Interstate Railroad 2-8-2 No. 15, a former Pennsylvania Railroad L1s Mikado, makes a smoky departure from IRR’s yard at Andover, Va., in May 1952. Photo by Ed Theisinger […]
Pennsy Mike in Appalachia
Magazine: Classic Trains
Motorcar mania
Nicholas, Fayette & Greenbrier motor 122 is loaded at Rainelle, W.Va., with LCL and mail, plus a few passengers. The motors required a four-man crew: engineer, conductor, freight handler, and mailman. NF&G, owned by New York Central and Chesapeake & Ohio, ran its motors on four routes. James R. Greene photo […]
Monongahela monstrosity
Pittsburgh & West Virginia’s Connellsville, Pa., line was rife with major bridges. Biggest of all was this colossal crossing of the Monongahela River, seen in March 1950 supporting a 2-6-6-4 and freight 99. The three main spans had a lower level for the Monessen Southwestern, but it never used them. Ralph E. Hallock photo […]
Mail money
In 1968, workers load Missouri Pacific Railway Post Office cars at St. Louis Union Station. As passengers deserted the trains, mail became an increasingly important revenue source — until the Post Office Department pulled most mail off the trains in 1967. Wayne Leeman photo […]
Iowa interurban
Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern freight extra 362 south meets northbound car 72, running as Boone–Fort Dodge train 1, at Hope, Iowa. The freight, powered by an ex-Oregon Electric motor, has backed onto the Rockwell City branch to clear the passenger train in this April 1955 interurban vignette. William D. Middleton photo […]
High-nose U25B demonstrator
General Electric 2504 was one of four red-and-white U25B demonstrator diesels that toured the nation in 1962. One, No. 2501, was the first U25B with a low nose; the others had the high nose that was just then falling from favor. Nos. 2501–2504 went to Union Pacific after their tour. Photo by J. David Ingles […]
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 […]
Railroad research tips
Railroads of the past can be full of mystery, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are numerous paths, some fruitful and others not, to find answers to your own mysteries. Follow these simple railroad research tips for better results. Printed resources, both historic and modern, are numerous. Perhaps the most comprehensive is […]
Yooper utility
Two of the Lake Superior & Ishpeming’s three Alco RS2 road-switchers power one of the railroad’s freight trains. The LS&I, which once stretched 103 miles linking Munising, Marquette, and Ishpeming in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, continues to haul iron ore. A. C. Kalmbach photo […]
Coupling up at New Orleans
A carman couples a red-and-orange Alco PA diesel to Southern Pacific’s Argonaut at the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal coach yard shortly after NOUPT opened in 1954. Photo by James G. LaVake […]
Climbing the Front Range
Denver & Salt Lake train No. 1, the day train to Craig, rounds a sharp curve in Rollins Canyon just east of Rollinsville, Colo. The D&SL’s low-drivered 2-8-0s like No. 122 were ideal for its route, but not much good for heavier trains. Few lasted long after the 1947 merger with the Denver & Rio […]
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 […]
