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Taken 37 years ago today in 1988 at Georgiana AL, a caboose brings up the rear on a coal train. Cabooses were beginning to disappear at the time and today, even coal trains are an increasingly rare sight. A branchline to Anddalusia, AL and beyond departs the mainline at left. [Nikon N2020...

Studebaker steering wheel. [D5100, 11/2012]

Union Pacific locomotives lead a Norfolk Southern train at Blythewood, SC in June 2022. With the nearest Union Pacific tracks over 600 miles away, this was a fun sight, including even a red Canadian Pacific locomotive third back. North American railroads often lend locomotives to assist...

Taken exactly 48 years ago today on 06/16/1977 at Knoxville, Tennessee, Southern Railway Model NW-2 #1064. She was built in 1948 and worked for the Southern until 1980 when it was sold to a shipbuilder in Louisiana. I suspect that the 1064 met the scrapper's torch decades ago. [Nikkormat FTn...

From today, a short CSX "local" train at Columbia, SC. Lead locomotive 6569 was built in 1980, but was recently completely rebuilt at CSX's Huntington, WV Shops to modern standards. Locomotives are expensive, so railroads do all they can to recycle and reuse. [D5100]

1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville Tail Fin [D5100]

On the other end of the steam locomotive scale is Norfolk & Western 1218, a 2-6-6-4. [April 1988, Attalla, Alabama, Nikon N2020, Kodachrome]

That's a super fine shot Bill! (y) That's a li'l 0-4-0T "saddletanker" (so named because its water supply is carried over its boiler like a saddle) that carries its own fuel and water without need for a tender behind it.

Got a derailment? Who ya gonna call? Bucyrus! One of the oldest names in cranes, power shovels and mining equipment, Bucyrus was founded in 1880 and was bought by Caterpillar in 2010. They were a well-known name in railroading. [Nikkormat FTn, Plus-X, 1976]

From my black and white days in 1975 at Fox Lake IL, a model E-9 locomotive in commuter train service on the Milwaukee Road, built in 1961. She was later saved at a museum in Green Bay WI, but the locomotive was in terrible shape by then and after being stored outside for some years, it was...

Hungary maybe? :unsure:

June 1997, losing light at Williams, AZ [Nikon N2020, Kodachrome]

Santa Fe Railway water tank and moon at Hackberry, Arizona in March 1997. This tank survives from the steam locomotive era. Water quality from desert wells was high in mineral content, so contributed to greater expense in water treatment and locomotive maintenance. Diesel locomotives had no...

From about 1976, a Chicago & North Western freight at Barrington, IL trails a caboose en route to Proviso Yard near Chicago. The C&NW called cabooses "waycars" and painted them yellow. [Nikkormat FTn, Plus X film]

From March 1994 at Columbia SC, Norfolk Southern Operation Lifesaver Model GP-59 4631. Operation Lifesaver is a promotional effort by U.S. and Canadian railroads to increase driver awareness of safety at railroad grade crossings. Specially painted locomotives like this one circulate on trains...

Interlocking machine bed and levers at the CNJ's long abandoned tower structure at Whitehouse, NJ in 12/1980. It has since been demolished. The levers were connected to signals and track switches and it took some muscle to move them. They're called interlocking machines because they were...

July 1976 at the former Reading station at Hopewell, NJ

This time exposure was made about 1975 with my Nikkormat FTn and Plus-X film. I closed the aperture to f/16, locked the shutter open and walked around popping off a handheld flash.

Yes, the clean cars are few and far between. Railcar manufacturers have recently begun to place car reporting marks (railroad and car number) high up on the carsides so that paint wielding knotheads don't spray paint over them. These markings are essential to railroad operations.

It was 12 Feet Wide and 10 Feet Deep, so was quite the feat when it was completed. There's a hiking trail along its length and you can easily see the route, but as you saw, nature has filled much of it in.