Turbine power all the way

High speed in New England in the 1970s meant these turbine-powered trainsets built by United Aircraft, which sprinted between Boston and New York from 1969 to 1976. The two Turbotrains (Amtrak later bought a third set from VIA Rail Canada) achieved the route’s best-ever timings — 3 hours and 48 minutes between Boston and New […]

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Winding through wind

Union Pacific C44AC-CTE No. 5374 leads a mixed-freight train past Milepost 366.7 past wind turbine generators on its way to Monolith, Calif., on April 25, 2011. William Steck photo […]

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The waiting game

Looking east through the side of the 24th Street bridge in downtown Birmingham, Ala., CSX offers up a variety of EMD power. This train is waiting for clearance into the railroad’s Boyles Yard. Drew Halverson photo […]

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Green, gold, and gorgeous!

Southern Railway 2-8-2 No. 4501 pulls a National Railway Historical Society convention train on Sept. 5, 1966 from Keysville, Va., to Richmond, Va. This was among the first excursions that led to the development of Southern Railway’s famous series of annual excursions that ran between 1966 and 1994. Today, the 1911 Baldwin is under restoration […]

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A Railroader’s Work is Never Done

The conductor of train BUSW, “The Peoria Rocket,” sweeps the north switch at the Limit Yard on the edge of Peoria, Ill., as the crew, southbound on Subdivision 2 of the Iowa Interstate, prepares to interchange an empty Cedar Rapids, Iowa, coal train with the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad on Dec. 13, 2010. Steve Smedley […]

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Cresting Saluda Grade

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Southern Railway FP7 6141 and an F3 roar uphill into the hamlet of Saluda, N.C., top of famous 4.7-percent Saluda Grade, with the Charleston, S.C.–Cincinnati Carolina Special in the early 1950s. Linn H. Westcott photo […]

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Headed north on the Southern main line

Norfolk & Western J-Class 4-8-4 No. 611 rolls north on the Southern Railway main line, Aug. 22, 1982 during the engine’s three-day move from its restoration in Birmingham, Ala., to its birthplace in Roanoke, Va. The engine has an eight car train high above the James River. William D. Middleton photo […]

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Through the Selkirk Mountains

Westbound Canadian Pacific train No. 813, led by AC4400CW 8543, exits the west portal of Mount Shaughnessy Tunnel in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, on June 9, 2007. This coal train is bound for Roberts Bank in Vancouver, B.C. Mark Jackson photo […]

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An Ohio crossroads

Deshler, Ohio, sits at the intersection of two CSX Transportation main lines, its New York-Chicago trunk and its Toledo-Cincinnati route. A Chicago-bound stack train rolls across the diamond on Nov. 11, 2010. Photo by John P. Locke III […]

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Willamette bound

Amtrak train 301, a Seattle-Eugene, Ore., Cascades Service train, kicks up snow as it zips through East Olympia, Wash., on Nov. 23, 2010. F59PH No. 468 is pulling the distinctive Talgo equipment that serves passengers in the corridor. Jeffrey T. Schultz photo […]

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