Journeys on World War II troop trains

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A Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 leads a troop train east through California in 1946. George M. Speir In early May 1945, I boarded a troop train at Fort Knox, Ky., and headed west on the Louisville & Nashville, destination unknown. The war in Europe had just ended and my fellow 18-year-old replacement tank crewmen had been […]

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Sad Sam

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SP Coast Division train 90, the San Francisco–Los Angeles mail train known as “Sad Sam,” passes through the Chatsworth rocks northwest of L.A. in the early 1960s. Bruce Hollinshead I was a teenager when I first began biking the two miles from my home to a place called Gemco after school. Like many spots on […]

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B&O GP9 restored to its original colors

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STAUNTON, Va. — A piece of Baltimore & Ohio locomotive history has been preserved. The Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad recently restored ex-B&O GP9 No. 6512 to its original blue and yellow paint scheme. The GP9 locomotive will be used on the Shenandoah Valley Railroad’s 20-mile short line between Staunton and Pleasant Valley in north […]

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NS repaints Erie Lackawanna SD45-2 in original colors NEWSWIRE

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Norfolk Southern No. 1700 in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Sept. 30. Norfolk Southern CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Norfolk Southern unveiled the latest addition to its heritage fleet on Wednesday with a blast from the past. The railroad recently repainted SD45-2 No. 1700 into its original Erie Lackawanna colors at the railroad’s Chattanooga shops. The locomotive was the […]

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Seaboard Coast Line SD45 being restored for museum NEWSWIRE

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Former Seaboard Coast Line SD45 No. 2024 as it appeared on Sept. 4. The locomotive is being restored for service in Tennessee. Southern Appalachia Railway Museum OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – The Southern Appalachia Railway Museum has acquired former Seaboard Coast Line SD45 No. 2024. Built in September 1971 by EMD, it is operational and includes […]

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Racing south on the Southern Belle

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Kansas City Southern E8 No. 26 races north of Heavener, Okla., with the Kansas City-bound Southern Belle on December 30, 1962. J. David Ingles Back in 1968, when I first hired out on the Kansas City Southern Railway, I bid on and was assigned to the “second trick” operator’s position at De Queen, Ark. By […]

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