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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Southern and L&N diesels

Louisville and Nashville Railroad meets Interstate Railroad

L&N freight No. 66 is just two miles out of its initial terminal at Norton, Va., as the Interstate Railroad’s First Hill Crew, using diesels from parent Southern Railway, waits in the clear at Dorchester Junction, Va., on May 10, 1967. When the L&N train clears, the Southern EMDs will cross over to pull the […]

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So long, Ma & Pa

Maryland and Pennsylvania train in Sharon, Md.

On Aug. 5, 1958, the last Maryland & Pennsylvania train from Baltimore heads north across the trestle at Sharon, Md., shortly before the road abandoned the south half of its 77-mile line between Baltimore & York, Pa. Lawrence W. Sagle photo […]

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