The Santa Fe established a major shop complex at Albuquerque to maintain and repair steam locomotives. At their peak in 1940, the shops were one of the city’s largest employers, with 1787 workers. The shops declined as the Santa Fe dieselized, and, as the road’s last steam backshop, perfromed their final locomotive work in March […]
Illinois Central wasn’t the first railroad in Chicago, but it was one of 10 Class 1’s headquartered there and became arguably the most visible, thanks to its lakefront location. Its Romanesque Revival-style Central Station, built on fill in Lake Michigan for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, served IC plus New York Central’s Michigan Central and […]
To handle maintenance and repairs on its substantial hopper-car fleet, coal-hauler Chesapeake & Ohio in 1930 built this systemwide freight-car shop at Raceland, Ky., at the west end of its massive Russell Yard, a facility built to classify coal cars moving west to Cincinnati and Chicago, as well as north to Lake Erie docks for […]
The Norfolk & Western Railway transported much of the coal mined in southwestern Virginia and West Virginia. Many loads went north to Lake Erie, others to “tidewater” at N&W’s big terminal in Norfolk, Va., opened in 1885. Here it was loaded in vessels for shipment to ports up the East Coast or for overseas export. […]
SP’s Los Angeles General Shops UCLA Dept. of Geography, Air Photo Archives Southern Pacific facilities dominate three views of Los Angeles. Much in this 1934 scene is gone, or greatly changed. SP’s Los Angeles General Shops, the most complete railroad maintenance facility the city has ever seen, was replaced by an intermodal yard in the […]
This 1940’s afternoon photo looks northeast from over the Cape Fear River across the north end of downtown Wilmington, N.C. (the ocean is 6 miles to the east). Atlantic Coast Line’s history in the port city dates to 1840, when the Wilmington & Raleigh opened a 161-mile line northwest to Weldon. After the Civil War […]
The Louisville & Nashville Railroad began by linking its namesake cities, and eventually grew to reach New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, and Atlanta. But Kentucky’s largest city was L&N’s home, heart, and headquarters, and the Bluegrass State’s top natural resource — coal — sustained the carrier that came to call itself “the Old Reliable.” In […]
Enterprise is among the tenants at Amtrak’s Fort Worth, Texas, station, one of just 19 train stations in the U.S. and Canada with rental car counters. Even at these locations, most counter hours are limited and advance reservations are required. Bob Johnston If you need to rent a car as part of your next Amtrak […]
A Union Pacific line runs along the east bank of the Duwamish River in Seattle. Benjamin B. Bachman A similar BNSF Railway line follows the west bank, ending at Port of Seattle Terminal 115, where Alaska-bound freight is transferred from trucks and railroad cars to barges. Benjamin B. Bachman Puget sound looks calm enough on […]
Click the image to download this interactive PDF. Many who love narrow-gauge railroads consider West Virginia’s Babcock State Park hallowed ground, for that’s where the Mann’s Creek Railway operated. From 1886 to 1955, this 9-mile threefooter hauled Sewell-seam coal from Clifftop, along the old Midland Trail about 70 miles east of Charleston, to Sewell, in […]
Bachmann HO scale 0-6-0T steam switcher This diminutive steam switcher features a lot of separately applied detail parts for an HO scale locomotive that’s the same size as many N scale engines. Part of Bachmann Trains’ Spectrum line, this well-detailed HO scale saddle-tank steam switcher uses the same tooling as the first release several years […]
Athearn HO scale Southern Pacific MT-4 steam locomotive Fans of Southern Pacific steam locomotives have had a few GS-class 4-8-4s to choose from as ready-to run HO models in recent years, but the Athearn MT-4 marks the first time that an SP 4-8-2 has been available as a ready-to-run plastic model. This Athearn Genesis series […]
