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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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Newly inducted soldiers at Maryland’s Fort George G. Meade are lined up to board a Baltimore & Ohio troop train in May 1953. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Chicago & Illinois Midland 4-4-0 No. 500, built by Baldwin at the late date of 1927, pulls away from Hill Top, Ill., with the daily-except-Sunday train from Pekin to Springfield, Ill. The date is May 20, 1952 — late in the game indeed for American types on Class I railroads. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio F3 883-A leads the road’s weekday commuter train to Joliet away from Chicago Union Station not long before GM&O merged with Illinois Central to form Illinois Central Gulf. The little train was widely known as “The Plug.” John R. Taibi photo […]
Greasy rails on Missouri Pacific’s Kirkwood Hill west of St. Louis have brought 2-10-2 helper No. 1716 and 4-8-4 road engine No. 2111 to a halt in March 1946. The train got moving again with an assist from an 0-8-0. Joe Collias photo […]
