The time I got to run ‘my unit’

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On June 15, 1972 — six years before author Olson’s ride on it — Illinois Central Gulf SD40 6000 pulls into Markham Yard at Homewood, Ill., with GP40 3011. J. David Ingles I have always had a thing for “class units,” that is, the first in a series, and “my engine” is Illinois Central 6000, […]

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Great Trains East

Great east cover

Also in this issue GREAT TRAINS IN PHOTOS: PHOEBE SNOW, pg. 16 CONGRESSIONAL SENATOR, pg. 24 CRUSADER, pg. 42 NANCY HANKS II MAN O’ WAR, pg. 56 SOUTH WIND CITY OF MIAMI DIXIE FLAGLER, pg. 84 EMPIRE STATE EXPRESS, pg. 102 CAPITOL LIMITED, pg. 112 […]

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Win a few, lose a few

UPreefers

Empty refrigerator cars race across the Union Pacific in Nebraska in the early ’50s. A UP conductor in Idaho talked his way out of a jam when his reefer train blocked a crossing, but got into trouble when he tried to enter the produce business himself. Linn H. Westcott Within any group, whether depicted in […]

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Rio Grande 4-8-2 helper

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Denver & Rio Grande Western 4-8-2 1513 pushes hard on the caboose of a 55-car freight climbing the Front Range of the Rockies where the line crosses Coal Creek. The date is March 14, 1942, and the lettering on the bridge shows that the line is still owned by the Denver & Salt Lake, which […]

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Skytop sleeper at Milwaukee

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The Skytop sleeper-observation car of the Milwaukee Road’s Olympian Hiawatha, highlighted by plenty of windows and chrome trim, stands at Milwaukee early in the train’s Chicago–Tacoma run. Classic Trains coll. […]

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North Shore at North Chicago Junction

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A northbound Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee train leaves the interurban’s Shore Line route and joins the Skokie Valley route at North Chicago Junction, Ill., on July 18, 1955 — one week before cessation of passenger service on the Shore Line. Overhead is the Chicago & North Western’s Chicago–Waukegan–Milwaukee line. William D. Middleton photo […]

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Biplanes and an E3

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Two biplanes trailing smoke accent a 1939 publicity photo of Florida East Coast’s Jacksonville–Miami Henry M. Flagler, named for the road’s founder. E3 No. 1001, emblazoned with the train’s name, was FEC’s first diesel. FEC photo […]

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