Dusty descent

Norfolk & Western Pocahontas

Norfolk & Western’s Cincinnati–Norfolk Pocahontas descends Christiansburg Hill west of Roanoke in a cloud of dust on April 21, 1971. Ten days before its discontinuance upon the arrival of Amtrak, the “Pokey” still carries healthy head-end traffic and an ex-Wabash dome coach. Photo by J. David Ingles […]

Read More…

Hump engines at Willard

S-1 2-10-2s at Baltimore & Ohio's Willard Yard

Bumped by diesels from front-line road-freight assignments, two S-1 2-10-2s work as hump engines at Baltimore & Ohio’s big yard at Willard, Ohio, in September 1955. Photo by Philip R. Hastings […]

Read More…

Coast Line veteran

Coast Line veteran

Atlantic Coast Line E7 No. 526 pauses in Miami in January 1965. The 20-year-old locomotive has had some body panels modified and its fuel-tank skirt removed, and is painted in the railroad’s simplified black scheme. Photo by Louis A. Marre collection […]

Read More…

The future comes to Milwaukee

Electro-Motive E6 passenger diesel on the Milwaukee Road

In late 1941, officials in hats and overcoats look over the newest thing on the Milwaukee Road: two-unit Electro-Motive E6 passenger diesel No. 15. At left in this scene at the east end of the road’s station in Milwaukee is suddenly obsolete F6 4-6-4 131. Photo from Classic Trains collection […]

Read More…

Push-pull pioneer

rendering of a push-pull commuter car

In the mid-1950s, Chicago & North Western and Pullman-Standard collaborated on the first fleet of push-pull commuter cars in North America. First used on C&NW’s Chicago suburban lines, the concept has spread throughout the U.S. and Canada. Photo by Pullman-Standard […]

Read More…

Mogul in the snow

Minneapolis & St. Louis 2-6-0 330 in Story City, Iowa

Minneapolis & St. Louis 2-6-0 330 is at Story City, Iowa, on March 9, 1944, with the triweekly mixed train from Marshalltown. Story City was at the end of a 38-mile branch line. Photo by William F. Armstrong […]

Read More…

Motorcoach surprise

Omaha-Billings train 41 near Osage, Wyoming

Even relatively pro-passenger roads like the Burlington could get ugly about train-offs. Immediately upon receiving permission to drop Omaha–Billings train 41 (pictured near Osage, Wyo., on May 28, 1969), the road halted it mid-run and bused its riders onward. Photo by Bob Johnston […]

Read More…

Remembering Ann Arbor Railroad passenger trains

Ann Arbor 4-4-2 steam locomotive with passenger train at station.

  Ann Arbor Railroad photographs are among the tens of thousands housed in the David P. Morgan Library at Kalmbach Media. This week’s selection highlights the short and fairly short distance passenger trains that zipped across the Ann Arbor’s lines. Please enjoy this gallery, only from Classic Trains! […]

Read More…

Erie open house

Eric R-3 2-10-2 4207 in Pennsylvania

Erie R-3 2-10-2 4207 stands at Avoca, Pa., on June 22, 1941, during what appears to be a railfan event (people are boarding coaches in the background). Note the push pole on the tender. Photo by Robert F. Collins photo, John Locke collection […]

Read More…

Delicacy delayed

Illinois Central CC-6 in Western Illinois

A stalled train ahead has halted the GP7s and reefers of Illinois Central hotshot CC-6 in western Illinois, enabling the photographer to get this picture. He was riding the Council Bluffs–Chicago train on the road’s Iowa Division for a story in Trains magazine. Photo by William D. Middleton […]

Read More…

Dominguez Junction

Pacific Electric car approaches Dominguez Junction

In 1960, a Pacific Electric car approaches Dominguez Junction where the Southern California interurban’s Long Beach line crossed parent Southern Pacific’s Harbor Branch. Today, Blue Line light rail crosses SP successor Union Pacific overhead. Photo by Richard Francaviglia […]

Read More…

Erie doodlebug

Erie doodlebug 5014 in New Jersey

Erie doodlebug 5014, an Electro-Motive product of 1931, and a Stillwell coach are about 5 minutes into their Midvale–Jersey City run as train 530 as they pass Pompton Junction, N.J., on August 11, 1946. The Stillwell coaches were a trademark of the railroad. Photo by D. R. Connor […]

Read More…