from the Twin Cities through Iowa to Peoria, Ill., to connect with several eastern railroads there. This green-and-yellow set of F units was constructed in 1947, which is reflected in its road number. Classic Trains collection […]

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Protecting a GG1

20180907

A crossing watchman is out with his STOP sign to warn motorists to stay clear of a fast-moving Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 racing north at Seabrook, Md., in April 1963. William D. Middleton photo […]

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Decapod delight

20200521

Gainesville Midland 2-10-0 No. 207 churns its 56-inch drivers across the Southern Railway’s Washington–Atlanta main line at Gainesville, Ga. The short line, which rostered five such locomotives, extended 40 miles from Gainesville southeast to Athens. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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‘The Carpetbaggers’

20190813

Santa Fe 2-6-2 No. 1010 is seen at Pasadena, Calif., in 1963 as a prop in the movie “The Carpetbaggers.” It was also used on Death Valley Scotty’s famous special in 1905 and a television recreation in the 1950s. Santa Fe photo […]

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Rescued!

20190802

As a streetcar rolls by, Missouri Pacific 0-8-0 9721 and caboose have tied on to stalled 2-10-2 helper 1716 and 4-8-4 road engine 2111. Soon the three engines begin to march up Missouri’s Kirkwood Hill in March 1946. Joe Collias photo […]

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Semi-streamlined

20190806

St. Louis-San Francisco semi-streamlined 4-8-2 No. 1503 works at Kirkwood, Mo., in 1942. The railroad, best known simply as the Frisco, had 30 such locomotives built by Baldwin from 1923 to 1926. William Barham photo, Don Wirth collection […]

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Sportsman

20190823

Chesapeake & Ohio’s lengthy Sportsman curves east through the Blue Ridge Mountains at Afton, Va., in July 1965. William E. Warden Jr. photo […]

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Stockton station

20190826

Santa Fe’s eastbound Golden State pulls into Stockton, Calif., on its way to Bakersfield in the 1950s. Passengers are lined up to board while a flagger holds vehicle traffic back from the grade crossing. Stan Kistler photo […]

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Taking a spin

20190808

A headache for trailer-on-flatcar ramp operations happened when flatcars arrived facing the wrong direction. This Milwaukee Road car goes for a spin on a turntable in 1969. Gerald R. Rademacher photo […]

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NOUPT

20190829

Taxis and private autos wait at the cab stand on the east side of New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal in the 1950s. The complex, opened in 1954, sports a limestone facade. James G. La Vake photo […]

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