Trains Presents: Summerail 2017

Join Trains Magazine video contributor Marshall W. Beecher on the road to Summerail 2017 in Marion, Ohio. You’ll see Norfolk Southern’s popular heritage locomotives, regional railroad Wheeling & Lake Erie, and much more across Indiana and Ohio! […]

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WM coal train in Blackwater Canyon

Western Maryland Railway coal train

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 […]

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Swift refrigerator cars

Swift refrigerator cars

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 […]

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Meat reefers at Hormel

Milwaukee Road switcher at Hormel plant

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 […]

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Head-on collision aftermath

Northern Pacific Railway 2-8-2 crash in Montana

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 […]

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Hudson on the Riley

New York Central Railroad James Whitcomb Riley train

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 […]

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Lehigh Valley mail car

Lehigh Valley Railway Post Office car

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 […]

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Classic Frisco

St. Louis-San Francisco Railway 4-8-2s near Oklahoma City

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 […]

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A 4-4-0 in 1952

Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway in Hill Top, Illinois

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 […]

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Taking Care of Business: Hull-Oakes Lumber Co., Part 1

A rail worker steps onto the steps of a red-painted caboose in a rail yard.

Charlie Conway visits Oregon’s Hull-Oakes Lumber Company to explore an industry with historically strong ties to the railroads of North America. In this first of two TCB episodes, you’ll get to see exclusive insider views of the harvesting, hauling, and cutting processes in and around the sawmill. Plus, you’ll gain new appreciation of the people […]

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