The former Baltimore & Ohio tower at Keyser, W.Va., seen here in 2004 under CSX ownership, was a classic “armstrong” mechanical interlocking plant. The pipes travel along the tracks, where levers and cranks transfer the motion to switches, locks, and derails. Concrete pedestals support the pipe lines and other hardware. Historic American Engineering Record photo […]
In the 1950s, two Pittsburgh Railways PCC streetcars have left downtown, crossed the Monongahela River on the Smithfield Bridge, passed the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie depot, and are heading up into the South Hills tunnel. Linn H. Westcott photo […]
Norfolk & Western class Y6 2-8-8-2 Mallets rest at the Grundy, Va., engine terminal in March 1959. Bruce R. Meyer photo […]
A Chessie System train led by two Geeps (ex-B&O and WM) passes under a skewed pony truss bridge of the Akron & Barberton Belt Railroad in Akron, Ohio. John Beach photo […]
A southbound Norfolk Southern freight takes the siding at South Leesburg, Ind., on May 16, 2011. The former New York Central branch line was upgraded with Pennsylvania-style position light signals recycled from other routes during Penn Central ownership. Photo by Bob Jordan […]
An eastbound Napoleon, Defiance & Western train passes the new crossing gates at Scott Street in Napoleon, Ohio, on Oct. 19, 2014. The new grade crossing protection is arguably the newest equipment of any kind on this short line. Photo by Brian Schmidt […]
Clean BNSF Railway locomotives, clean ballast, and clean freight cars, match a clean, crystalline blue sky at the lower portion of “Sullivan’s Curve” in this October 2013 shot in California’s famed Cajon Pass. Photo by Steve Sweeney […]
Even the Sunshine State sees the occasional rainstorm, which has caught southbound Florida East Coast train No. 101 on Jan. 12, 2015, just north of St. Augustine. Photo by Brian Schmidt […]
Eastbound Providence & Worcester train NH-1 with B39-8 No. 3909 and B30-7A No. 3007 waits in the siding at Triebel interlocking at Guilford, Conn., for an eastbound Amtrak train to get by on June 15, 2009. Photo by Thomas Mik […]
Sumpter Valley Railway No. 18, built by Baldwin in 1916, is a modern-design, low-drivered, 36-inch-gauge wood-burning 2-8-2. The timber-hauling Sumpter Valley extended 80 miles out of Baker, Ore.; today, tourists can ride behind steam on 5 miles of rebuilt track. Matt Coleman collection […]
Metra No. 108 with a loaded afternoon commuter train bears down on the photographer alongside the right-of-way near the Western Avenue depot in Chicago in September 2013. Photo by Steve Sweeney […]
Pacific 801 climbs the Rio Grande’s Craig Branch with the Yampa Valley Mail sometime in the 1940s. The main line, which the train left at Bond, Colo., is far below in the distance. R.H. Kindig photo […]
