The conductor of Minneapolis & St. Louis’ Story City, Iowa, mixed train looks out from the old hack’s side door at McCallsburg, Iowa, in the 1940s. William F. Armstrong photo […]
Minneapolis & St. Louis side-door caboose
Section: Photos and Videos
Mail on the fly!
The arm on a New York Central Railway Post Office car has just snatched the bag from the trackside crane. Incoming bags for such locations would simply be kicked out the door as the train passed. A. C. Kalmbach photo […]
Homefront supply line
Railroads were the primary means of moving men and materiel within the United States during World War II. Here a freight conductor walks beside flatcars loaded with M3 Lee tanks at an unknown location. U.S. Army Signal Corps photo […]
Photo of the Day
The Burlington Route created the first dome cars by modifying two coaches originally built by Budd in 1940. Silver Dome, pictured on display at Wichita Falls, Texas, was first, in 1945, followed by Silver Castle the next year. Wichita Times-Record News photo […]
Rock Island steam and stainless steel
In April 1948, a Rock Island 4-6-2 with an inbound commuter train approaches Englewood Union Station on Chicago’s South Side as the Peoria Rocket accelerates toward its namesake city. Bob Borcherding photo […]
Penn Station train announcements
Listen to train announcements at Pennsylvania Station, New York, recorded on November 11, 1963, from the archives of Semaphore Records, 202-255-4043. […]
Southern Pacific steam in action
Watch video clips of SP 2-10-2s, Daylight 4-8-4s, cab-forwards, and more from the Herron Rail Video program Glory Machines Vol. 1. […]
Katy freight house in Houston
Freight terminals had extensive docks for trucks on the nonrail side of the structure. This is the Missouri-Kansas-Texas freight station in Houston, Texas, in the 1940s. LeRoy Wilkie photo […]
Class A power
A massive Norfolk & Western class A 2-6-6-4 dwarfs workers in the road’s yard at Roanoke, Va., in 1954. W. A. Akin Jr. photo […]
B&O troop train confab
The commander of a May 1953 U.S. Army troop train out of Fort Meade, Md., confers with a Baltimore & Ohio passenger representative, the train conductor, and the Pullman conductor. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Boston PCC train
In Boston, a two-car train of Metropolitan Transportation Authority PCC cars rounds the loop at Riverside in 1963. G. Mac Sebree photo […]
Diesel and steam on the L&N
Louisville & Nashville RS3 150 passes “Big Emma” 2-8-4 1980 at Baileys, Ky., in July 1954. The Berkshire will couple to the rear of the RS3’s freight for the climb over Emanuel Hill. W. A. Akin Jr. photo […]
