A rarity on any railroad, Alco RSC-2 1288 rests near the cottonwoods in Ellis, Kansas, between runs on the nearby 124-mile Salina-Colby-Oakley branch. Developed out of an design for U.S. Army, the... (more)

With the roar and the smoke-blast of a jet plane, Extra 25 West storms out of Cheyenne and heads for Sherman Hill. UP is already at work raising the 8500-hp units to 10,000 horses, making them the... (more)

Rio Grande Alco RS-3 5201 basks in the late afternoon sun at Denver’s Burnham roundhouse. One of five delivered to the road in the summer of 1951, by January, 1962, the 1600-hp road switcher can... (more)

We are parked on the siding at Tenneco, just north of Denver. There’s no problem with one-year-old DD35 96B. The workman walking the length of the unit is one of two dozen workers and officials ... (more)

On an afternoon in late March, 1967, it was still possible to catch a set of Santa Fe PA1s hustling along High Line into Kansas City with mail and express train 4 from Albuquerque, Winslow and poi... (more)

Mop meets Rock. On July 3, 1965, two weeks after massive floods shut down almost all rail service into Denver the situation along Colorado’s Joint Line is still far from normal. Missouri Pacific... (more)

Just days off the erecting floor at GE’sErie, Pennsylvania, plant, spotless U25B 230 with two older sisters leads a freight up the approach to the Harry S Truman Bridge at Birmingham Missouri. O... (more)

Those accustomed to Rock Island in maroon or red were startled in 1975 when the road’s new president John Ingram started painting cars and locomotives in white and blue. But Ingram had come out ... (more)

‘Tis the day after Christmas, 1965, as GTEL Big Bow 9 makes its noisy way past Tower A at Cheyenne’s west end with an extra for Laramie. The C&S overpass offes a fine view of the action, and, ... (more)

For two days crews have been cleaning up the aftermath of a derailment near Tolland, just east of the Moffat Tunnel. Now, on January 30, 1966, F7A 5741 and 5744 ease down the 2 percent at Coal Cre... (more)

In the days before it became a conveyor belt for Powder River Basin coal, the Joint Line offered drama and variety. Here on April 9, 1966, Denver & Rio Grande Western 5313, one of ten SD9’s on t... (more)

Rock Island likes General Electric’s U25B. The road bought its first in spring, 1963 and by November 1964 has acquired 39 of the 2500-hp locomotives, including the 207, seen here eastbound with ... (more)

Missouri Pacific’s far western extension to Pueblo, Colorado, completed in 1887 as a sign of its transcontinental intentions under Jay Gould, disappeared a century later, gobbled up by all-devou... (more)

Late afternoons in the summer of 1966, the place to watch the parade of passenger trains out of Denver Union Station is the 23rd Street viaduct. The sun has swung around to the west, catching Unio... (more)

Wearing the classic blue and gray Eagle passenger scheme, Missouri Pacific GP7’s 186 and 221 hustle a local freight east towards Herrington on the Kansas City-Pueblo main line, MP’s westernmo... (more)