Alco built a total of 190 Century 424 road-switchers during 1963–67. Nearly half went to Canada, and a quarter to Mexico. Of the 53 built for U.S. customers, 6 were for the Belt Railway of Chicago, which used them until 1999. Harold A. Edmonson photo […]
Section: Photos and Videos
Three-way race on the B&M
Just out of Boston’s North Station, three Boston & Maine trains have crossed the Charles River drawbridges and approach the Charlestown Avenue bridge in mid-1947. From left: a 4-6-2 with a beach special, an E7 with the Alouette for Montreal via Canadian Pacific, and another 4-6-2 on the Boston section of the Green Mountain Flyer, bound for […]
UP 2-10-2 on the run
The 2-10-2 Santa Fe type wasn’t generally known for speed, but Union Pacific 5015 looks like a real racehorse heading west across Nebraska with empty reefers in the late 1940s. Linn W. Westcott photo […]
UP Challenger type
Union Pacific introduced the 4-6-6-4 Challenger type in 1936 when it received 15 engines from Alco. UP eventually owned 105 of the 252 4-6-6-4s produced; No. 3937 is from the road’s final order, delivered in 1944. Art Stensvad photo […]
Waiting at Chicago Union Statio
A Milwaukee Road trainman peers down the dimly lighted platforms of Chicago Union Station for any late-arriving passengers as the Arrow prepares to depart the Windy City for Iowa points in 1964. John Gruber photo […]
Pittsburg & Shawmut coal train
Three yellow-and-red SW9s move a cut of hopper cars out of the coal-cleaning plant at Ringgold, Pa. in the mid-1950s. P&S, a 100-mile line between Freeport and Brockway, Pa., dieselized in 1953 with nine SW9s. Richard J. Cook photo […]
Rush hour on the Erie
Pacifics of three different classes are poised to depart the Erie’s Jersey City passenger terminal with outbound commuter trains at 5:27 p.m. on June 26, 1951. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Santa Fe reefers in Arizona
Four F7s ease a train of refrigerator cars around one of the many curves on the original line between Supai and Welch, Ariz., in a 1950s publicity photo. The road’s 1960 line change between Williams Junction and Crookton avoided this tough stretch. Santa Fe photo […]
Scenic Limited at Minturn
Rio Grande 2-8-8-2 3608 and 4-8-4 1800 stand at Minturn, Colo., with the eastbound Scenic Limited in summer 1938. R. H. Kindig photo […]
Taxi stand at NOUPT
An usher at New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal carries luggage and whistles for a cab at the depot’s taxi stand in the mid-1950s, when NOUPT was new. James G. La Vake photo […]
Mississippi Central work train
Mikado 131 of the Mississippi Central, a 150-mile line linking Natchez and Hattiesburg, Miss., heads a work train assisting in the cleanup of a mishap west of Brookhaven. The 2-8-2 carries two bells, a characteristic of MSC steam power. C. W. Witbeck photo […]
Mountains on the prairie
Illinois Central 4-8-2s pass at speed on the double track near Gilman in September 1954. Engine 2539 is southbound, 2418 northbound; both are on freight. Philip R. Hastings photo […]