Helping hand

20190822

Lightning-striped Fairbanks Morse C Liners hustle New York Central train No. 37 east at Millbury, Ohio, with the help of 4-6-4 No. 5273. The junction, 7.5 miles east of Toledo, joins parallel New York Central routes east to Cleveland. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Keystone landmark

20190827

Pennsylvania Railroad donated K4s No. 1361 to the city of Altoona, Pa., in 1957. The locomotive is undergoing a decades-long restoration to service. J.J. Young Jr. photo […]

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Central Illinois ‘Gulf’

20190809

A Gulf, Mobile & Ohio-painted GP30 and GP35 roll an Illinois Central Gulf train south near Odell, Ill., on the main line connecting Chicago, Springfield, Ill.; and Kansas City, Mo., in July 1980. J. David Ingles photo […]

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Decapod action

20190812

Pennsylvania Railroad I1 class 2-10-0 No. 1753 pushes on the rear of a freight near Canoe Creek, Pa., near the famed Horseshoe Curve. The railroad had almost 600 such locomotives built in its own shops and by Baldwin Locomotive Works beginning in 1916. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Conrail predecessor documents bound for shredder saved instead NEWSWIRE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Northeastern railway preservationists have saved hundreds of drawings — some dating to the 1860s — from Conrail predecessors from the shredder in what has been called a “monumental achievement” for railroad historians. The documents came from the Smithsonian Institution, which collected them between 1981 to 1984. With an Aug. 1 deadline to […]

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Ask Trains: Why do railroads create heritage locomotives?

GeorgeBush

Union Pacific SD70ACe No. 4141 letter for former President George H. W. Bush led Bush’s funeral train from Houston to College Station, Texas, in Dec. 2018. 18345-3 Bradley Bates Q: Painting locomotives is expensive. I’m curious to know why railroads would spend this kind of money painting heritage units? — David Berg, Minneapolis, Minn. A: […]

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Stationary steam

20190712

Articulated steam locomotives rest at Cumberland, Md.’s 31-stall roundhouse in April 1934. A coal strike has sidelined the big engines, which otherwise would be working. Bruce D. Fales photo […]

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Super Chief

20190723

The Super Chief was the first scheduled Santa Fe passenger train to beat the running time of the famous special that the railroad operated for Walter E. Scott, better known as “Death Valley Scotty,” in 1905. Here, the eight-car Chief is led by an A-B set of EMD diesels. Santa Fe Railway photo […]

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Pennsy power

20190702

The Pennsylvania Railroad station in Fort Wayne, Ind., was busy each afternoon and evening as the railroad’s eastbound passenger train fleet rolled in. Here, a distinctive T1 class 4-4-4-4 receives some attention under the lights. William N. Clark photo […]

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