Southern Railway 2-8-2 No. 4505 — sister to excursion star 4501 — tramps up Saluda Grade in the pouring rain on Aug. 3, 1950. You can bet there’s another engine shoving hard on the rear to get the train up the 4.7 percent grade. August A. Thieme Jr. photo […]
Southern Pacific freight trains photo gallery
Southern Pacific Freight Trains: Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history, heritage, and style of the Southern Pacific all through February 2022. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Southern Pacific freight trains selected from the archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. Southern Pacific freight trains carried many commodities. Famously, the SP hauled sugar beets on […]
How the ‘Golden Spike Centennial Limited’ came to be
The Golden Spike Centennial Limited was born, in promoter Ross Rowland Jr.’s mind, as a reaction to the Association of American Railroads’ not planning anything special to mark the 100th anniversary of the nation-uniting event on the new transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah, in 1869. The apathy was perhaps typical of the Class I railroads […]
Nickel Plate Berkshires meet
In a 1954 view from the running board of NKP Berkshire 703, standing in the siding at New Douglas, Ill., with freight 49, sister 710 roars by with eastbound 98. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Rio Grande 2-8-8-2 on Tennessee Pass
Denver & Rio Grande Western 3600, first of the road’s 20 superb L-131 and L-132 2-8-8-2s, crosses the Arkansas River west of Princeton, Colo., with a westbound freight. LeRoy Wilkie photo […]
Nashville’s REA terminal
Baggage-express cars are spotted at Railway Express Agency’s Nashville terminal in 1962. Several of REA’s distinctive delivery trucks can be seen on the other side of the building. Railway Express Agency photo […]
Southern Pacific passenger trains remembered
All through February 2022, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the Southern Pacific Lines. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Southern Pacific passenger trains selected from the image files in Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. This gallery was first published in January 2019. […]
Narrow gauge electric line
The 3-foot-gauge Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn was built in 1875 and in 1928 electrified its double-track line along the shore north of Boston. Business was brisk at first, as attested by this scene at Crescent Beach, Mass. Nevertheless, the BRB&L was abandoned in 1940. General Electric photo […]
Maine narrow-gauge passenger cars
Passenger cars of the moribund Bridgton & Harrison languish in the 2-foot-gauge line’s yard at Bridgton, Maine, in 1940. B&H was abandoned the following year. Robert B. Adams photo […]
Louisville & Nashville’s ‘Dixie Flagler’ at speed
Louisville & Nashville 4-6-2 No. 277, streamlined in 1940 for the new Dixie Flagler, powers through Louisville’s Crescent Hill neighborhood with train 8 for Cincinnati in 1949. Charles B. Castner photo […]
Freight in Glenwood Canyon
Four F7s and a GP9 are reflected in the Colorado River as they roll a Denver & Rio Grande Western freight east through Glenwood Canyon in October 1960. George G. Speir photo […]
CV Mountain type
Boys young and old walk up to look at Central Vermont 4-8-2 601 at White River Junction, Vt., in the 1940s. Classic Trains coll. […]