Station scene

20190614

Rock Island FTs lead a train past the South Washington, Iowa, station in 1948. The railroad had 30 FT A units, Nos. 70-99, and 16 FT B units, Nos. 70B-73B and 88B-99B. Classic Trains collection […]

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Official inspection

20190612

Southern Pacific General Manager W.D. Lamprecht’s business car rides the rear of train No. 28 as it passes the helpers on Extra 6311 West at Midas, Calif., on Donner Pass in October 1957. In the foreground, the conductor of the freight walks forward to inspect his train. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Ohio Mountains

20190604

Homemade T-3 4-8-2 Mountains Nos. 5592 and 5558 lead a westbound Baltimore & Ohio freight past J Tower at the west end of the Willard, Ohio, yard. Forty such locomotives were rebuilt in 1942-1948 at the road’s Mount Clare Shops in Baltimore from older 4-6-2s and 2-8-2s. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Premier service

20190603

The westbound Sunset Limited, right, and eastbound Golden State Limited — the premier trains on their respective routes — meet near Colton, Calif. Classic Trains collection […]

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Prototype

20190610

Original dome car Silver Dome was at Lincoln, Neb., in 1963. It was different from production model dome cars with its square windows and corner vents. Jim C. Seacrest photo […]

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Coal drag

20190619

One of Norfolk & Western’s 81 big Y6-class 2-8-8-2s handles a long coal drag at Blue Ridge, Va., in the mid-1950s. Jim McClellan photo […]

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Freight goats

20190606

Great Northern dieselized with FT locomotives, which debuted the classic orange and green paint scheme. Here, a matched set of FTs departs Wilmar, Minn., in the early 1960s. Perry Becker photo […]

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20th Century Limited

20190613

Streamlined Hudson-type No. 5448 leads New York Central’s 20th Century Limited at LaSalle Street Station in Chicago in the late 1930s. Nos. 5445-5454, known as the J-3a subclass, wore the Henry Dreyfuss-styled streamlining. Alexander Maxwell photo […]

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Master of the E&W Turn

NYC8626

New York Central SW8 8626 stands at the road’s Avon Yard near Indianapolis in 1966. Another EMD switcher powered the E&W Turn some 140 miles to the north. Louis A. Marre As a struggling schoolteacher in northern Indiana in the early 1960s, I worked a few summers as a brakeman on a couple of local railroads, […]

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West Virginia coal

20190502

Baltimore & Ohio 2-8-8-4 No. 7609 carries a coal train to the summit at Altamont, W.Va., in June 1945. The locomotive is one of 30 EM1-class engines built by Baldwin. H.W. Pontin photo […]

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