Helper for 13 cars

Tacked on behind a boxcar-turned-caboose, one of short line Western Allegheny’s ex-Pennsy H10 2-8-0s helps a sister move coal and limestone out of Kaylor, Pa., in September 1955. WA’s 2-percent grades necessitated two Consolidations for a 13-car train. Photo by Philip R. Hastings […]

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Lackawanna ferry boats

On a frigid February 10, 1951, four Hudson River ferries are in the slips of the Lackawanna Railroad’s Hoboken terminal. The photo was made from a fifth DL&W boat heading out into the icy river for a trip to Manhattan. Photo by Edward Theisinger […]

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Narrow-gauge doodlebug

East Broad Top car M-1 was assembled in 1927 by EBT’s shops at Mount Union, Pa., from a kit of parts supplied by the J. G. Brill Co. The gas-electric combine has operated occasionally since EBT’s reopening as a tourist line in 1960. Photo from Classic Trains collection […]

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Blizzard aftermath

A great snowstorm buried the Denver & Rio Grande Western’s narrow-gauge line east of Chama, N.Mex., a few days after Christmas 1951. On January 12, 1952, a work train engaged in clean-up work eased over the 408-foot trestle west of Osier, Colo. Photo by John Norwood […]

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Pennsy’s ‘Juniata’

Pennsy’s 'Juniata'

Tuscan-red E8s roll the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Chicago–New York Juniata beneath the George Westinghouse Bridge, which carried the Lincoln Highway over Turtle Creek Valley east of Pittsburgh, in the mid-1950s. Photo by Ralph E. Hallock […]

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Union Pacific U50

Union Pacific’s infatuation with super-sized diesels led to the creation of the General Electric U50 in 1963. The units featured two 2,500 h.p. engines on B+B-B+B running gear – essentially two U25Bs under one roof. UP bought 13 of the brutes; SP, 3. Photo by General Electric […]

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Little Mogul on the prairie

Wabash 2-6-0 573 in Carthage, Illinois

Wabash 2-6-0 573 heads a train on the road’s Keokuk (Iowa) branch just west of Carthage, Ill., on October 18, 1953. Although the road had announced it was 100 percent dieselized, it kept three Moguls to work this line, which included a bridge over the Illinois River that could not even support SW1 diesels. Photo […]

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