Brand-new Atlantic Coast Line Alco C628s 2001 and 2002 pose for a publicity photo with a string of ACL boxcars in December 1963. ACL photo […]
Big Alcos on the ACL
Toledo, Peoria and Western strike ends
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story appeared in the June 1947 issue of Trains magazine following the resumption of service on the strike-crippled Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway. Things are peaceful again after the Toledo, Peoria and Western strike ends. The bitter 19-month strike which was climaxed by the murder of President George McNear is […]
The runaway train that didn’t
Mountain railroading always gave the opportunity for a runaway train. In 1949, I was working out of the small town of Avery, Idaho, on the Milwaukee Road. The railroad crossed the Bitterroot Mountains on a 1.7% grade through St. Paul Pass. The grade began just east of the Avery depot. Avery was a crew-change, engine-change, […]
Life of a railroad tower operator
I was working as a relief railroad tower operator on the Lehigh Valley in the late steam era. It was a beautiful late-summer evening when I left an Athens, Pa., diner and began walking along North Main Street. It was quiet as there was little traffic on this main artery that connected the Wilkes-Barre area, […]
‘Guide to Historical Modeling of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Locomotives’ book review
This softcover, perfectbound, 570-page reference book is an index for modeling Baltimore and Ohio locomotives. So, there are no photos therein, and only text. This is not a history book about the B&O, so it’s not the type of publication you’d sit down with a good cup of coffee and immerse yourself in B&O passenger […]
‘Narrow Gauge in the Tropics’ book review
The 310-page book Narrow Gauge in the Tropics is a thorough examination of the railroads in the tropical islands of the Dutch or Netherlands East Indies, capturing the story behind the first railroad in Java where construction began in 1864. Java is the most populous and economically developed of the thousands of the Indian archipelago. […]
Railroad Labor Strike of the Century
Major railroad labor disputes haunted the nation during the latter part of the 19th century, highlighted by the “Great Railroad Strike,” which spread from Maryland to California in 1877 and the Pullman Strike 17 years later. Both of these bitter conflicts led to multiple deaths and costly physical destruction. The Shopmen’s Strike of 1922-23, however, […]
Railroad Labor Productivity
The 20th century saw a dramatic increase in railroad labor productivity. In 1916, the peak year for U.S. Class I railroad route-miles, those 100-plus carriers employed 1,559,158 people. If we assume 85 percent of those employees, or 1,325,284, were allocated to freight traffic — which totaled almost 339 billion ton-miles — this works out to […]
Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway remembered
Four events highlight the history of the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway: two spectacular accidents, a visiting steam locomotive, and a murder. Remarkable is that the TP&W rebounded from the negative incidents to last through 1983, when it was merged into the Santa Fe Railway. After three years, though, Santa Fe wanted out, and the […]
Fairbanks-Morse road-switcher
Virginian Railway H16-44 No. 36 was one of 430 B-B road-switchers Fairbanks-Morse built between 1947 and its 1963 exit from the market. The coal-hauling road dieselized completely with FM B-B and C-C road-switchers, plus one GE 44-tonner. C. R. Huff photo […]
Ex-Wheeling 2-8-4 on the NKP in Cleveland
A former Wheeling & Lake Erie 2-8-4, identifiable as such by its inside-bearing pony truck, footboards in lieu of a pilot, and other details, soars above “The Flats” area of Cleveland with a Nickel Plate Road local freight in the 1950s. NKP acquired the Wheeling in 1949. Herbert H. Harwood photo […]
C&O 2-10-4 on the fly
Chesapeake & Ohio class T-1 2-10-4 No. 3006 makes 60 mph with a 5,000-ton merchandise train south of Linworth, Ohio, around 1940. Glenn Grabill Jr. photo […]
