Drew Halverson and his crew continue making the most of their trek into the Arizona desert. This time the guys scope out sites along Union Pacific’s transcontinental main line until the sweltering heat becomes unbearable. But even then, the intense action continues at the border town of Nogales, Arizona, in downtown Tucson, Ariz., and along […]
Tag: Railroads
Union stations
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 […]
Test run for Santa Fe’s Super C
The second Super C test run set a record with a 34-hour 35-minute run from Chicago to Los Angeles in January 1968. Crane operators had the first trailer on the ground about a minute after arrival. Santa Fe photo […]
Trains Presents: Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum ride-along
Ride along with Trains on the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s Missionary Ridge Local in September 2018. You’ll see the railroad’s Soule Shops, Missionary Ridge tunnel, steam locomotive No. 4501, and more! […]
Tracks on the PGA Tour?
The Providence & Worcester operates in four Northeastern states. Here, train NR3 passes the Thames River in Preston, Conn., on Sept. 1, 2009. Robert A. LaMay Q I was watching a professional golf tournament being played in Cromwell, Conn., just south of Hartford. Who owns the rail line that passes between the 13th hole and […]
A trip on the Erie
Two Erie trains, a doodlebug with a Stillwell coach and a Pacific with four Stillwells, climb the steel viaduct out of Jersey City before entering the “Bergen Arches.” Erie Railroad During the 1930s as I was growing up, my father worked for the Erie Railroad as a machinist. One of the perks of his railroad […]
Wood-burning Prairie
The engineer oils the valve gear of Brooks-Scanlon Corp. No. 5, a cabbage-stacked, wood-burning 2-6-2 that hauled forest products in Florida. Note the antlers and candlesticks adorning the headlight. Frank Clodfelter photo […]
Stored Great Northern power
Five “stored serviceable” steam locomotives occupy a track outside the Great Northern roundhouse at Kelly Lake, Minn., the home terminal for GN’s Minnesota iron-ore operations, in September 1954. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Troop train kitchen car
The cook on a Korean War-era troop train out of Fort George G. Meade, Md., stokes the kitchen car’s coal stove as a soldier on KP duty looks on. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
UP 2-8-8-0 in Idaho
Union Pacific 2-8-8-0 3530 is near Pleasant Valley, Idaho, with time freight 655 in the late 1940s or early ’50s. Sixty-four cars back, another 2-8-8-0 pushes on the rear. Henry R. Griffiths Jr. photo […]
NYC Mike in the weeds
In September 1954, New York Central 2-8-2 1305 wades through the weeds on a branch line extending from East Alton to Hillsboro in southwestern Illinois. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Oil train on the Erie
A dramatic nighttime photo shows an oil train on the Erie Railroad during World War II, when German submarines menaced coastal shipping, forcing petroleum from the Gulf Coast onto the rails. Erie photo […]
