Streamlined Louisville & Nashville 4-6-2 275 departs Birmingham, Ala., with the every-third-day South Wind from Miami to Chicago on February 4, 1941. James Wade, L&NHS coll. […]
South Wind heading north
Seashore Lines Budd Car
One of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines’ 12 Budd Rail Diesel Cars pauses at Collingswood, N.J., about 3 miles out of Camden on the old West Jersey & Seashore, in September 1964. William J. Coxey photo […]
Burlington Northern history remembered
When created, Burlington Northern had a greater extent than any other U. S. railroad: Vancouver, British Columbia, to Pensacola, Fla. If you crossed North America from east to west, you had to cross BN rails or get your feet wet in the Gulf of Mexico or find your way around the north side of […]
The Rio Grande’s Farmington Branch
It was an oddball branch line with a just-as-odd history that is still worth recounting. The Rio Grande’s Farmington Branch was built in 1905 to connect Carbon Junction, Colo. (just outside of Durango to the southeast), and Farmington, N.M. It was a modest, 47.68-mile standard gauge line (later narrow gauge) that followed the […]
Piggyback on the Wabash
Several piggyback cars head northbound on the Wabash at Forrest, Ill., en route to Chicago in March 1960. In a few years, the route would host the railroad’s Roadrunner overnight TOFC train. J. Parker Lamb photo […]
Photo of the Day
This 40-foot Canadian National boxcar was built in November 1923 and was still in service in the 1970s. The car is single-sheathed (meaning sheathed only on the inside of the truss-style metal bracing) and has wood sides and ends. Note the modern AEI panel on the 1923-built car. Michael Dean photo […]
Maine two-footer special
Bridgton & Harrison 2-4-4T No. 8 creeps around a rock outcropping at the head of a special train in 1940. The second-to-last Maine two-foot road to operate, the B&H closed the following year. Robert B. Adams photo […]
Maine Central work extra
Maine Central 2-8-0 516 is sandwiched between a Jordan spreader and caboose as it approaches the station at St. Johnsbury, Vt., in September 1947. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Hudson on the Hiawatha
Milwaukee Road streamlined 4-6-4 No. 102 leads a Minneapolis-bound Hiawatha out of Chicago at Western Avenue in March 1949. Retirement is just a year away for the sleek greyhound. Harold Stirton photo […]
Fighting snow on the Rio Grande narrow gauge
Rio Grande rotary plow OY stands with 2-8-2 494 at Osier, Colo., on January 4, 1952, during one of the worst winters to hit the D&RGW narrow gauge. John Norwood photo […]
F7s in Glenwood Canyon
Five Denver & Rio Grande Western F7 diesels roll a westbound freight through scenic Glenwood Canyon between Dotsero and Glenwood Springs, Colo., in April 1965. Classic Trains coll. […]
Classy piggyback power
Displaced from more glamorous duties by the decline in passenger service, three Erie Lackawanna PAs lead an eastbound piggyback train through Pullman Junction (Chicago) en route to New York in July 1963. Jim Wozniczka photo […]
