In April 1965, the Mississippi River rose enough at Savanna, Ill., to endanger diesel traction motors, but the tracks were still passable. So, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy fired up fantrip 2-8-2 Mikado No. 4960, which ferried freight and passenger trains (like the North Coast Limited, pictured) through the high water. Photo by Chicago, Burlington & […]
An A-B-B-A set of Erie Railroad FTs, acquired during World War II, is fueled at an unknown, albeit modern, location on the railroad. The Erie had six such sets, Nos. 700–705 with A-B-C-D suffixes, followed by F3 and F7 units after the war. […]
Nameless Rock Island train 39, heavy with “head-end” mail-and-express business, is 2 miles out of Kansas City Union Station on February 9, 1963, as it arrives at the Kansas City, Kans., station, behind an E7A-B duo. The depot, which sat between the two main tracks used by RI and UP through trains, was beside the […]
Just uncoupled from its train, Wabash 2-6-0 Mogul 573 looks spiffy at Keokuk, Iowa, on October 18, 1953. The locomotive resided on the railroad’s Keokuk Branch due to the Illinois River bridge at Meredosia, Ill., which was unable to support newer diesels. Photo by Don Hofsommer […]
Workers pack ice in wooden crates with carrots at Elsa, Texas, northwest of Brownsville, in February 1939. There is an unidentified wooden reefer behind them. Photo by Russell Lee, Library of Congress […]
Some of Soo Line’s 50-foot, 70-ton boxcars were equipped with grain doors, visible in the upper part of the plug door. The railroad built 200 of the modern-looking cars in 1964. Photo by Soo Line […]
Missouri-Kansas-Texas 4-6-2 400 leaves Denison, Texas, with an extra in late 1948. Above the engine, awnings shade the windows of the dispatcher’s office, where the photographer then worked. One of 10 members of the Katy’s H-3-c class Pacifics, No. 400 was built in 1920 by Lima. Photo by Harold K. Vollrath […]
A C&NW E8 leads the Chicago–Rapid City, S.Dak., Dakota 400 past the shimmering waters of Devil’s Lake on October 7, 1956. Today, Wisconsin & Southern freights pass through this scenic state park, located 3 miles south of Baraboo. Photo by William D. Middleton […]
Southern Railway SD35 3055 and GP30 2585 have their high noses out in the Georgia sun at the end of their journey through Pegram Shop in Atlanta in March 1967. The railroad had 100 SD35s and 120 GP30s. Photo by Walter A. Appel […]
Baldwin’s shark-nosed DR-4-4-15 demonstrator set appears in a 1949 photo. Typical of builders’ offerings of the time, it was constructed in an A-B-B-A set. Photo by Baldwin […]
Santa Fe local 42, with 4-6-2 3445, rolls along Duarte Road in the community of Duarte, Calif., east of Los Angeles on January 1, 1952. The railroad had 50 locomotives in the class, Nos. 3400–3449, built by Baldwin in 1919–1924 and retired in the early 1950s. Photo by Stan Kistler […]
Two Pittsburgh & Western Virginia Fairbanks-Morse H20-44s lead 81-car train 92 into Louise, W.Va., in March 1950. P&WV completely dieselized its road trains with the Fairbanks-Morse units, sending all seven of its 2-6-6-4s to scrap. Photo by J.J. Young Jr. […]
