As SSW 9647 East, a BKDOU, passes on the main line, an SP work train in the south siding at Woodford picks up spikes and other metal "debris" from the right of way using a big magnet att... (more)

While a Portland Terminal Alco S2 switches an adjacent yard, a passenger train at the station platform prepares to depart for Seattle.

Workers at UP's Burnham Shops in Denver prepare SP GP60 No. 9743 for a big lift, where they'll use an overhead crane to lift the locomotive off its trucks and onto steel "horses." The w... (more)

Right behind the caboose of a Milwaukee Road westbound arriving at Avery comes a railroad speeder. The railroad had speeders follow its freights as a way to put out fires started by sparks from th... (more)

SP FM H12-44 No. 2379 tows SDP45 No. 3200 after the latter has received major repairs at SP's Bayshore roundhouse. The pair are making runs up and down the main line while mechanics evaluate the b... (more)

As a westbound UP stack train passes on Track One, the engineer of EMD 7006 gets a smoke in behind the cab before departing eastward with his stack train. UP tested a number of EMD's demonstrator ... (more)

Built by EMD in December 1950, Milwaukee Road F7A No. 47A sits on the north end of an A-B-A set in front of the shops near sunset. The railroad used this set of power to help trains up steep Tacom... (more)

The crew of Milwaukee Road Little Joe E79 talks strategy as they switch cars for another freight before leading a second 262 out of Avery over St. Paul Pass and the Bitterroot Mountains. Avery Yar... (more)

Four big units, including GE U33C No. 8685, are cut into a big eastbound manifest fighting the heavy grade at Cable. On the westbound track a Santa Fe manifest glides downhill toward Bakersfield a... (more)

In May 1973, Western Pacific's MW37 a big Industrial Brownhoist railroad crane, sits in the yard at Oroville awaiting its next assignment on the railroad. The most likely spot it'll be needed is t... (more)

Early in the morning at Alta, CA, four big SD45s are cut into an SP eastbound to help lift this big manifest up the western slope of Donner Pass.

In mid-1985, U.S. railroads started operating trains without cabooses on the end, so when we saw this hack in March 1988, it was a pleasant surprise indeed. Westbound Santa Fe manifest at Woodford... (more)

Amtrak No. 6 rolls downhill next to the Truckee River near Boca, CA. Her two SDP40Fs apparently provided plenty of power for today's consist, since the train didn't require a lead helper to get it... (more)

What looks like a main generator and traction motors sit in front of the SP SD40T-2 No. 7361 in UP's Burnham Shops. The big electrical gear will be installed in one or several of the many locomoti... (more)

Locomotive mechanics Cash and Ross make the final preps on a power assembly before installing it in an SP SD40M-2. The installation will take close teamwork and skill to insert the big assembly in... (more)