Milwaukee’s “Viroqua Patrol”

Milwaukee’s “Viroqua Patrol”

Alco RSD5 572 leads the Milwaukee Road’s local freight to Sparta and Viroqua, Wisconsin, out of La Crosse in October 1971. At right is Grand Crossing tower, guardian of a tangle of tracks that includes the Chicago–Twin Cities main lines of MILW and Burlington Northern. Photo by J. W. Schultz […]

Read More…

Geeps on Tennessee Pass

Geeps on Tennessee Pass

A GP35 and three GP30s lead a 47-car freight up the west side of Denver & Rio Grande Western’s Tennessee Pass at Mitchell, Colorado, in September 1969. Indicative of the severity of the grade, four F units and two older Geeps are cut in as mid-train helpers. […]

Read More…

Early unit grain train

Early unit grain train

In 1968, the Great Northern loaded 50 of its new Big Sky blue covered hoppers in Wolf Point, Montana, in an experimental unit train move to an export elevator in Portland, Oregon. In this posed photo, a crewman signals from the train’s modern wide-vision caboose. Photo by Great Northern […]

Read More…

Doubleheaded C&O Mallets

Doubleheaded C&O Mallets

Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-2 Mallets 1309 and 1302 are departing Scarlet, West Virginia, in June 1950 with a loaded coal train. The 10 members of C&O’s H-6 class were the last steam locomotives built for domestic use by Baldwin Locomotive Works (1949). Engine 1309 is being restored for service on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad […]

Read More…

CSX begins rebound from historic traffic declines

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation’s earnings dropped sharply in a yo-yo second quarter that included unprecedented declines in traffic volume and revenue, followed by a strong rebound. “Wow. Where do I start in talking about this quarter?” CEO Jim Foote asked in his opening remarks on the railroad’s earnings call Wednesday afternoon. “This was the […]

Read More…

Workaday Baldwins

Workaday Baldwins

Chesapeake Western, a 54-mile T-shaped west central Virginia road, employed three 1946 Baldwin DS-4-4-660s, two of which drill cars at Harrisonburg, site of the Southern Railway interchange, on November 5, 1958. CW, under Norfolk & Western control after 1954, also reached C&O at Staunton. Bob Krone photo […]

Read More…

F units into Alexandria

F units into Alexandria

A three-unit set of dark blue-and-gray Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac F7s brings a northbound freight train into Alexandria, Va., in December 1949. The train is bound for RF&P’s big Potomac Yard, about a mile ahead. Photo by Charles Wales […]

Read More…

Branchline oddity

Branchline oddity

On May 12, 1962, Rock Island “motor” 9006 has a typically short train as it heads west with mixed No. 79 near Horton, Kan. The first of the 10 “baggage-car locomotives” left the roster in 1948, and by 1960 only the 9006, 9013, and 9014 remain. Frank Tatnall photo […]

Read More…