Fast run on the Frisco

Frisco4304

Frisco 4-8-2s 4300–4310 were intended for freight service, but could turn a fast wheel on varnish when necessary. Here No. 4304 departs St. Louis in March 1943 with a 23-car passenger train.  George W. Person Jr. During the mid-1930s, the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad started rebuilding low-drivered 2-10-2 freight locomotives into modern, high-horsepower, coal-burning 4-8-2s, […]

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Telegrapher at Wilbur

npsosuperiordepotint

Although author Dinsmore’s territory was some 1,500 miles to the west, this 1966 scene inside Northern Pacific’s depot in South Superior, Wis., would be familiar to him. William D. Middleton When I picked up Classic Trains’ Summer 2008 issue, the cover blurb about the “Kid Telegrapher on NP’s Idaho Division” caught my eye. I searched out the […]

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Galloping Goose on the RGS

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Rio Grande Southern Motor No. 4 — one of seven “Galloping Goose” cars the 172-mile narrow-gauge road fashioned from automobiles and light trucks in the 1930s — is northbound beside Trout Lake between Lizard Head Pass and Ophir, Colo. Otto Perry photo […]

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Watermelon Extra

CTRGAFLshortlines

Russell Tedder’s 16-hour 70-tonner ride occurred in July 1955, when he was dispatching for the Live Oak, Perry & Gulf and South Georgia, two affiliated short lines recently acquired by the Southern Railway. Watermelons were an important source of revenue for the Live Oak, Perry & Gulf and South Georgia in the early 1950s. The […]

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Earliest recollections

JamesABrownage3

“Wee Jimmie” Brown examines a Canadian Pacific switch stand beside the Don Mills Road crossing in North Toronto. His fascination soon turned to fear when a doubleheaded freight came along. Alvin Brown Despite his son’s concern for their safety, Alvin Brown managed to photograph an eastbound freight coming and going at the crossing. Two photos, […]

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Steam’s Lost Empire

Steam's Lost Engine cover

Also in this issue: Home-built 4-8-2 on the Run, pg. 6 Baltimore & Ohio T-3 in Ohio 600 Tons for a 2-8-8-2, pg. 24 4-percent grade on a Northern Pacific branch Citadel of CB&Q Steam, pg. 34 Mikado at Centralia, Ill., in 1957 A Quiet Corner of the Santa Fe, pg. 58 2-10-0 on a […]

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Polishing the rails for General Electric

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New York Central S3 No. 9363 stands on the West Side line in Manhattan in 1967. Thirteen years earlier and 150 miles to the north, the road used another Alco switcher in a novel attempt to capture special-train business. Elliot Kahn, Louis A. Marre coll. In a lifetime of reading about railroading, I’ve seen the […]

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