I suspect most writers like me live and die with Google. I’ve come to depend on its online search capabilities more than I should, but I have to say its reach — even for arcane railroad information — often seems like a miracle. Until it isn’t. Case in point: Last week my editor, […]
Norfolk & Western engine 613 — the last-built of the road’s fleet of J-class 4-8-4s, and thus the last of all North American 4-8-4s — wheels the Cincinnati–Norfolk Powhatan Arrow south of Kenova, W.Va., on May 30, 1952. Ed Theisinger photo […]
L&N heavy Mikado 1852 A hostler tends to the fire of Louisville & Nashville class J-4 2-8-2 No. 1852 at South Louisville on Sept. 8, 1951. The 165 J-4 and J-4A USRA heavy Mikados of 1918–27 were the backbone of L&N’s freight fleet. Jack Fravert photo […]
Pennsylvania Railroad class I1 2-10-0 1753 shoves on the cabin car of a westbound iron ore train at Alexandria, Pa., on PRR’s Hollidaysburg & Petersburg Branch in September 1955. The I1s’ chunky appearance earned them the nickname “Hippo.” Philip R. Hastings photo […]
An Erie Railroad 2-8-2 works hard with a westbound way freight on a steep grade near Alfred, N.Y., in 1950. R. G. Nugent, Rail Photo Service […]
An October 15, 1950, fan trip on New York State short line Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville utilized every piece of rolling stock capable of carrying people the road could muster. In the consist were cabooses 1 (built by ACF in 1914) and 2 (a 1911 product of FJ&G’s own shops). Ed Theisinger photo […]
In 1948, construction crews at Louisville & Nashville’s engine terminal in Hazard, Ky., work to enlarge the turntable to accommodate new class M-1 2-8-4s being built by Lima. The 98½-foot-long “Big Emmas” were the L&N’s largest locomotives. L&N photo […]
Welcome Be careful for what you wish Head End A potpourri of railroad history, then and now Fast Mail Letters from readers on our Spring 2023 issue Mileposts Commentary by Kevin P. Keefe True Color Toronto three-in-one Short Rails Cornwall Railroad at Lebanon, Pa. Classics Today Mark Twain Zephyr reborn The Way It Was […]
Two Pennsylvania Railroad class K4s Pacifics hurry a train from the Midwest south on the old Northern Central Railway between Harrisburg, Pa., and Baltimore, Md., in about 1940. The first engine, No. 2445, was on the commuter train that derailed at Woodbridge, N.J., on Feb. 6, 1951, killing 85 people. Frank Clodfelter photo […]
Delaware & Hudson 4-6-6-4 1527 is 8 miles out of the terminal of Oneonta as it passes a milk plant at Otego, briskly rolling through central New York State with freight RW-6 on the morning of October 13, 1951. Ed Theisinger photo […]
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When livestock was shipped by train, the railroads provided free transportation for the “drovers” who accompanied the shipments. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy drovers car 5760 was rebuilt in 1948 from a heavyweight 12-section, one-drawing room sleeper. It’s shown here in 1958. Hol Wagner collection […]
