Joliet Union Station ticket counter

Joliet Union Station

A man and woman stand at the center window of the ticket counter at Joliet (Ill.) Union Station in fall 1951. Note the stylized ALTON, SANTA FE, ROCK ISLAND lettering across the top, four years after the Alton was absorbed into the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]

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Winston-Salem Southbound night meet

Winston-Salem Southbound Railroad at Eller, North Carolina

Time freights 209 and 212 of the Winston-Salem Southbound Railroad meet at Eller, N.C., in 1956. Reflective of the 95-mile WSS’s two owners, Mikado 827 (right) is a former Atlantic Coast Line engine with a Norfolk & Western tender. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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IC’s Central Station, Chicago

Illinois Central Railroad Central Station

Illinois Central opened its Central Station on Chicago’s lakefront in April 1893. This 1950s view shows the grand arched waiting room, which was marred in 1962 by the installation of a false ceiling. Demolition came in 1974. IC photo […]

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Lehigh & Hudson River heavy 2-8-0

Leghigh and Hudson River Railway in Lake, New York

With cars from the New Haven Railroad interchange at Maybrook, N.Y., a Lehigh & Hudson River freight makes a smoky passage through Lake, N.Y., en route to Allentown, Pa. Up front is one of L&HR’s heavy 2-8-0s. Donald W. Furler photo […]

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UP storage mail car

Union Pacific Railroad mail storage car

Union Pacific No. 5702 was assigned and lettered as a mail storage car. Built by ACF in 1949, it was a long (85-foot) streamlined lightweight car riding on six-wheel trucks. Union Pacific photo […]

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Wheeling & Lake Erie 2-8-4

Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Berkshire 6430

On June 20, 1950, seven months after the Nickel Plate Road leased the 500-mile Wheeling & Lake Erie, W&LE Berkshire 6430 rolls 75 cars toward Toledo along the Sandusky River north of Fremont, Ohio. Soon NKP would renumber the Wheeling Berks into its 800 series. Bob Lorenz photo […]

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Western Allegheny at dusk

Western Allegheny Railroad 2-8-0 with Bessemer and Lake Erie hopper cars

Ex-Pennsy H10s 2-8-0 No. 85 of the 21-mile Western Allegheny Railroad heads a train of big Bessemer & Lake Erie hopper cars loaded with coal and limestone out of Kaylor, Pa., in September 1955. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Santa Fe 2-10-2

Santa Fe Railway 2-10-2 locomotives

The Santa Fe Railway pioneered the 2-10-2 type in 1903 with a group of engines that were essentially 2-10-0 helper locomotives with trailing trucks to aid in downhill reverse movements. The wheel arrangement, known as the Santa Fe type, evolved into a general-purpose heavy freight hauler found on dozens of roads. AT&SF 3864 was built […]

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