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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 […]
The small east-central Illinois town of Tuscola hosted an at-grade crossing of three railroads: Illinois Central (double-track, now Canadian National), Baltimore & Ohio (lower left, now CSX), and Chicago & Eastern Illinois (lower right, now UP). Gordon E. Lloyd photo […]
Northern Pacific’s Banana Nut Bread immediately caught my eye as a recipe worth re-creating. The railroad wanted to waste as little as possible, so using overripe bananas in a banana bread was a sensible idea. It also reused milk that had gone sour (though you don’t need to keep old milk in your fridge—see tips […]
The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad is perhaps best summed up by two words: deterioration and reconstruction. Seldom has a railroad managed to survive the number of disasters, both natural and contrived, that befell the Katy. Its 1865 charter was for the Union Pacific Southern Branch. Although it connected with the Kansas Pacific (merged by UP in 1880) […]
Missouri-Kansas-Texas locomotives were modernized under the watch of President Matthew Sloan in the 1930s. They were mostly built before World War I, with higher boiler pressures and superheaters. As a light-rail granger road set in mostly prairie country, Katy needed only modernized engines. Premier mainline power was 154 Mikados and 62 Pacifies, with yard work […]
Amtrak San Diego service has seen a gradual increase since startup. Amtrak operated two daily trains on the San Diego to Los Angeles route when it started service on May 1, 1971. The trains retained the San Diegan branding inherited from the Santa Fe, which continued to operate freight service over the line. […]
As the caboose of a Maine Central train passes, the operator resets the ball signals at the Maine Central/Boston & Maine crossing at Whitefield, N.H., in 1979. This was the last surviving ball signal in commercial use on a U.S. railroad. Ben Bachman photo […]
The Budd Co. of Philadelphia introduced its self-propelled Rail Diesel Car in 1949. The RDC came in five versions with different arrangements of passenger, baggage, and mail compartments. Here, a train of Baltimore & Ohio Speedliners, as B&O called its RDC’s, is stopped at Cumberland, Md., during a westbound run in the early 1950s. B&O […]
Great Northern’s 1951 Empire Builder featured 44-seat, leg-rest coaches for long-haul travelers. Great Northern photo […]
Western Maryland 4-6-6-4 1203 rounds famous Helmstetter’s Curve west of Cumberland, Md., with a train for Connellsville, Pa., on May 15, 1953. Edward Theisinger photo […]
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Alco PA No. 292 leads local train 11 to St. Louis across PRR’s Chicago River drawbridge and onto home rails at 21st Street, Chicago, in October 1950. This unit powered the 1947 Freedom Train, evidenced by the plaque just ahead of the ladder to the cab. Wallace W. Abbey photo […]
Some books seem to have a will of their own. Nothing, not the passing of decades, not even the passing of the author, will keep them down. If the story is compelling enough — and if it is blessed with passionate believers — the story will win out. That’s how I feel about “The Diesel […]
