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 […]
Shark nose style
Section: Railroads
Small town railroading
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 […]
Diesels victorious
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. […]
Deco depot
In 1940 Union Pacific replaced its old Las Vegas depot with this one, designed in a variant of the Art Deco style known as Streamline Moderne. The railroad’s shield and “Route of the Streamliners and the Challengers” sign — both rendered in neon, of course — faced up casino-lined Fremont Street. In 1956, UP augmented […]
Remembering New York, Ontario & Western passenger trains
All through November 2020, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the charm and notoriety of the New York, Ontario & Western Railway that spanned central New York State. Check out this photo gallery of “Old & Weary” passenger trains from the archives of Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. If you like this gallery, you […]
Sterling performers
Northwestern Steel & Wire, located in Sterling, Ill., beside Chicago & North Western’s east-west main line, cut up untold numbers of steam locomotives in the 1950s and early ’60s to provide raw material for its furnaces. Among the condemned engines entering the plant were 15 Grand Trunk Western 0-8-0s, which arrived in 1960. NS&W spared […]
Where there’s smoke
Where there’s smoke. . . there’s often an Alco. Delaware & Hudson PA’s 18 and 19 blast north out of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., with the Laurentian in June 1969. Doyle McCormack is restoring No. 18 (ex- Santa Fe 62L) as “Nickel Plate 190” in Oregon, while sister 16 has moved to the Museum of the American […]
Missabe 2-8-0 at work
Missabe 2-8-0 at work Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 2-8-0 No. 1218 has hold of a side-door caboose as it switches cars around Oliver Iron Mining Co.’s plant at Rainy Junction, Minn., in September 1954. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Remembering the New York, Ontario & Western Railway
History of the New York, Ontario & Western The New York, Ontario & Western Railway struggled to find its place among the many transportation systems serving New York City, but in the end it was able only to secure a place in history as the first Class I railroad to be abandoned in entirety. Despite […]
Remembering Pacific Electric Railway locomotives
All this month, October 2020, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the legacy and heritage of the Pacific Electric Railway. This week, we’re featuring the motley mix of electric, diesel-electric, diesel-mechanical, and steam locomotives that all operated on the Pacific Electric in Southern California. If you like this photo gallery, you might also like a […]
Story City branch
Minneapolis & St. Louis 2-6-0 Mogul 310 has only one gondola left to deliver in Story City, Iowa, before returning home in July 1946. The railroad had 877 route miles in the state in 1931, the fifth most for a railroad at the time. Photo by William F. Armstrong […]
Photo of the Day
Mountain meet Pennsylvania Railroad GP9s on westbound piggyback train TT1 pass J1 class 2-10-4 No. 6166, which has stopped on the main line near Johnstown, Pa., to take water from an overhead spout, in September 1956. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
