Santa Fe train 100, the Los Angeles–Chicago Super C, climbs the west side of Cajon Pass with four Flexi-Van containers and four trailers trailing an SD45 and F45 on January 26, 1970. Joe McMillan photo […]
Super C on Cajon Pass
Section: Photo of the Day
Spot of trouble for a 4-4-0
In May 1952, Chicago & Illinois Midland 4-4-0 500 simmers at Oakford, Ill., as crewmen investigate a problem with one of the engine truck’s journal boxes. The problem was soon remedied, and the American type resumed its run with Springfield–Peoria train 6. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Reefers on the C&NW
A Chicago & North Western Baldwin switcher begins pulling cars from the “potato yard” in Chicago as an icing truck services a refrigerator car (middle) and buyers finish unloading cars (left) in 1957. Chicago & North Western photo […]
Piggybacked auto carriers
Transporting finished automobiles in boxcars was inefficient, causing railroads to lose business to highway carriers. Before the development of two- and three-level auto rack cars, railroads tried piggybacking highway trailers loaded with autos on flatcars. Here, a pair of carriers rides an 85-foot car in 1960. J. David Ingles collection […]
Piggyback on the Prospector
Beginning in 1964, the Rio Grande began attaching a car or two of piggyback trailers to the rear of the Salt Lake City–Denver Prospector in order to boost the train’s bottom line, as seen here at East Rocky, Colo., in April 1964. Nevertheless, the train was discontinued in 1967. Richard Steinheimer photo […]
PFE mechanical reefer
A Pacific Fruit Express mechanical car stands out among Santa Fe and PFE 40-foot ice-bunker cars in this early 1960s train. Mechanical cars were developed for frozen goods but began hauling more fresh produce by the 1960s, eventually pushing ice cars out of service in the 1970s. J. David Ingles collection […]
Orders for a GG1
The fireman of Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 4913 has descended the cab-side ladder to snag a train-order hoop from the operator at Odenton, Md., in October 1953. A blocked track ahead at Baltimore has necessitated orders for the Tuscan red electric, which today is preserved at the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum. H. N. Proctor photo […]
Oil-fired 4-6-4
This Milwaukee Road 4-6-4 is an oil-burner — note the lack of an open coal bunker on the tender. The rear stenciling indicates a capacity of 18,000 gallons of water and 7,000 gallons of oil. The engine has been converted from coal-firing for service in Idaho and Washington. Milwaukee Road photo […]
Northwestern Pacific passenger train
Thirty miles into its overnight run from Eureka, Calif., to San Rafael on San Francisco Bay, Northwestern Pacific train 3 picks its way along a trestle at the base of Scotia Bluff on June 20, 1953, three months before the end of steam on the Southern Pacific subsidiary. Richard C. Brown photo […]
Nerve center of Cincinnati Union Terminal
Perched high above the tracks, interlocking Tower A controlled the many signals and switches at Cincinnati Union Terminal. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Motor car through Georgia
Seaboard Air Line motor car 2027 (St. Louis Car/Electro-Motive, 1936) leads Savannah, Ga.–Montgomery, Ala., local train 11 near Rochelle, Ga., in 1947. The RPO apartment is part of the motor, and the REA express messenger gets some air in the open door of his car. David W. Salter photo […]
Milwaukee Road FM H10-44
Milwaukee Road Fairbanks-Morse H10-44 shows the high (cab-roof-level) hood needed to clear FM’s tall opposed-piston engine. The roof overhang on the back of the cab was a feature on H10-44s and early H12-44s. Milwaukee Road photo […]
