Rock Island E7 634 eases to a stop with a late-running Golden State from Los Angeles at Joliet Union Station in 1951. In the background Santa Fe F units wait with the westbound Grand Canyon. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 4907 leads a southbound train at Aberdeen, Md., in about 1949. The six-car consist contains four modernized P70 coaches, a diner, and a parlor car. Robert A. Hadley photo […]
Chesapeake & Ohio 3039, seen at Cotton Hill, W.Va., in 1950, was the last of 40 big class T-1 2-10-4s the road received from Lima in 1930. Their 69-inch drivers set them apart from earlier, slower Texas types. Richard J. Cook photo […]
In a September 1952 view at Cincinnati Union Terminal, passengers board Baltimore & Ohio’s Cincinnatian for Detroit. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Louisville & Nashville class M-1 No. 1988, one of 42 “Big Emma” 2-8-4s Baldwin and Lima built for the road during 1942–49, rests between runs at Corbin, Ky., in May 1952. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Servicemen enjoy a meal on one of Baltimore & Ohio’s elegant colonial-themed dining cars during World War II. B&O photo […]
At Enosville in southwestern Indiana, six-wheel switcher No. 57 of 16-mile coal-hauler Algers, Winslow & Western rests between runs in May 1952. Ed Theisinger photo […]
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio E7s 101A and 103 lead train 3, the Abraham Lincoln for St. Louis, away from Chicago Union Station. Classic Trains coll. […]
Similar to the EMD RS1325, the Alco S5 locomotive is one of those locomotive designs that seemed like a good idea at the time, was engineered well, ran well, but almost no one wanted to purchase. The manufacturer needed to update its aging lineup of 660-hp S3 and 1,000-hp S4 end cab switchers […]
The best-selling first-generation Electro-Motive diesel locomotives came from the switcher, cab unit, and road switcher product lines. The company that would dominate locomotive construction from the 1940s through the 1970s had humble beginnings, contracting the construction of motor cars at other companies’ plants in the 1920s. The Electro-Motive Corp. was purchased by General Motors in […]
Missouri-Kansas-Texas logo underwent subtle changes throughout the railroad’s history. But its origin is more interesting than these iterative changes. In his history of the Katy, J. Parker Lamb mentions the different incarnations of Katy’s corporate herald over the years, but where did the road’s uniquely shaped emblem come from? According to Freeman Hubbard in his […]
The biggest steam switcher stood head and shoulders above the rest. In the steam era, switch engines came in basically three sizes: 0-4-0, 0-6-0, and 0-8-0. They ranged from diminutive shop switchers — typically 0-4-0s, pretty much a pre-1900 machine — to huge switchers such as Indiana Harbor Belt’s three U-4a class 0-8-0s […]
