A baggageman loads express and LCL aboard a combine on a mixed train on the Canadian Pacific (Quebec Central) at Vallee Junction, Quebec, in May 1959. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
Small-town station ritual
Section: Photos and Videos
Yampa Valley downbound
Rio Grande PA 6013 descends the Front Range of the Rockies with the Denver-bound Yampa Valley on Aug. 13. 1966. J. W. Swanberg photo […]
Western Allegheny at dusk
Ex-Pennsy H10s 2-8-0 No. 85 of the 21-mile Western Allegheny Railroad heads a train of big Bessemer & Lake Erie hopper cars loaded with coal and limestone out of Kaylor, Pa., in September 1955. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Santa Fe 2-10-2
The Santa Fe Railway pioneered the 2-10-2 type in 1903 with a group of engines that were essentially 2-10-0 helper locomotives with trailing trucks to aid in downhill reverse movements. The wheel arrangement, known as the Santa Fe type, evolved into a general-purpose heavy freight hauler found on dozens of roads. AT&SF 3864 was built […]
WM coal train in Blackwater Canyon
Western Maryland 2-8-0s 840 and 816 swing around one curve and into another as they lead a coal train east through rugged Blackwater Canyon between Elkins and Thomas, W.Va., in May 1952. Three more 2-8-0s at mid-train, and two more on the rear, help the 78-car train upgrade. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Swift refrigerator cars
A mix of older wood reefers and new steel cars mingle on the cleanout and ready tracks at Swift’s Sioux City (Iowa) plant in 1954. A lone car in the old yellow scheme stands out among a sea of cars in the red 1950 paint scheme. George Berkstresser photo […]
Tackling Tennessee Pass
Three of Denver & Rio Grande Western’s giant 3600-series 2-8-8-2s team up to lift a 42-car train up Tennessee Pass at Rex, Colo., just east of Minturn, in August 1954. R. H. Kindig photo […]
Meat reefers at Hormel
A Milwaukee Road switcher moves a cut of refrigerator cars at the Hormel plant in Austin, Minn., in 1942. Most of the reefers are wood-sheathed cars leased from North American. Classic Trains collection […]
Head-on collision aftermath
Northern Pacific 2-8-2 No. 1917 lies on its side after being hit head-on at nearly 50 mph by four F units on a freight train. The incident occurred at Wibaux, a lonely siding in far eastern Montana, on September 20, 1954. Wing Studios photo […]
Hudson on the Riley
New York Central J-1 4-6-4 No. 5373 brings the Chicago-bound James Whitcomb Riley into Kankakee, Ill., on January 23, 1956. The Riley and other trains on NYC’s former “Big Four” lines were among the last stands of the great Hudsons. M. L. Powell photo […]
Lehigh Valley mail car
Workers transfer mail between a Post Office Department truck and a Lehigh Valley Railway Post Office car around 1910. The 60-foot, all-steel RPO is state of the art, unlike the ancient wooden, open-platform car to its left. Library of Congress photo […]
Classic Frisco
One of the St. Louis-San Francisco’s beautiful 1500-series 4-8-2s swings through a reverse curve about 20 miles east of Oklahoma City with the Meteor from St. Louis in October 1946. Preston George photo […]
