Action on the Mesabi Range

20180315

A Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 2-8-2 has hold of a caboose at Rainy Junction, Minn., on the Mesabi Iron Range in August 1950. An Oliver Iron Mining RS2 diesel works in the distance. Henry J. McCord photo […]

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West Virginia survivor

20180307

2-8-0 No. 4 of short line Buffalo Creek & Gauley works at Swandale, W.Va., in the early 1960s. After a spell at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, where it ran as “Southern Railway 604,” this engine is now at Cass, W.Va. Classic Trains coll. […]

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Topping Tennessee Pass

20180309

At Mitchell, Colo., an eastbound freight train is about a mile short of Tennessee Pass on Oct. 5, 1947. In deference to the stiff grade, the 4-8-2 road engine is assisted by a 2-8-8-2 at mid-train and another 2-8-8-2 at the rear — all for a 30-car train. Ralph E. Hallock photo […]

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Dewey 1948 campaign train

20180326

Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 No. 250 moves out of Othello, Wash., with Thomas E. Dewey’s 17-car presidential campaign train on September 28, 1948. The 1930 Baldwin, the road’s first 4-8-4, took over from an electric here. Wade Stevenson photo […]

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Fast Mail at Council Bluffs

20180321

The E units from Burlington Route train 29, the Fast Mail from Chicago, prepare to couple to a baggage express car after setting out other cars at Council Bluffs. The steam and signal lines made it more time-consuming to switch head-end equipment. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]

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The “middle” order

NS1615

Baldwin road-switcher 1615 passes the Hertford, N.C., depot with Norfolk Southern freight 88 in January 1965. A few months later, removal of a siding here would cause some confusion. Harry Bundy Telegraph operators working from the extra list rolled with the punches. They were on call 24/7, as they say now, to fill vacancies created […]

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Washington state logging trestle

20180216

A work train slowly moves across 1,130-foot-long Baird Creek Trestle during the bridge’s construction in 1940 at Weyerhauser Co.’s St. Helens Tree Farm near Longview, Wash. The 235-foot-high structure was dismantled in 1961 when the railroad closed. Weyerhauser photo […]

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