The NWP Sprint Train passes the former passenger station at Novato in the North Bay.

Long before SMART came along, the NWP depot at Petaluma glows on a summer morning. In less than two months, the line would be leased to California Northern.

Portland & Western's first locomotive, ex-Southern Pacific 4326, pulls an extra Willamina Local on a sunny Sunday in the Northwest.

In Livingston, Montana, on May 7, 2012, Montana Rail Link EMD SD9 No. 608 is in MRL’s Livingston Shops getting sheet metal work done by a machinist. Two tracks over in the background in the proc... (more)

Coleman Welcomes You! ELS 1220 rolls thru Coleman, WI in July of 2000. These ex-Reserve Mining SD9's may have looked rough but sure sounded good!

With 1223 the only one that ever sees any kind of local regular duty these days, a five-pack of iron ore dust colored ex-Reserve Mining fleet of SD9s is still hanging on in the U.P. of Michigan at... (more)

Heading back to Sparks

BN "Cadillac" 6121 switches Northtown Yard in Minneapolis, MN in October of 1988. SD9's were among my favorite EMD products.

Power lays over at Ashland on New Year's Day 1987. Local jobs on the Siskiyou Line at the time were almost exclusively covered by SD9s.

The engineer of New England Central SD9 1750 gives a friendly wave, as he goes about the Monday morning switching chores at Italy yard in St. Albans. The veteran EMD was originally built as a high... (more)

A Southern Pacific local heads west (timetable east, of course) on the Tillamook Branch in the southwest suburbs of Portland. A late winter storm has dumped some fresh snow on Mt. Hood.

On Black Friday 1991, a train of empty beet racks on the Modoc Line is about to cross Burlington Northern's line to Bieber. Holly Sugar established a receiving station at Stronghold siding for th... (more)

Are you lost? DMIR 144 leads an empty ore train on CNW's Adam's Line at Sussex, WI in March of 1974. The bridge is the crossing of Soo Line's mainline to Chicago. Russ Porter Kodachrome from my co... (more)

The Alturas Turn heads east on the Modoc Line, with lumber empties to interchange with Great Western.

It's a "Southern Pacific Heritage Train!" SP 5472 leads the "Southern Pacific Day Excursion" through the trackage of the Niles Canyon Railway Museum while in a late Summer sett... (more)