BL2s and Pullmans to the Stock Yards

RockIslandBL2s

A pair of Rock Island BL2s, with an F7B between them, led the “Fat Stock Special” one night in 1956. Monty Powell In November 1956 I was a management trainee on the Rock Island Railroad in Rock Island, Ill. A special movement known as “the Fat Stock Special,” which originated in western Iowa, was coming […]

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Three-way race on the B&M

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Just out of Boston’s North Station, three Boston & Maine trains have crossed the Charles River drawbridges and approach the Charlestown Avenue bridge in mid-1947. From left: a 4-6-2 with a beach special, an E7 with the Alouette for Montreal via Canadian Pacific, and another 4-6-2 on the Boston section of the Green Mountain Flyer, bound for […]

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Union stations

CSXAC60CWMarionOhiostation

A CSX Transportation freight passes Marion (Ohio) Union Station. The site is now a museum with a restored interlocking tower. Brian Schmidt Q Why is the word “Union” used so often in the names of passenger stations and terminals? For example, Cincinnati Union Terminal, St. Louis Union Station, or Denver Union Station. Is there a […]

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O. Winston Link exhibit features rare images NEWSWIRE

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“Southern Pacific Local Freight crosses Intracoastal Waterway in Houma, Louisiana, 1951,” from the “Unseen Link” exhibit. Courtesy O. Winston Link Museum ROANOKE, Va. — The O. Winston Link Museum is now featuring an exhibit of rarely seen images by the famed rail photographer. “Unseen Link,” which opened on Sept. 14 and runs through Nov. 6, […]

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Adventures of a rookie brakeman

ApalachicolaNortherndoodlebug

An old GE doodlebug provided passenger services on the Apalachicola Northern in the 1940s. Classic Trains coll. I’m clutching the grab iron on the back of a steam locomotive cab, my feet on the apron between the engine and tender. I’m vibrating head to toe, with the heat from the boiler all over me. How […]

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Serendipity on a mail car

Northern Pacific triple-combine express car

Join Trains for a ride on a former Northern Pacific triple-combine express car as a retired mail car clerk, a historical interpreter, and a reporter meet to catch a mail bag full of history on a moving train on the Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway in October 2017. Only from Trains! […]

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Serendipity on a mail car

Northern Pacific triple-combine express car

Join Trains for a ride on a former Northern Pacific triple-combine express car as a retired mail car clerk, a historical interpreter, and a reporter meet to catch a mail bag full of history on a moving train on the Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway in October 2017. Only from Trains! […]

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Steam locomotive smokeboxes

HammondLumber282T

Hammond Lumber Co. 2-8-2T No. 16 displays an extended smokebox in this undated photo. The seam is just ahead of the smokestack. Martin E. Hansen collection Q I am unable to identify any particular pattern for when a smokebox is short or when it is long. I do note, in most cases, that when the […]

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