My ‘bad-luck’ engine

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Santa Fe 4-8-4 No. 3760, author Elwood’s “bad luck” engine, leads the second section of the Grand Canyon west near Hesperia, Calif., in the 1950s. Don Sims My story takes place in 1943, when steam locomotives were supreme, and tells about my experiences with Santa Fe 3751-class 4-8-4 No. 3760. I was firing in passenger […]

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Santa Fe’s Surf Line

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Read more about Santa Fe’s Surf Line in the following two PDFs: “Santa Fe Surf Line, 1940” by Keith Jordan, published in the August 2004 issue of Trains magazine “The Secret Borax Train” by Don Richardson, published in the Summer 2005 issue of Classic Trains magazine. Download each story by clicking on the underlined PDF […]

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Delaware Lackawanna Freights in Action

FULL SCREEN Kevin Scanlon Don Colangelo, Delaware-Lackawanna chief mechanical officer, cleans the handrails on C420 No. 405 at Scranton, Pa., on April 9, 2012. FULL SCREEN Kevin Scanlon Colangelo and author Kevin Tomasic discuss Alcos at Tower 60, Scranton, Pa., on April 9, 2012. FULL SCREEN Kevin Scanlon Delaware-Lackawanna grain train SPG09 heads for Horizon […]

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UP and SP at LAUPT

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Union Pacific 4-8-4 803 and a Southern Pacific E7 wait outside Los Angeles Union Passenger terminal in the late 1940s, ready to back down to their respective trains. The E7 is for the Golden State, while the 4-8-4 is likely for the Los Angeles Limited. Herbert Johnson photo […]

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Dad, trains, and me

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In a photo by his dad, 11-year-old Michael Landry stands in Pontiac, Mich., with the Grand Trunk Western 4-8-4 they rode from Detroit on March 24, 1960. Hank Landry There I am, 11 years old, dwarfed by the Grand Trunk Western 4-8-4 on the next track during its stop at Pontiac, Mich., on March 24, […]

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Me first!

Baldwin AS416 No. 1609 rattles across the diamond at Boylan Tower in Raleigh, N.C., on Aug. 29, 1969, while Southern Railway train No. 22 waits for its turn. The NS unit has 36 cars in tow as it heads south with local freight No. 49. Photo by Curt Tillotson Jr. […]

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What do Photographer Andrew J. Russell, the Civil War, and Union Pacific Railroad have in common?

FULL SCREEN Andrew J. Russell, Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-11750 General Hermann Haupt (rear, center) supervises a construction site in 1863 at Devereaux Station of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad in Clifton, Virginia. The locomotive bears his name. At right is J. H. Devereaux, superintendent. FULL SCREEN Andrew J. Russell, Library of Congress, LC-B8184-10161 Ornately decorated […]

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Virginian in Victoria

Virginian Fairbanks-Morse units Nos. 20 and 39 leave Victoria, Va., on a westbound empty hopper train in March 1956. Norfolk Southern has revived this paint scheme on its 2012 heritage units. Photo by Herbert H. Harwood Jr. […]

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Classic Depot

Norfolk Southern (Crewe-to-Hopewell turn) freight V-11 passes the Petersburg, Va., Union Station as it heads eastbound toward Broadway Yard on May 11, 2012. Photo by Michael S. Murray […]

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