The Tennessee, Alabama & Gulf’s entire diesel roster — a GP38, GP18, and three GP7s — heads a freight out of Chattanooga in 1970. The 90-mile TA&G, which linked Chattanooga with Gadsden, Ala., was absorbed by the Southern Railway Jan. 1, 1971. William J. Husa Jr. photo […]
Ex-Army 0-6-0 No. 9 of short line Virginia Blue Ridge pulls alongside the Southern Railway’s Washington–Atlanta main line at Tye River, Va., in 1962. William E. Warden Jr. photo […]
An E7 backs Rock Island’s Rocky Mountain Rocket into Denver Union Station in the early 1950s. Meanwhile, five tracks to the right, a Union Pacific switcher pulls a consist from the station. Donald Sims photo […]
Denver & Rio Grande Western FT set No. 541, purchased in 1942, hauls a freight up the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains at Arena, later renamed Rocky, Colo. John W. Maxwell photo […]
In position for a shot of Pennsylvania Railroad J1 2-10-4 No. 6427 climbing Horseshoe Curve with empty hopper cars in September 1955, photographer Phil Hastings had to settle for this view when a mixed freight overtook the Texas type on the outside track. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Southern Pacific train 372, the Advance Overnight, departs the freight terminal at 4th and Berry streets, San Francisco, at the start of its run to Los Angeles in the mid-1950s. SP was a leader in adopting piggyback freight. William D. Middleton photo […]
With a Seaboard Air Line E unit and a Southern Railway Ps-4 Pacific in the background, SR E6 cab and booster set No. 2902 stands at Atlanta on April 25, 1948. James G. La Vake photo […]
Mountain type 4040 rolls the Rock Island’s Golden State Limited, bound for Los Angeles via Tucumcari, N.Mex., where the Southern Pacific takes over, near Annawan, Ill. Classic Trains coll. […]
Having ridden a GP7-powered train in from the National Jamboree camp at Valley Forge, Pa., Boy Scouts troop down a platform at Reading Terminal, Philadelphia, en route to tour historic sites in July 1957. RDG photo […]
Brand-new New York Central J-1a 5200 — the first of the road’s famous fleet of Hudsons, and the first example of the 4-6-4 wheel arrangement in North America — steams through a ceremonial banner at Alco’s Schenectady plant on February 14, 1927. NYC photo […]
GM’s Train of Tomorrow In the blaze of postwar passenger optimism, General Motors and Pullman-Standard produced the Train of Tomorrow — an E7 diesel and four dome cars, all dressed in blue with stainless-steel trim — to showcase the possibilities of rail travel in the future. GM photo […]
The rakish front end of a Milwaukee Road F7 4-6-4 hints at the locomotive’s famous potential for speed. MILW photo […]
