Incorporated in 1899, when the name of western Pennsylvania’s biggest city was spelled without an “h,” the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern ran from Brockway, Pa., to Wayland and Hornell, N.Y. Heavy construction debt forced it into receivership in 1905, and it was abandoned in 1947. Just before the end, 2-8-0 No. 71 leads a freight south […]
Section: Photos
Pere Marquette steam star
The Pere Marquette Railway’s 40 Berkshires, built by Lima during 1937–44, were the road’s last and best steam power. In this 1940s view, No. 1229 darkens the sky as it heads out of Plymouth, Mich., with a freight bound for Grand Rapids. Robert A. Hadley photo […]
Pennsy’s Parkton local
PRR doodlebug 4666 stands at the depot in Parkton, Md., just before departing on its morning run down the formerly double-track Northern Central line to Baltimore on June 4, 1959. The Parkton local trains ended a little over three weeks later, on June 27. PRR 4666 survives and is currently in service on the Allentown […]
Original Hiawatha departing Chicago
Steam from Milwaukee Road class A 4-4-2 No. 2’s cylinder cocks envelops a bystander just outside Chicago Union Station as the Hiawatha begins its dash to Minneapolis in 1935. Alexander Maxwell photo […]
Orders at Reverse
In about 1950, the operator at Reverse, Idaho, hands up orders to the engine crew of westbound freight 3-257. Two 2-8-8-0 pushers have been removed here after assisting the train up Medbury Hill. Henry R. Griffiths Jr. photo […]
N&W class A ready to go
Norfolk & Western class A No. 1239 is ready to depart Roanoke, Va., with eastbound time freight 84 in 1954. The potent 2-6-6-4 was built in N&W’s shops here just five years earlier. W. A. Akin Jr. photo […]
L&N Pacific departing Louisville
Louisville & Nashville engine 243, a USRA light Pacific, passes Highland Park on the south side of Louisville with train 23, the daytime local to Corbin, Ky. Many employees of L&N’s South Louisville Shops lived in Highland Park, today mostly obliterated by the Louisville airport. Charles B. Castner photo […]
Illinois Central express reefer
Illinois Central car 4840, pictured near Central Station, Chicago, is one of 35 standard wood refrigerator cars the road converted to express service by adding high-speed trucks and steam and signal lines. Mainline Photos […]
Helpers on Helmstetter’s Curve
Two big 2-10-0s cut in as mid-train helpers assist in lifting a train up the Western Maryland main line west of Cumberland, Md., at famous Helmstetter’s Curve in May 1952. The road engine and rear-end helper are also Decapods. WM’s class I-2 engines were the heaviest 2-10-0s ever built. Edward Theisinger photo […]
Chicago & Eastern Illinois passenger trains remembered
Chicago & Eastern Illinois passenger trains: All through June 2024, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of “The Chicago Line.” Please enjoy this photo gallery of Chicago & Eastern Illinois passenger trains, originally published online in 2015. […]
Pure Vermont
Vermont railroading The State of Vermont purchased 177 miles of the former Rutland Railroad in 1963, two years after the 400-mile railroad was abandoned. The newly formed Vermont Railway leased the 125 miles running north south between Bennington and Burlington, and a year later the Green Mountain Railroad leased 52 miles between Rutland and Bellows […]
Hand-switching a hopper car
Employees of New Jersey short line Union Transportation Co. use pinch bars and muscle power to move a car of coal a few feet at New Egypt. As coal is released from the hopper doors it is fed by hand-shoveling to the power-driven conveyor for loading into the tender of the line’s only engine, leased […]