Boston & Maine 4-6-2 3664 on train 241 to Portsmouth, N.H., paces E7 3811 on train 147 to Portland, Maine, at Somerville, Mass., on Aug. 8, 1946. Albert G. Hale The history and major events of B&M For 150 years the Boston & Maine Railroad was an integral part of northern New England, beginning with […]
WM 2-8-0s 824 and 840 darken the sky at Elkins, W.Va., as they push a coal train east. Ahead 25 miles is Hendricks, where more helpers will be added for the Blackwater Canyon grade. George C. Corey It is a hot summer morning in Hendricks, W.Va. The time is early July 1944. I am 7 […]
EMD SDP45s were the last passenger locomotives Great Northern purchased. A few months after the Burlington Northern merger, SDP45 No. 9860 leads the Western Star at Eureka, Mont., on September 7, 1970. Doug Wingfield photo […]
On September 5, 1956, the Santa Fe’s Chief and Fast Mail collided at Robinson, N.M., killing 20 passengers and crew. Here, sleeping car Pine Rapids and an F unit from the Chief rest perpendicular to the tracks after the incident. Johnny Casick photo […]
A Pennsylvania Railroad T1 4-4-4-4 pauses with an eastbound train at Fort Wayne, Ind. The railroad had 52 such “duplex” steam locomotives, along with other wheel arrangements. Robert A. Hadley photo […]
A stagecoach, steam locomotive, and F7 in Southern Pacific’s “black widow” paint scheme gather at a “Rail to Trail” pageant in Sacramento, Calif., celebrating the 100th anniversary of SP’s earliest predecessor, the Sacramento Valley Railroad, which began operation in 1856. Southern Pacific photo […]
An eastbound milk train from Ogdensburg, N.Y., passes the joint Rutland/Central Vermont station at Alburgh, Vt., in October 1951, behind green-and-yellow Alco RS3 No. 204. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
In the Rocky Mountains, an agent hoops up orders to an eastbound freight at Thompson Falls, Mont., powered by W-5 class 2-8-2 No. 1849. John W. Maxwell photo […]
At terminal elevators, grain doors were stacked, collected, and sorted by the Western Weighing and Inspection Bureau for shipment back to originating railroads. These doors are stored by Milwaukee Road outside-braced boxcars. Library of Congress photo […]
Missouri-Kansas-Texas 4-6-2 No. 385 leads the Katy Limited south of Dallas in February 1948. The railroad’s locomotives characteristically had lots of white trim along with enameled heralds on the tender sides. C.W. Witbeck photo […]
St. Louis-San Francisco 4-8-2 No. 1516 leads train No. 1 through Lindenwood Yard in St. Louis in 1940. The Frisco had 30 such locomotives, Nos. 1500–1529, built by Baldwin beginning in 1923. William Barham photo, Don Wirth collection […]
In the 1910s, automobiles were shipped as “knock-downs,” with the bodies removed from the chassis and then loaded in boxcars. This is Ford’s Highland Park, Mich., plant in 1915. Ford Motor Co. photo […]
