Mainstreeter near Missoula

20190327

Northern Pacific’s westbound Mainstreeter carries several head-end cars as it rolls near Missoula, Mont., in 1966, including four NP express baggage cars, a Union Pacific baggage car, and an RPO. Philip C. Johnson photo […]

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Man in a hurry

20190329

Making 90 mph on an E7, a Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road foreman of engines whistles for a grade crossing east of La Crosse, Wis., in July 1955. W. A. Akin Jr. photo […]

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Ore train on a PRR branch

20190326

In September 1955, Pennsylvania Railroad M1 4-8-2 6894 leads an ore train west at Alexandria, Pa., on the road’s Hollidaysburg & Petersburg Branch, part of a route that enabled mainline trains to bypass Altoona. Unseen at the rear, a 2-10-0 pushes behind the cabin car. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Cleaning a grain boxcar

20190305

The Soo Line used what it called Mobile Cleaning Units — trucks with a power sweeper, power washers, and other cleaning and repair equipment — to clean and prep boxcars for grain shipment at its yards in Schiller Park (Chicago) and Shoreham (Minneapolis) in the early 1960s. The rig, with two workers, could clean a […]

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Day’s end for a 4-4-0

20190318

Canadian Pacific 4-4-0 136 waits to enter the one-stall engine house at Norton, N.B., after bringing a mixed train in from Chipman in November 1953. In the background is one of the light bridges on the Chipman line that required the use of three little 4-4-0s. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Liberty Limited at Baltimore

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GG1 4901’s nose door is ajar as it leads sister 4894 on the Pennsy’s Liberty Limited out of Baltimore in September 1954. The train came in from Chicago behind diesels; the track arrangement at Baltimore required it to be hauled backwards to Washington (note the observation car behind the second G). H. N. Proctor photo […]

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Lima along Lake Erie

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Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 779 hurries west with a freight beside Lake Erie between Lorain and Vermilion, Ohio, in April 1957. The 8-year-old Berkshire was the last steam locomotive built by Lima Locomotive Works. John A. Rehor photo […]

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0-4-0T amid smoke and steam

20190315

Four-wheel saddle-tanker No. 3, a 1910 product of Alco’s Cooke works, is enveloped in clouds of smoke and steam at the Colorado Fuel & Iron facility in Birdsboro, Pa., east of Reading, in September 1957. Aaron G. Fryer photo […]

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Challengers on Helmstetter’s Curve

20190304

Western Maryland 4-6-6-4s up front and at mid-train lift a freight upgrade around Helmstetter’s Curve in the late 1940s or early ’50s. Today, Western Maryland Scenic Railway tourist trains still traverse this landmark a few miles west of Cumberland, Md. George C. Corey photo […]

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