Steam and diesel on the Union Pacific

20190206

June 13, 1950, finds three Fairbanks-Morse H20-44 end-cab road-switchers and 4-8-2 No. 7019 at Union Pacific’s San Bernardino (Calif.) engine house. The F-Ms had taken over Cajon Pass helper chores in 1948. When they were found wanting, UP brought steam back for a spell in 1950–51. Chard Walker photo […]

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Hudson on the Hiawatha

20190218

Milwaukee Road streamlined 4-6-4 No. 102 leads a Minneapolis-bound Hiawatha out of Chicago at Western Avenue in March 1949. Retirement is just a year away for the sleek greyhound. Harold Stirton photo […]

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Maine two-footer special

20190220

Bridgton & Harrison 2-4-4T No. 8 creeps around a rock outcropping at the head of a special train in 1940. The second-to-last Maine two-foot road to operate, the B&H closed the following year. Robert B. Adams photo […]

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Piggyback on the Wabash

20190204

Several piggyback cars head northbound on the Wabash at Forrest, Ill., en route to Chicago in March 1960. In a few years, the route would host the railroad’s Roadrunner overnight TOFC train. J. Parker Lamb photo […]

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C&LE “Red Devil” car

20190219

Running as the Red Devil to Columbus, Cincinnati & Lake Erie “Red Devil” car 125 pauses to receive passengers at Osborn, Ohio, on August 2, 1936. C&LE was 270 miles at its 1930 creation by merger; it was all but gone by 1940. George Krambles photo […]

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Photo of the Day

20190228

This 40-foot Canadian National boxcar was built in November 1923 and was still in service in the 1970s. The car is single-sheathed (meaning sheathed only on the inside of the truss-style metal bracing) and has wood sides and ends. Note the modern AEI panel on the 1923-built car. Michael Dean photo […]

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