Introducing the all-new Trains.com Forum! Become a part of our Community! >>VISIT NOW
In October 1953, about the time author Les Clark was a fireman here, a Union Pacific freight climbs the grade out of the Snake River Valley near Reverse, Idaho. Challenger 3838 is on the point; 2-8-8-0 pusher 3528 was added at Glenns Ferry. David W. Salter October was a favorite month for me in southern […]
Engineer Norman Strickland (in front of cylinder) and fireman Russell Phillips stand at Perryville, Md., with G5s 1592, ready to depart with MD-58 for Philadelphia via the Octoraro Branch. George Gillespie Probably 90 percent of all railfans would say their favorite locomotive is the one on which they took their first cab ride. This is […]
On a day when they left the “Green Hornet” parked in order to simply watch the Afternoon Hiawatha sweep by, artist buddies Howard Fogg (at right in photo) and Gil Reid witnessed an F7 Hudson lean into Deerfield Curve with the Chicago-bound train. Gil Reid The year is 1939, and I am a student at […]
Union Pacific’s Las Vegas depot was the gateway to temptation for some passengers. Fletcher Swan I am a fanatic when it comes to preserving old paperwork related to railroad operations and history, as attested by a cluttered basement. I tell my wife, who is sometimes a bit skeptical, that there is always some interesting history […]
When SP cab-forward 4173 derailed on the turntable at Tucson, “suits” and laborers reported to the scene. R. S. Plummer, Gordon Bassett coll. I have been collecting old black-and-white railroad negatives for nearly 30 years. When I receive a new batch, it’s like Christmas, opening the package and sorting through the stuff. You never know […]
Near the end of its San Francisco–L.A. run, SP GS-2 4-8-4 4415 rolls “Overnight Merchandise” train 374 through Glendale. Herb Sullivan In 1954, when I was 14 years old, my family moved to within a few blocks of Southern Pacific’s Glendale Tower north of Los Angeles. I soon became friends with the second-trick towerman, and […]
Townspeople of South Charleston, W.Va., inspect C&O 500, first of the road’s trio of colossal steam-electric-turbine locomotives intended for its new Chessie train, on Dec. 4, 1947. Ogden Willis, William J. Sparkmon coll. When Robert R. Young took over control of the Chesapeake & Ohio, he started looking for ways to improve the railroad. After […]
CB&Q Hudson 4000, a sister to the 3012 that surprised Bob Jack on a freight, works tonnage at Galesburg, Ill., in 1954. Robert Milner Steam died in various ways, depending on the railroad. I nominate the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, “The Q,” for having done it in the most agreeable fashion. On some roads, steam’s […]
While waiting for their train at Bellows Falls in 1952, author Beardsley and his dad saw Rutland 4-8-2 No. 93. Kenneth D. Beardsley Catching up on my reading a while back, I had my memory jogged by David Lustig’s “One Day in March” and Curt Tillotson Jr.’s “Magic Carpet to Durham” in Spring 2003 Classic […]
B&O men pose with Baldwin switcher 428, the first diesel on the mixed train to Ripley, W.Va., in late 1953. Six years later, a sister Baldwin took a hard hit on the same job. F. Altizer It was dark and cold on the night of January 4, 1960, when Baltimore & Ohio train 961 arrived […]
Bought from a pawnshop when the author was a boy, this Hamilton Railway Special 992 watch passed many an official time check during his 44 years on the railroad. Jack O. Elwood I knew I wanted to be a railroad man, specifically a locomotive engineer, when I was about six or seven years old. This […]
Grand Trunk Western 4-8-2 No. 6040 on the Maple Leaf stands beside Santa Fe E1 diesel No. 2 on the Kansas Cityan at Chicago’s Dearborn Station. Frank M. Rogers I think I was a railfan by the time I was 5 years old. My father had been a fireman on the Milwaukee Road since he […]
