Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern freight

20180913

Conceived in 1907 as an interurban line, Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern never did electrify. In the diesel era, MN&S favored Baldwin products like this blue-and-silver DRS-6-6-1500, shown switching the yard at Auto Club Junction south of Minneapolis in 1958. William D. Middleton photo […]

Read More…

Morning Hi at Portage, Wis.

20180926

Milwaukee Road’s westbound Morning Hiawatha pauses at Portage, Wis., in October 1965. Tucked behind the E units are several head-end cars, including a Great Northern express boxcar, Milwaukee express boxcar, and GN baggage express car. Tom Hoffmann photo […]

Read More…

CA&E nocturne

20180904

At Wheaton, Ill., the motorman of a westbound Chicago Aurora & Elgin train looks back for the highball while the conductor waits on the platform to assist passengers. CA&E passenger service ended in 1957. Bob Schmidt photo […]

Read More…

Seatrain containers on Penn Central

20180912

Penn Central and Santa Fe teamed up to provide coast-to-coast transport of containers for Seatrain Lines in August 1972. Here, four PC General Electric units are in charge of the train at Perlman Yard in Selkirk, N.Y. Carl H. Sturner photo […]

Read More…

SP’s short-lived Houston station

20180830

Southern Pacific built this structure, which it called Grand Central Station, in Houston in 1934 to replace an 1886 depot. But Grand Central had a short life, being razed after only 25 years to make way for a new central post office. Classic Trains coll. […]

Read More…

Turbine in Weber Canyon

20180816

Union Pacific No. 51, the first unit in the road’s fleet of General Electric gas-turbine-electric locomotives, climbs east in Weber Canyon with a train out of Ogden, Utah, in mid-1952. I. W. King photo […]

Read More…

West meets Midwest in New Orleans

20180827

As Southern Pacific Alco PA diesels move toward New Orleans Union Station in the background, an Illinois Central E7 rides the turntable at the IC roundhouse. It’s 1954, 2 years before New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal opened. James G. La Vake photo […]

Read More…

The run-around

  CSX Transportation local D743 heads north into Deshler, Ohio, to run around its train and head back south to Lima on Feb. 18, 2018. Photo by Joe Kohnen […]

Read More…

Galloping Goose on the RGS

20180611

Rio Grande Southern Motor No. 4 — one of seven “Galloping Goose” cars the 172-mile narrow-gauge road fashioned from automobiles and light trucks in the 1930s — is northbound beside Trout Lake between Lizard Head Pass and Ophir, Colo. Otto Perry photo […]

Read More…