New York Central J-1 Hudson 5236 takes water from a track pan near Huron, Ohio, in the 1940s. Water columns stand ready to serve engines that stop for water. Richard J. Cook photo […]
Hudson scooping water
Section: Photo of the Day
Fuel train on the Tonopah & Goldfield
Built during the gold rush years of 1904-05, Nevada’s Tonopah & Goldfield ran 100 miles southeast from an SP connection in the desert near the California border. An Air Force base near Goldfield brought traffic to the road during World War II — these two slide-valve 2-8-0s are hauling aviation fuel — but the boom didn’t […]
Flexi-Vans on the IC
Flexi-Vans on the IC The Illinois Central was one of several roads that used Flexi-Vans for mail. Here, two Flexi-Van flatcars (four containers) are tucked behind the engines, and a third flatcar with a single container brings up the rear, on the Land O’ Corn at Rockford, Ill., in March 1967. Mike Schafer photo […]
Early Pennsy piggyback
A single-axle Pennsylvania Railroad trailer with the “Keystone Merchandise Service” logo on the front is positioned on a flatcar in Chicago in 1954. Soon the PRR led the formation of Trailer Train, known today as TTX. Pennsylvania Railroad photo […]
Doubleheaded Pennsy 2-10-4s
Pennsylvania class J1 Texas types 6486 and 6488 move Lake Erie-bound coal north out of Columbus, Ohio, in September 1955. PRR’s 125-strong J1 fleet of 1942–44, based on a Chesapeake & Ohio design, accounted for more than a quarter of all 2-10-4s built. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Consolidation in Minnesota fog
Duluth & Northeastern No. 27, a former Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 2-8-0, emerges from morning fog with empty log flats at Cloquet, Minn., in August 1962. The short line dieselized in August 1964. Russ Porter photo […]
CB&Q and PRR diesels in Chicago
A Burlington Route switcher prepares to move several baggage-express cars at the Railway Express terminal near Chicago’s Union Station in 1961. In the foreground, a Pennsy switcher moves motive power — two E8As and an E7B — for a train into position at the station. J. David Ingles photo […]
Bridgton & Harrison No. 8
B&H 2-foot gauge 2-4-4T No. 8 stands at Bridgton, Maine, in August 1940. B&H, successor to the Bridgton & Saco River, quit the following year. Robert B. Adams photo […]
B&M steam and diesel at Boston
In November 1953, Moguls and Pacifics watch as a GP7 moves onto the turntable at Boston & Maine’s roundhouse just across the Charles River from North Station, Boston. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
An engineer and his steed
A Minneapolis & St. Louis engineer poses with his engine, Mogul 304, in mid-1946. He’s waiting at Minerva Junction, Iowa, to take his mixed train off the Story City Branch and on to the main line for the return to Marshalltown. William F. Armstrong photo […]
The Chief at Dearborn
In October 1950, Santa Fe’s Chief awaits the highball for Los Angeles at Chicago Dearborn Station as an RS1 of Chicago & Western Indiana, Dearborn’s owner, stands at right. Bob Borcherding photo […]
Rio Grande 4-8-2 on freight
Denver & Rio Grande Western 4-8-2 No. 1517 exhibits a clear stack as it brings a freight downgrade at Keeldar, Colo., between Tennessee Pass and Malta, on July 3, 1941. John W. Maxwell photo […]
