Union Pacific No. 5702 was assigned and lettered as a mail storage car. Built by ACF in 1949, it was a long (85-foot) streamlined lightweight car riding on six-wheel trucks. Union Pacific photo […]
UP storage mail car
Wheeling & Lake Erie 2-8-4
On June 20, 1950, seven months after the Nickel Plate Road leased the 500-mile Wheeling & Lake Erie, W&LE Berkshire 6430 rolls 75 cars toward Toledo along the Sandusky River north of Fremont, Ohio. Soon NKP would renumber the Wheeling Berks into its 800 series. Bob Lorenz photo […]
Small-town station ritual
A baggageman loads express and LCL aboard a combine on a mixed train on the Canadian Pacific (Quebec Central) at Vallee Junction, Quebec, in May 1959. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]
‘Wanna ride along with us?’
The engineer of Southern SD35 3007, preparing to depart East St. Louis in April 1968, invited me up for a cab ride—but logistics intervened. J. David Ingles Over the years, I’d bet most of us non-railroaders who’ve been out taking train pictures have received a spontaneous invitation from an engine crew we encountered. And how […]
Yampa Valley downbound
Rio Grande PA 6013 descends the Front Range of the Rockies with the Denver-bound Yampa Valley on Aug. 13. 1966. J. W. Swanberg photo […]
Western Allegheny at dusk
Ex-Pennsy H10s 2-8-0 No. 85 of the 21-mile Western Allegheny Railroad heads a train of big Bessemer & Lake Erie hopper cars loaded with coal and limestone out of Kaylor, Pa., in September 1955. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Open-hearth light show: Benwood at night
A steel mill at night, like this one in the Pittsburgh area, was an unforgettable sight. Baltimore & Ohio At night the atmosphere in many railroad yards was completely different than it is during the daytime. Although few railroaders would admit it, there were scenes that pleased both the eye and the psyche: The colors […]
Santa Fe 2-10-2
The Santa Fe Railway pioneered the 2-10-2 type in 1903 with a group of engines that were essentially 2-10-0 helper locomotives with trailing trucks to aid in downhill reverse movements. The wheel arrangement, known as the Santa Fe type, evolved into a general-purpose heavy freight hauler found on dozens of roads. AT&SF 3864 was built […]
Classic Trains, Fall 2017
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WM coal train in Blackwater Canyon
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 […]
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 […]
Tackling Tennessee Pass
Three of Denver & Rio Grande Western’s giant 3600-series 2-8-8-2s team up to lift a 42-car train up Tennessee Pass at Rex, Colo., just east of Minturn, in August 1954. R. H. Kindig photo […]
