In Georgia’s “Pidcock Kingdom”

Southwest Georgia short lines Pidcock Kingdom

Three connecting short lines in southwest Georgia — the Georgia Northern; Albany & Northern; and Georgia, Ashburn, Sylvester & Camilla — were known as the “Pidcock Kingdom” owing to their onetime control by C. W. Pidcock. By 1968, when GN SW8 No. 13 ambled north with a freight on the GAS&C, they were all under […]

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Clinchfield on Copper Creek

Clinchfield Railroad at Copper Creek Viaduct

Pacific 153 leads the Clinchfield Railroad’s daily passenger train from Spartanburg, S.C., to Elkhorn City, Ky., across the landmark Copper Creek Viaduct near Speers Ferry, Va., on May 28, 1952. The lower trestle carries Southern Railway’s Bristol–Appalachia, Va., line over the creek. Ed Theisinger photo […]

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Destination: the cutting torch

Milwaukee Road in Marion, Iowa

Nine Milwaukee Road steam locomotives move east out of Marion, Iowa, on April 5, 1954, en route to an appointment with the scrappers. A 4-8-4 hauls the grim assemblage, but dieselization is around the corner. Robert Laker photo […]

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C&NW at Racine, Wis.

Chicago & North Western E8 in Racine, Wis.

Chicago & North Western E8 5024A is just hitting the Milwaukee Road diamond on the south side of Racine, Wis., and is about to cross 17th Street. It’s accelerating toward Kenosha, Waukegan, Evanston, and the Windy City in the mid-1950s with what is probably train 160, one of two trains from Milwaukee carrying the simple […]

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B&O Pacific entering Howard Street Tunnel

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad P7 Pacific entering Howard Street Tunnel

Baltimore & Ohio’s first P-7 Pacific, No. 5300 (originally named President Washington) is about to enter Howard Street Tunnel as it departs Mount Royal Station in Baltimore with train 21, the Washingtonian, in 1952. The 4-6-2 would soon be retired to the B&O’s museum in Baltimore, where it resides today. James P. Gallagher photo […]

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Servicing the Olympian Hi

Milwaukee Road Olympian Hiawatha

Engine crewmen confer beside the cab ladder as the two Fairbanks-Morse diesels heading Milwaukee Road’s eastbound Olympian Hiawatha are fueled and watered during a passenger and service stop at Miles City, Mont., in the late 1940s or early ’50s. Don E. Wolter photo […]

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