2-8-8-2 on Tennessee Pass

20190104

Rio Grande 2-8-8-2 3601 exits Deen Tunnel east of Pando, Colo., with an eastbound freight extra in March 1946. On the valley floor beyond is the Army’s 10th Mountain Division’s Camp Hale. R. H. Kindig photo […]

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Western Pacific 2-8-2 in the hole

Western Pacific Railroad Mikado 308 in Altamont, California

At Altamont, Calif., summit of the Western Pacific’s climb over the hills between San Francisco Bay and the Central Valley, Mikado 308 waits in a siding with an eastbound freight in the late 1940s or early ’50s. Arthur Lloyd photo […]

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Wabash Mogul at Meredosia

Wabash Railroad 2-6-0 across Illinois River

Wabash Railroad 2-6-0 576 eases its train across the Illinois River at Meredosia, Ill., in September 1954. The branch between Bluffs, Ill., and Keokuk, Ia., was the last stand of Wabash steam, as the 1899-vintage F4 Moguls were the heaviest power permitted across it. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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View from the ‘Coast Daylight’

Southern Pacific Railway Coast Daylight at Cuesta Grade

Two passengers on Southern Pacific’s Coast Daylight watch with fascination as a 2-10-2 helper and 4-8-4 road engine lift their train up Cuesta Grade out of San Luis Obispo in about 1949. Linn H. Westcott photo […]

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Transcontinental sleeper transfer

Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad 0-8-0 moving Surprise Valley sleeper car

In October 1950, a Chesapeake & Ohio 0-8-0 moves sleeping car Surprise Valley through the interlocking at 21st Street, Chicago. The car arrived at Grand Central Station on Baltimore & Ohio’s Capitol Limited from Washington in the morning and departed from Dearborn Station on Santa Fe’s Chief to Los Angeles later in the day. Wallace […]

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More snowy model railroad scenes

A trio of diesels pulls an intermodal freight train through a snowy mountain landscape

If it’s December, it must be time to put on a crackling fire, pour a hot chocolate, and explore some snowy model railroad scenes compiled from the pages of Model Railroader. If you’d like to see last year’s gallery of snowy model railroad scenes, follow this link. […]

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Train time at Canton, S.Dak.

Milwaukee Road Midwest Hiawatha at Canton, South Dakota station

The Milwaukee Road’s station at Canton in the southeast corner of South Dakota is bustling with activity as cars off the Midwest Hiawatha from Chicago are switched into the Sioux Falls section of the Sioux. The year is about 1944; note the sign on the depot: “Canteen. Service men and wives only.” Henry J. McCord […]

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Switching stock cars at Omaha

South Omaha Terminal Railway switcher

A switchman signals a South Omaha Terminal Railway switcher as the diesel adds cars onto the meat train transfer at the Terminal yard on a darkening October evening in 1957. The cars will soon become part of Illinois Central’s hot CC-6 Council Bluffs–Chicago perishable train. William D. Middleton photo […]

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Loading livestock at Silverton

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad livestock cars in Silverton

The narrow-gauge Denver & Rio Grande Western did a lot of livestock business. Here, several stock cars are loaded with sheep in Silverton, Colo., in 1942. K-28 Mikado will lead the train back down to Durango. William Moedinger photo […]

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Double departure from Baltimore

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Camden Station

In a 1947 view at Baltimore & Ohio’s Camden Station in Baltimore, a Baltimore & Annapolis interurban train departs for Annapolis while a B&O 4-6-2 heads out with a train for Washington. B&A was a tenant at Camden until it shut down in 1950. Herbert H. Harwood Jr. photo […]

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L&N celebrity Pacific

Louisville and Nashville Railroad

Louisville & Nashville heavy 4-6-2 No. 295 was mechanically and cosmetically upgraded in 1940 for duty on the new South Wind streamliner. Some years later, No. 295 rests between runs at Louisville. Jack Fravert photo […]

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