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Illinois Central: 1942
... "Chicago, Illinois. Locomotives in an Illinois Central Railroad yard." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/31/2024 - 4:09pm -

November 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Locomotives in an Illinois Central Railroad yard." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size. Doobie BrothersWell, The Illinois Central ... and the Southern Central Freight. Gotta keep on pushin' Mama, you know they're running late! City of New Orleans"City of New Orleans" is a country folk song written by Steve Goodman (and first recorded for Goodman's self-titled 1971 album), describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Railroad's "City of New Orleans" in bittersweet and nostalgic terms. (Wikipedia) and made famous by Arlo Guthrie Still RunsAmtrak still runs "City of New Orleans". It still goes thru Kankakee and Memphis. https://www.amtrak.com/city-of-new-orleans-train (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Trucks Akimbo: 1939
... is in really sharp focus. Great Northern Freight Yard I believe this is one of the freight houses behind the GN depot in ... Station" belonged to the Chicago & North Western Railroad on Fourth Avenue North near First Street. The building still survives, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 8:18pm -

September 1939. "Minneapolis, Minnesota. Trucks loading at farm implement warehouse." 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon. View full size. Looks like scale models in a set.Particularly everything from the train tracks up. The lower section doesn't have the sheen or something to carry it off. The two guys in and around the truck don't help either. I wondered at firstLooking at the top half of the picture I almost thought it was one of those amazingly detailed models we see occasionally, but then I saw the guy hanging out of the truck window bottom left! ToysThis looks like a bunch of toys. If only it was also a tilt/shift photograph. Traffic JamLooks like a game of Traffic Jam with 30's vehicles. ModelesqueI know the photo is real, but it looks like one of Michael Paul Smith's images. Tonka! This so looks like a kid's play area with all his little cars and trucks. Hope he isn't in the mood for an accident. Slightly SurrealThere is a definite air of artificiality here, in spite of the fact that this is an authentic photograph of a real-life scene. Is it the rakish angle? The floating-above-it-all perspective? It screams "scale model" as in a contrived cityscape in a model-enthusiast's basement. 1934Never mind the big Minneapolis truckers strike in 1934, in which the National Guard was called in to shoot the strikers in the streets. It's a big deal in Labor history, particularly in Minnesota. But have fun with it. Doublemint twinsI had no idea their ad concept went back that many years. The year before I was born!Amazing that this was possible with 35mm, but if you examine the photo carefully you wil see that only the truck in the upper center is in really sharp focus. Great Northern Freight YardI believe this is one of the freight houses behind the GN depot in Minneapolis. The yard was bisected at 4th Avenue North, where I think the 1939 photo was taken. There is one remaining building that is today used for housing. Don't pass on the rightI found it interesting that the truck crossing the tracks only had a mirror on the right side. I though that may have been a traffic hazard till I noticed that none of the many vehicles had side mirrors at all! WOW, Clean!!!!I am amazed at how clean this area and the trucks appear. Very little litter laying around and absolutely ZERO graffitti. Of course the spray paint can wasn't invented yet. Batman!This totally looks like a panel from a Batman comic. AkimbophileGood to be able to use a word like "akimbo" any time. A wonderful word that is perfect. It just rolls off the tongue so nicely. And works well in Scrabble at times. City lifeCity life in the forties. Cars and trucks had awesome designs. MatchboxesLooks like somebody's Matchbox collection in an HO scale layout. A guessSomehow I think the guy hanging out of the window in the truck in the center of this started off his conversation with "Hey Lou!" DizzyThe angle of the shot actually makes me dizzy. Or the Untouchables!Which truck has the booze, and will Ness find it in time? They'll be headed back to the border for more if he doesn't! Something's FishyOkay, I'll stick my neck out. I think these are scale models; cars, trucks and building. The vehicles are all too clean and perfect. No loading docks in sight, nor one human. That was my first impression yesterday and it's still my impression today. [There are at least five people in the photo. - Dave] Science is Helpless Also looks like a miniature set from a "Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" type movie. I'm waiting for a lizard to stomp on some of these cars and trucks. Dioramais what this almost looks like except the people and the papers in the gutter say otherwise. SurrealThis picture has an otherworldly quality, particularly when one views the full size version. The angles are unsettling and chaotic, and the vehicles begin to look like tiny toy model versions of their real selves. It's like a noir version of the intro to "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." One almost expects to see John Garfield step out of that doorway. "Wheeler"Now there's a perfect name for a transportation company. Fourth AvenueThe "Freight Station" belonged to the Chicago & North Western Railroad on Fourth Avenue North near First Street. The building still survives, although has no railroad track anymore. Angle of the photo suggests it was shot from the roof of long-gone Security Warehouse. 1. A 1982 view. 2. Bird's eye view. I see I'm not the only one that sees this as a model. So I looked at the image again and came up with some reasons why I think it looks like a miniature. The angle of the camera doesn't seem to have any effect on the miniature. I rotated it, and still looks small. I think the main reason is the lack of any harsh shadows and bright highlights. It could be early morning, or a cloudy day. A couple of trucks in the foreground do have sun on them, and the illusion seems to fail there. The way the cars are parked may have something to do with it. They are not perfectly parked by today's standards, and the guy on the sidewalk is asking for a ticket. The softness of the details in the above half also lend to the fact that the cars look die cast, and lacking in detail of a full size auto. Lastly, the angle of the shot is from somewhat of a humans eye view if they were looking down onto a table top. That's about it. Supreme exampleAfter New York's police commissioner banned trucks with advertising sideboards (like the Doublemint ad on the Railway Express truck in lower right), Railway Express Agency tried but failed to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the regulation. In the 1948 decision, Justice Douglas added that "the fact that New York City sees fit to eliminate from traffic this kind of distraction, but does not touch what may be even greater ones in a different category, such as the vivid displays on Times Square, is immaterial." C&NW Freight StationThe "Freight Station" is the building seen on the right in this Street View. Below that is another shot by John Vachon of the same scene. View Larger Map Memo to the "model" crowdTo avoid further embarrassment you might want to check out the other pics in this series. John VachonShorpy-ites will be gratified to know that a book of John Vachon's photos was just added to the Library of Congress's excellent "Fields of Vision" series--along with Esther Bubley and Jack Delano! Not a modelTook me a while, but before I looked at the other pictures I decided that while the angle certainly helps mess things up, what really got me was that the sizes of the trucks in comparison to that of the cars are smaller than they are today. I'm used to seeing trucks that are wider, or longer, or both. The "Wheeler Transportation" truck is what starts the whole "it's a model!" thing off for me. It looks like it doesn't belong, and, therefore, nothing else does, either. At least until you look at the detail of the street cobbles, the weathering on the wheels, and etc., that is. The Jack Greaves truck is the weirdest, with a bed that looks like a model bed, a person in the window that could go either way, but wheels that look like they are carrying a truck's worth of weight, which is something you never see in models. Weird. Shifty lookThe out-of-focus, tilt-shifty look in many of the pictures taken with these early 35mm Leicas was due to the film not being in entirely the focal plane. You had to be very careful loading. A redesign of the camera back around 1940 took care of the problem. Real PeopleI am not certain how you all believe that this can be a model with those people in the picture. Sure, it looks a bit like toys but the people are hard to fake. DoublemintLove the early Otis Shepard Doublemint gum billboard. Otis Shepard's Doublemint twinsI love the Otis Shepard illustration on the side of the truck, too. I don't have an image of that particular one, but I do have color images of two others from the same campaign: RE: Fourth AvenueThe building labeled "Freight Station" still exists and is residential. The building just out of the frame on the left side is the original Lindsay building, also now residential. It's lowest level can be seen in the photo added by "Anonymous Tipster" on 5/20/2010. RE: johnhill_3009 on Tue, 05/18/2010 The Security Warehouse building is still very much standing today (and yes, residential). Unless there was another building named Security Warehouse, it's much too far away (about 250 yards) to provide that perspective. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, John Vachon, Minneapolis-St. Paul)
Engine of Change: 1942
... Illinois. In the roundhouse at an Illinois Central Railroad yard. This former switching engine is being rebuilt for use on the road." ... road." Getting any available rolling stock ready for railroad service because not many new locomotives would be getting built for ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/08/2024 - 7:29pm -

November 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. In the roundhouse at an Illinois Central Railroad yard. This former switching engine is being rebuilt for use on the road." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size. Kid peering over the topIs that one of those 'steam punks' I've heard about? Dirty workYears ago I worked in the shop of a construction company that used a lot of heavy equipment. A big Caterpillar diesel engine had just been rebuilt and was ready to haul out to a jobsite to be reinstalled. The shop foreman suggested that the outside of the engine should be sprayed with oil and grease so that "the guys in the field will know what it is." Keep to the codeThe two crouching guys up top look like they're trying to spell a word. I see a k and an e. Putting the old dog back into service"This former switching engine is being rebuilt for use on the road." Getting any available rolling stock ready for railroad service because not many new locomotives would be getting built for use in domestic service due to wartime material constraints and shifting heavy production to war materials like tanks and artillery. MachineThis photo should included with the definition of "machine". Look at all that has to happen to get this thing to move. Not to disrespect today's technology but a general explanation of a modern locomotive is a big diesel engine spinning a big generator that sends electricity to electric motors in the drive wheels. Incredible technology past and present. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Swartzell R.R.: 1925
... 1925. Washington, D.C. "Margaret Swartzell -- Swartzell railroad system." Not just a model train, it's a "system" -- who can tell us ... back then? Maybe they were going for an authentic rail yard look. What's that hanging from the spider web under the table? Bug? Leaf? ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 6:55pm -

December 11, 1925. Washington, D.C. "Margaret Swartzell -- Swartzell railroad system." Not just a model train, it's a "system" -- who can tell us more? National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. A frustrated engineer!According to that 1934 Popular Science article, Mr. Swartzell had attended the railroad engineering program at the U of I, Urbana-Champaign, which was one of the two most respected programs in steam locomotive design at the time (the other was Purdue--you know, the "Boilermakers"). Mr. Swartzell, it seems, had real talent. I'm sure he made excellent money in his father's real estate business, but technology must have been a hard thing to give up. Especially such a romantic technology--the call of a steam whistle still tugs at our heartstrings to this day. I suppose it was for the best, though. Steam was essentially dead within 25 years of this photo. A practical treatiseEarly model railroaders used mechanisms from England. English models were built to 7mm = 1 foot (1:43). When the Americans compared the size of locomotives it was thought that ¼ inch = 1 foot (1:48) was close enough. The boilers were made of lead pipe solder (origin of the phrase "lead pipe modelers"). Details were cast in homemade patterns. Tin cans and old crates were used for various parts. The commercial model kits were very expensive. Railroads had their apprentices build working models of steam engines in larger scales for practice. Lindsay Publications Inc. has old books on this subject. Railroad Real EstateFrom Popular Science, Oct. 1934. GrungyDidn't they ever clean anything back then? Maybe they were going for an authentic rail yard look. What's that hanging from the spider web under the table? Bug? Leaf? Booger? The system must be larger than what we see here; looks like it goes through a tunnel in the wall in that back corner. The Man's domainI doubt very much that Mrs. Swartzell ventured down in the basement (or out to the garage, just as likely) to dust the train set. Our basements over the years were cement or dirt floors where spiders and other buggly critters abounded. Obviously Mr. Swartzell cared little about dusting the odd footprint off the platform (probably had to plug and unplug from the ceiling light every time he wanted to use the trains). He probably had more interest in playing with his trains than worrying about whether or not the odd cocoon or spider eggball hung from the bottom of his tracks. J.N. Swartzell...and from Popular Mechanics, 1925 PiffleIt's not as exaborate as the basement railway of two friends in the 50s whose father worked for Lionel. I coveted the GG1, and the sound of trains going over the maze of switches in the rail yard they parked in. Amazing model railroad for the time.What is most amazing about this model railroad is that it is two rail at a time when toy trains like Lionel and American Flyer were three rail. The effort that went into insulating all the wheels on all the locomotives and rolling stock is mind boggling since all the modern plastics and adhesives we have today were unknown and not available. The two major model railroad magazines, "Model Railroad Craftsman" and "Model Railoroader" go back to the early 1930's so there were not a lot of resources for Mr. Swartzell to refer to. "Every Bit of the System Hand-Built!"If the Popular Science article is correct and this fellow built everything in the photographs himself, by hand, that's not a "piffling" achievement. It's an accomplishment that deserved every bit of recognition he received, in my opinion. Eddie LaytonA friend of mine who passed away a few years ago, Eddie Layton, was the organist at Yankee Stadium. He had a model railroad collection that he assembled over many years. It ran on a reinforced plywood panel about 12 feet by 10 feet. He lived in an apartment in Forest hills, Queens. He had it in his living room, rigged to lines that he could lower from the ceiling to the floor. Eddie was the subject of a well known Trivia question, "Who was the man that played for the Yankees, Knicks and Rangers in the same season?" The answer was of course Eddie, as he was also the organist at Madison Square Garden. Ironically he also played for the NY Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum for a few of those seasons as well. Fair River JunctionMr. Swartzell's layout was also featured in a 1929 article in Machinists Monthly Journal, the "Official Organ of the International Association of Machinists." Fortunately, that issue is available in PDF format courtesy of Georgia State University Library. (link to PDF [3.2 MB], article begins on pg. 584.) The photos in that article, poorly rendered within the PDF, are also in the LOC archives. Perhaps Dave will share them with us one day. A few excerpts... The "railroad" is supposed to be located in a valley of the Alleghenys, with the mountains away to the west and north. The main line stretches westward, enters a tunnel, swings around a long loop and returns, down the banks of a river, across a steel bridge, to the terminal. In the west foreground is the roundhouse, with turntable, coal dock, oil, sand and supply house, etc. Behind it is the back shop, with two "drop-pits" for light repairs and, beside it, the freight and storage yards. "To the east is the coach yard and the express and freight depot while the main switch tower and dispatcher's office are opposite the passenger depot, with a maze of switches and crossovers between. The town lies beyond the main line, on the river flats, with hotel, farm houses, residences, etc. Highways run across the flats and up into the mountains. Everything is accurately built to a scale of one-fourth of an inch to the foot. ... "It is not, as has been stated, a reproduction of the B. & O. Mountain Division," Mr. Swartzell said. "It is, however, a faithful copy of B. & O. equipment located at an imaginary mountain division point which I have called 'Fair River.'" ... The passenger rolling stock consists of Pullmans, day coaches, observation and chair cars, baggage, mail, express and express refrigerators and even combination mail, baggage and express cars. The freight equipment is equally varied, but much of it is out of date and must be replaced when, as Superintendent Swartzell says, "the appropriations for maintenance of equipment permit." ... "That tunnel is a problem," Swartzell confided. "It is right at the foot of a steep grade with sharp curves. "The worst wreck the division ever had occurred right inside it. You have recently written something about freak wrecks. This was a queer one. "We sent out a solid express and baggage train and a freight right behind it, westbound. A careless baggageman left a door open and some trunks fell out on the opposite main. The freight had been swung over on the east-bound main so it hit the trunks and piled up. We had a lot of trouble picking up the wreckage and clearing the line." Sidenote: This basement looks so typical of the row-homes in D.C: exposed brick walls and beams spanning the width of the house. One of the first things that caught my eye was the brickwork: another fine vernacular sample of "American" or "Common" bond. Fascinating!The little Girl couldn't have been more perfect for this photo! Her expression is priceless. Then there's the detail in the buildings, cars and engines. The engineer who designed this layout had the passion! If one looks under the left half of the table, one clearly sees whatlooks to be left over track. And the water tower! Very nice. There's quite a bit going on here. CellargatorMy great-aunts bought a tiny alligator back from their jaunt to Florida in the 1920s. Back then, those living souvenirs were all the rage. After a few months, it disappeared from its tank. They figured it would show up dessicated under a radiator within a few months. Three years later, one of them went down to shovel coal for the stove. She heard a loud hissing and saw red eyes glowing down in a corner underneath the foundation, behind the coal cellar. They got the fire department and the police to kill the "monster," which was now about three feet long. It had dug itself a nice warm wet hole in the dirt floor, where it survived eating rats and stray cats and squirrels. The hide was nailed to the garage, where it still freaked me out 40 years later. End of the LineWashington Post, Nov. 20, 1937 J.N. Swartzell's Funeral Is Set for Tomorrow Funeral services for John N. Swartzell, retired Washington business man, will be held at 11 a. m. tomorrow at his home, 2725 Thirty-sixth place northwest. Burial will be in Rock Creek Cemetery. Swartzell, who was 47-years-old, died Thursday at his home. He retired in 1925 from the firm of Swartzell, Rheem & Hensey because of ill health. His father, G. W. F. Swartzell, was one of the founders of the firm, which failed in 1931. Born in Washington, Swartzell was educated at Friends School and at George Washington University, where he was a member of Theta Delta Chi. He was a past president and honorary member of the Civitan Club, secretary of the board of managers of the Methodist Home and a director of the Columbia National Bank. He was also a past master of Temple Noyes Masonic Lodge and a member of Mount Pleasant Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Anna Drury Swartzell; a daughter, Margaret Swartzell; a sister, Mrs. C. C. Davis, and a brother, Henry R. Swartzell. All live in Washington. B&O Jr. According to the July 1936 issue of Model Railroader the name of the railroad was "The B&O Jr." The article notes that Mr. Swartzell began construction of his model railroad "shortly after the end of the war." (The Gallery, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo, Railroads)
Trackwork: 1942
... crew repairing roundhouse tracks at an Illinois Central Railroad yard." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/17/2024 - 2:55pm -

November 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Maintenance crew repairing roundhouse tracks at an Illinois Central Railroad yard." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. Digging in the GardenTracks that radiate out from a turntable are sometimes called Garden Tracks. Here, speeds are low here, so things don't have to be perfect. However, the foreman has determined it is time to dig out the soot and cinders, maybe change out a weak tie or two and firm things up. On the adjacent track on can see two track jacks that are used to raise up a portion of the rails and ties so that additional ballast can be place beneath the ties to firm up a low spot. To the right is a small maintenance car where the spoils can be pitched in for disposal. Union Smoke Break?There are four laborers and nine shovels. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Leviathan: 1926
... WOW This photo was taken in Southern Railway's yard in Alexandria, near the King Street station - if you look just to the ... all-Pullman luxury train of the same name. Alexandria Yard The George Washington National Masonic Memorial was dedicated in 1923 ... by me in 2006 when I visited the Smithsonian's railroad section. My favorite This is my favorite of the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:13pm -

Washington, D.C., or vicinity circa 1926. "Southern R.R. Co. Crescent Locomotive 1396." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. Queen Crescent LimitedA short history of the Queen Crescent Limited. 1396, 1926 Still puffin'I have lived in Chattanooga and more than once rode on the excursion trains pulled by this locomotive! (see history link) I must compliment Dave on the enlargements of small details in the photos. Reminds me of the movie "Call Northside 777" in which the murderer is caught because the photo lab enlarges the date printed on a newspaper held by a newsboy! Ever tried newspapers, Dave? [Yes indeedy. - Dave] One of your best yet.This is one of your best yet. Very handsome. Cheers to you and the National Photo Company. Southern ClassA Great Railway. Great class of loco: Ps4. Same as the one in the Smithsonian. WOW!! ExcursionsAs far as excursions, you're probably thinking of Southern Ry. #4501, a freight engine, which was bought back from a shortline, and painted-and-otherwise-gussied-up to represent a passenger engine. It pulled many excursions starting in 1966. The real SR passenger steamers didn't make it past 1953 or so. (When the management realized steam excursions would be a real crowd-pleaser, the one in the Smithsonian was already "trapped inside.") WowBravo. Old 1396Beautiful engine absolutely beautiful! She was built 9 years & 9 months before I came along. Reminds me of the troop trains in the 1940s, heading south on the L&N Line as they passed through my hometown in central Kentucky, a little burg called Wildie in Rockcastle County. Wish I was back there now. Greatest achievementI maintain that the steam locomotive remains mankind's greatest accomplishment. WOWThis photo was taken in Southern Railway's yard in Alexandria, near the King Street station - if you look just to the right of the most distant power pole, you can see the George Washington Masonic Temple. No. 1396 was one of the first 12 PS4s delivered in Southern Railway's new "Sylvan Green" paint scheme. Most were lettered "Southern" on the tender, but no. 1396 was lettered "Crescent Limited" (not "Queen & Crescent" - that refers to the Cincinnati - Chattanooga - New Orleans route, and was applied to no. 6689) and assigned to the new, all-Pullman luxury train of the same name. Alexandria YardThe George Washington National Masonic Memorial was dedicated in 1923 but not mostly completed until 1932, so I don't believe that appears adjacent to the far telegraph pole. I believe this view is looking roughly east, with the wooden yard office to the right of the locomotive. About where the boxcars are out of view in the distance is where Hoofe's Run crossed under the tracks. -- Frank R. Scheer, Railway Mail Service Library Museum PieceThe same class of locomotive photographed by me in 2006 when I visited the Smithsonian's railroad section. My favoriteThis is my favorite of the images posted on Shorpy this past year. I don't know why; I'm not interested in railroads or big machines. I keep coming back to it, though. Perhaps it's because despite my disinterest I admire this magnificent machine and the work that went into creating and maintaining it. It makes me think about traveling and I imagine how people of the time would have looked at it in awe and thought of the big cities and world beyond their own region. Thanks Dave and crew for the work you've done and thanks to all the insightful Shorpy posters. Best wishes for the new year, and many more intriguing photos and enlightening posts. Looking east toward Callahan StreetThis view of the Southern Railway yard in Alexandria is looking east. The Masonic Temple would be behind the photographer's left shoulder. The little yard shacks were on the other side of Callahan Street. These shacks were there as late as 1980 or so as I have a photo of them. The roundhouse was to the right of the locomotive, probably out of the picture. The building to the right may be the yard office. The Northern Virginia Model RR club occupied a building in this approximate location for about 20 years from the early '50s until the early '70s. Herby's Ford was located to the left of the photo, on the opposite side of the Callahan Street crossing. It was built soon after WW2. Leviathan in colorSadly there are no contemporary color images of Ps-4s in their early days, but my friend Tom Alderman of Mayretta, GA has given us an idea of what it looked like on that day in Alexandria when 1396 posed for the camera. (The Gallery, Natl Photo, Railroads)
Proviso Yard: 1943
Freight cars in the Proviso Yard of the Chicago & North Western Railroad. April or May 1943. View full size. Kodachrome transparency by ... Library of Congress' "American Memory" site. It was the railroad stuff -- the portraits, the train barns, the nighttime rail yard ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/07/2011 - 9:49pm -

Freight cars in the Proviso Yard of the Chicago & North Western Railroad. April or May 1943. View full size. Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. Yellow RailsThe rails that appear to be painted yellow have a fresh layer of rust on the railheads. Jack DelanoThanks for all the Jack Delano posts. I stumbled on his work several years ago. You have no idea how happy it makes me to find in Shorpy a fellow appreciator. - Abraham [Thanks Abraham! How did you find out about him? Online? He is my favorite of the photographers whose work is on the site. - Dave] More on Jack DI found him through the Library of Congress' "American Memory" site. It was the railroad stuff -- the portraits, the train barns, the nighttime rail yard photos -- that got me. Aside from the interview transcript with him and his wife that's in the Smithsonian archives, I don't know much else about him. What was his stuff like after he moved to Puerto Rico? Jack DelanoThanks for making this site searchable by photographer; it's the best single collection of Delano's images I can find on the web. Delano's photos are my favorite from the post-1930's period: unsentimental but still saying a lot. You might be interested to know that his son, Pablo Delano, is also a photographer; last I knew (late 1990's) he lived in the Hartford CT area, was teaching at Trinity College there. yellow paintIts the clearance point dude, no wonder derails occur, dyslectic painters in our midst? [Or maybe dyslexic. - Dave] (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Pleasantville: 1910
... but I do see that this is the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Cannot find a map of that system on line, but it did serve Mobile ... about 2003, I used them to build a small paver patio in my yard. Pleasantville 1910 and the Navy I see two very early US Navy ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/06/2019 - 9:07pm -

Circa 1910 comes this most agreeable vista. Who'll be the first commenter to put a name to a place? (Hint: Half the answer is already here.) View full size. UPDATE: As many commenters correctly surmised, the city is Pensacola, Florida. The original caption: "Tarragona Street wharf, Pensacola, Florida." Louisville, KYHome of Hillerich & Bradsby and the former Belknap Hardware Company. The Lewis Bear Co.Your place in Tampa Florida to get a Gonzalo Cigar Half a Chance ..."Bay" St. Louis, Mississippi? Lovely city on the GulfIt's Pensacola, Florida. Here's a photo with the Court of Record still under construction. And while I don't see any dogs lying about, Uneeda Biscuit is here. Good ViewBuena Vista, California. And it is ...San Francisco? I'll hazard a guessPensacola, Florida? PensacolaI can say without a shadow of a doubt this is Pensacola, Florida. The structure in the bottom left is currently the T.T. Wentworth Jr Florida State Museum. It was built in 1907, however, and served as Pensacola City Hall from 1907 - 1985. I don't know wherethis is but suddenly I feel like I needa Biscuit. Chula Vista?Chula Vista, California? PleasantvilleI'm thinking Chula Vista, California. A GuessPensacola, FL [Holding up hand]Port of Tampa? Tampa?The building just to the left of the Coca-Cola billboard building says Tampa, Fla. [Should have stopped at the billboard! - Dave] Some thoughtsWell, I don't see the half of the name, but I do see that this is the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Cannot find a map of that system on line, but it did serve Mobile Alabama and Pensacola Florida. Pensacola, FloridaNice photo. The Lewis Bear Company building mentioned Tampa, Florida. That company got me to Pensacola and after that I found the T. T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum which is in the lower left of this picture. Don't ask me where the cannons went. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad went to Pensacola, but not to Tampa at that time, so that information helped, too. Is it ...Pensacola, Florida? Pensacola FloridaFor Sure! That is the old City Hall in the lower left - now a museum. And the city isSan Francisco? Tampa, FloridaShot in the dark. The Lewis Bear CompanyLewis Bear Company was started in a town that has a water front layout like this -- Pensacola. The building across the street from the official looking building in the foreground could be the one in their 1899 ad. L. & N.R.R. Louisville & Nashville Railroad. I learn SO much on this site! More entertaining AND educational than normal websurfing. PensacolaI will guess Pensacola, Florida, because of "The Lewis Bear Company" on the white building just to the right of the center. It was founded in 1876 in Pensacola. PleasantvilleNever mind that, what about the cannons? Has to be ...Louisville, Kentucky. I'd guessSpanish architecture, L&N Rail Road, and an ad for the Lewis Bear Co leads me to think Florida add in the comment about the agreeable vista and I'm going with Buena Vista, Florida. Even then, a major Navy base.Notice the two early destroyers steaming along the waterfront. The one in the lead (on the right) could be either USS Smith, DD 17, commissioned in November 1909, or USS Lamson, DD 18. According to Friedman's "US Destroyers," these two (built by Cramp in Philadelphia) were the only ones with the No. 2 and 3 funnels paired. The photo shows the original low funnels; they were increased in height after sea trials. The ship on the left is one of two built in Bath, Maine, either Flusser (DD 20) or Reid (DD 21). All these were commissioned in 1909 and belong to the last group of coal fired destroyers built for the US Navy, displacement about 700 tons, and later called the "flivvers" (lightweights) once 1000-ton destroyers became normal in the run-up to World War I. Pensa ... That towerOn the right -- what's it for? [Looks like a fire bell. - Dave] Split-level wharfThe railway docks have been built with a trestled ramp which raised the freight cars up to a higher level for loading directly from the ship when at high tide. A lower level track was on the dock itself, for low tide loading. I've never seen this before. Almost the view from my window!I am seeing this a few days too late to be the first to answer, but I am currently sitting in my office with my windows facing that view, but I am one building to the right of where that picture was taken -- my office window faces the TT Wentworth Museum and the park. I have bricks from the warehouse by the water tower in the picture from when it was demolished back in about 2003, I used them to build a small paver patio in my yard. Pleasantville 1910 and the NavyI see two very early US Navy destroyers behind the wharves. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Florida, Pensacola)
40th Street Yard: 1942
... sand and water at the coaling station in the 40th Street yard of the Chicago & North Western R.R." Kodachrome transparency by Jack ... "40th Street Yard" might lead one to think that this railroad facility was located on the South Side of Chicago, where all the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/19/2017 - 12:24pm -

December 1942. Chicago. "Locomotives lined up for coal, sand and water at the coaling station in the 40th Street yard of the Chicago & North Western R.R." Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size. Solid Symbol of American StrengthWhat a strong and stirring photo! Thank you, Dave. West Side Train Yards, Not South SideThe designation "40th Street Yard" might lead one to think that this railroad facility was located on the South Side of Chicago, where all the numbered streets are found. But it actually refers to a much older street name on the West Side of the city: 40th Street (or more properly, 40th Avenue), which was located 40 blocks west of State Street. This street was renamed Crawford Avenue in 1913, and - in a hotly debated move - renamed once again in 1933 as Pulaski Road. The railyard, which once serviced the North Western's intercity passenger trains, still exists in a much reduced state at the northwest corner of Pulaski Road and Kinzie Street, under the care of the line's current corporate owner, the Union Pacific. Incidentally, the name "Crawford Avenue" is still in use in the suburbs north and south of the city, and the West Side's numbered streets still exist in the western suburb of Cicero. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Twilight Departure: 1942
... December 1942. Chicago, Illinois. "View in a departure yard at Chicago & North Western's Proviso yard at twilight. Brakeman is ... -- guess what -- he shoveled coal into a firebox on the railroad in Seattle for his military service. Thank you, Jack Delano, your ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/30/2012 - 4:45pm -

December 1942. Chicago, Illinois. "View in a departure yard at Chicago & North Western's Proviso yard at twilight. Brakeman is signaling with a red flare and the train is going by during exposure." Kodachrome by Jack Delano. View full size. Far out man!Makes me want to turn on the black light in my bedroom and put in my Iron Butterfly 8-track. AwesomeThese pictures always amaze me. Thanks for posting them! Conversation starterThis one makes an excellent desktop background. Night LifeMy dad would have been the conductor out there with the signal lanterns. Once he was directing an inexperienced engineer to glide back-up and the caboose ran into Dad, slamming him between the cars. He had huge bruises all over face and body but nothing life-threatening. Yard signalsBelow are two other Delano time exposures showing the use of signal flares. The yardmen called them fusees. StokedMy dad worked for the C&NW back then. He was a fireman and shoveled coal all night. Then he got drafted and -- guess what -- he shoveled coal into a firebox on the railroad in Seattle for his military service. Thank you, Jack Delano, your picture evokes nice memories. Did Delano ever know?Did Delano ever have an idea that someday his work would be considered art? Because pictures like this and "Amethyst Twilight" definitely are. Tell-talesThe photo was taken from under a bridge or overpass. Faintly visible in the distance overhead are a set of "telltales," dangling ropes to warn a brakeman on top of a car that he couldn't safely remain standing as the train passed under the bridge. I remember seeing these as a child near a bridge or tunnel, generally on little-used branch lines. I have not seen a telltale in many years. What Jack knew4x5 Kodachrome wasn't common, cheap or fast. I imagine Jack Delano was very careful about each exposure. I used to shoot 4x5 black & white, and I had the luxury of a darkroom where I could see the results a few hours after shooting. And I paid huge attention to composition, exposure and the subject's composure, because re-shooting was costly. Telltale talesTell-tales are no longer needed because trainmen no longer use the roofs of cars while the cars are in motion. "Running boards are, depending on the car's construction, wood or steel planking that provide a walking surface along the center of the car roof. In earlier times they were used by trainmen to travel from car to car to control train speed with the car's hand brakes - not an exercise for the faint-hearted. With the development of the air brake (which allowed the engineer to control the train's speed from the locomotive), running boards were mainly used by trainmen to pass hand or lantern signals to the engine crew. The advent of radio communication killed off this hazardous practice, though, and today it is expressly forbidden for crew members to go atop cars in motion, thus eliminating the need for running boards and the full-height safety ladders at the ends of the cars needed to get to them. Today you'll only see these components on newer cars such as covered hopper cars to allow access to loading and unloading operations. Depending on the specific service it has been designed for, a modern box car probably sports a number of components never thought of back in 1893 when the Federal Safety Appliance Act decided to standardize ladders and running boards." "Freight car trucks and carbodies" by Paul D. Schneider Published: Monday, May 01, 2006 in Trains Magazine. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
The Giant Elevator: 1943
... in the middle of the Santa Fe Railway's large Argentine Yard in Kansas City, KS. When the Santa Fe's corporate successor decided to ... a large grain elevator located within the Argentine Yard Railroad facility. The elevator was demolished in 1996, the cement foundation ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/30/2012 - 4:44pm -

March 1943. "The giant Santa Fe R.R. 10 million bushel grain elevator, Kansas." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the OWI. View full size. Here is my Ripple, here is my snoutDig the crazy hobo on the boxcar doing I'm a Little Teapot. And I thoughtI could almost hear the opening bars of "Oh What a Beautiful Morning." The "hobo"That's a brakeman signaling the engineer. Used to be called "decorating" as they walked the tops of cars. Where is this?Can anyone identify where this is? Grain elevators are hard to demolish, so it is probably still there. CensoredI wonder if this is the type of photo that they would have censored in the wartime Soviet Union because it represented almost unthinkable wealth and resources -- just like they censored the movie "The Grapes of Wrath" because of the suggestion that Americans who were wealthy enough to own a truck were still considered to be living in poverty. It's GoneThis grain elevator is now gone. It was located in the middle of the Santa Fe Railway's large Argentine Yard in Kansas City, KS. When the Santa Fe's corporate successor decided to rebuild and enlarge the Argentine Yard, it was demolished to make room for a larger yard. Nothing lasts forever.http://kensas.kdhe.state.ks.us/pls/certop/Iop?id=C410570991 Latitude: 39.0862 Longitude: -94.68742 AT&SF ELEVATOR - 4515 KANSAS AVENUE - KANSAS CITY, KS "This site is the former location of a large grain elevator located within the Argentine Yard Railroad facility. The elevator was demolished in 1996, the cement foundation covered by approximately 5 feet of rock ballast and overlaid by closely spaced railroad tracks." Out in the YardAnd this is how it looks today The Great Grain ElevatorMy dad worked 50 years in the Santa Fe Elevator A in the Argentine rail yards. The elevator had many grain companies lease the facility during the years, with some of the companies as Burris Mills, Continential Grain & the final one was Cargill. My dad was the weighmaster and his floor was 3rd row of windows from the top. I spent many days up there with him looking out over Kansas City. Also makes a great tripodI wonder if Jack was up on top of this when he took https://www.shorpy.com/node/14960 ? If the latitude and longitude from Anonymous Tipster are to be believed, it would be in about the right spot. (About the only other explanation I can think of for the angle in 14960 is that he climbed one of the yard's light towers.) (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Mixed Signals: 1939
January 1939. "Railroad tracks, St. Louis, Missouri." 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur ... View full size. Incomplete Lest you all think railroad crossing signs all looked like this in the bygone days, it is missing ... few of the shrouds around the indicator lights. Inside Yard Limits Inside the territory the RR defined as Yard Limits, we train ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/01/2012 - 6:44pm -

January 1939. "Railroad tracks, St. Louis, Missouri." 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. IncompleteLest you all think railroad crossing signs all looked like this in the bygone days, it is missing the perpendicular plank. Lockless LampsLooks like the locks are missing from the switch stands. Now the switches are not protected from unauthorized switching by unscrupulous switchers. Even the gandy dancers wouldn't live hereLook up "wrong side of the tracks" in your Encyclopedia Britannia (if you can find it) and this will be the illustration. Lordy, but that is one depressing neck of the woods. Also missing...I addition to the perpendicular plank missing from the sign, the center switch stand appears to be missing a few of the shrouds around the indicator lights. Inside Yard LimitsInside the territory the RR defined as Yard Limits, we train crews had to be prepared to stop for any and all other trains, yard engines, and switches not lined for the proper route. Often the maximum rate of travel was "restricting speed" one that was slow enough to stop within half the range of vision, but not exceeding 15 MPH. I'd say we are in Yard Limits. Some person with a top rating in interest in RR history could likely tell us what carrier owns these tracks just from the switch lanterns and the manufacturer of the switch stand. Mud SpotsNow that's one big mud spot there; this yard must be located in a flood zone, judging by the lack of anything resembling ballast. It's most likely a yard though, and as BeeGuy said, all trains will travel at restricted speed, and judging by the quality of the tracks, at even less than 15mph. Lantern manufacturersTo: BeeGuy, I have it on good authority from two avid collectors of railroad lanterns (switchstand and train crew) that they are more than likely made by Adlake or Dressel. They were the largest manufacturers of the time of signal oil fed switch stand lanterns. This info however doesn't supply any answer to your question on which railroad the photo was taken at. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Railroads, St. Louis)
Winter Crossing: 1900
... to be fitted with a link & pin coupling. The Railroad Safety Appliance Act took effect in 1900 outlawing these hand ... a 35 mm Kodachrome slide showing this same rail car ferry yard as it looked on July 6, 1957. The photo was taken from the deck of the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 3:18pm -

Circa 1900. "Detroit River. Car ferry Michigan Central entering slip." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Who's with me?Winter break on the Detroit River! Frigid WonderThis is just a beautiful photo, of an otherwise thoroughly utilitarian scene, just barely romanticized by having train cars and a paddlewheeler as subject matter. The texture in the broken ice at foreground, the impressionistic smoke, and mist in the distance -- Wow. Brr.I'm getting frostbite just looking at this picture. All aboardI see the three sets of tracks, but would like to see the actual way they load and unload the box cars. I bet the guy smoking the pipe could have told us. Extraordinary!This is an extraordinarily beautiful photo. The black and white textures are remarkable. I can feel the cold air and hear the ice crunching as the ferry drifts in. The ghostliness of the image is echoed in the misty distant skylines, and the whole is anchored by the two figures. What a composition! SkylineDoes anyone know if the ferry is pulling into Detroit or Windsor? Any clue from the church in the distance? Interesting weatherCloudy, with a 100% chance of thumbprints! Link & PinThe center car seems to be fitted with a link & pin coupling. The Railroad Safety Appliance Act took effect in 1900 outlawing these hand crushers on railroads engaged in interstate commerce. Absolutely wonderful!As a person who lived in Archangelsk city, I used to see a scenes like this many many times. I feel the atmosphere, I even can feel a smell of it. Wonderful! Just great! "Michigan Central"This seems to be the same sidewheeler design as in the previous shot of a car ferry, the "Transport." The names (hard to see) are stenciled on a signboard over the wheelhouse. A ferry wonderland"The Great Lakes Car Ferries" by George Woodman Hilton has another photo of the Michigan Central on page 35. Best. Photo. Ever.I've been reading Shorpy regularly since sometime in '07 when I saw a link on either Boing Boing or Neatorama. This is abso-freakin-lutely the Best. Photo. Ever. Bless you, and keep doing what you do. Over the riverAt about this time, my grandmother may have been on a sleigh on the frozen river, on the way back to Windsor from Detroit, smuggling back cotton socks. She would have been 10 years old. Such was the family story. Great photoI am so impressed with the high contrast in the sky. If it were not clearly labeled as a scan directly from the negative, I would have assumed this was a print which had received a lot of attention in the darkroom. This image is one of Shorpy's all time greats. [All of the images on this site are adjusted for contrast in Photoshop. - Dave] 57 summers laterBelow is a scan of a 35 mm Kodachrome slide showing this same rail car ferry yard as it looked on July 6, 1957. The photo was taken from the deck of the Ambassador Bridge and its viewpoint is 180 degrees from that of the 1900 photo (the bridge was built during 1927-1929). View full size. The church steeple seen in the distance on the 1900 photo is located in Windsor, Ontario. Here's a photo of it taken from the bridge deck just seconds prior to the one of the rail car ferry yard in Detroit. Jules VerneyUntil you focus in on the rail cars, and the pictures resolves into the recognizable, there's a kind of Victorian Future-Shock quality to it. Frozen in timeThe sharpness of the broken crystal shards could kill a man, they stand pointed end up, ready to cut a careless worker or walker, like razor-edged beveled glass. Two men are seen, yet each is lost in their own solitary thoughts. Possibly thinking "damn, it's cold." Final departureIt looks like they are taking boxcars full of the damned over the river Styx. The church might be in WindsorIt looks very much like Our Lady of the Assumption Church near the foot of Huron Church Rd. It is still there, presently in the shadow of the Ambassador Bridge. If so, the view is downstream. Detroit RiverThis is the Detroit side. The river flows extremely fast, and the ferry docks were set up so the boats always entered dock facing upstream. Michigan Central was built in 1884 by Detroit Dry Dock in Wyandotte, while Transport was built there in 1880. Both were cut down to barges by the 1930's. A nearly identical boat, Lansdowne of 1884, survived in steam until 1970 for CN/Grand Trunk, until she blew a cylinder head (I remember the shock among the Detroit trainwatching community at the time). Her long survival was due to the limited size of the RR tunnels under the river, which couldn't handle hi-cubes and other large cars. Lansdowne then became a floating restaurant, with two Milwaukee Road Skytop observation cars aboard. Recently scrapped in Buffalo. I frequently went down to watch Lansdowne and an even older propeller ferry in the days of no security, "Sure, just be careful!" WindsorI live in Amherstburg, about 20 miles downriver from Windsor. I love these photos of the Detroit River. Great StuffI love these pictures of the Detroit River railroad ferries. My grandfather worked on these boats when he first came to Detroit from Pennsylvania in 1919. I remember watching them shuttle across the river during my childhood in the '60s and '70s. Does anyone know what that factory on the right is? Is it the Michigan Peninsular Car Co. (aka American Car & Foundry)? It seems to be in basically the right place on the west side of Detroit. My great-grandfather, on the other side, worked there. Building a ModelI'm building a 1/87 model of the train ferry Windsor, and these pictures and diagrams have proven to be invaluable. Thanks, Terry Jolliffe Belle River, Ontario (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads)
Barstow Yard: 1943
... General view of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe yard." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. ... in the war effort I'm really surprised. Most period railroad photos show huge amounts of foreign road equipment and even in the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/21/2012 - 7:49am -

March 1943. "Barstow, California. General view of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe yard." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. "B" HillI was born and raised in Barstow. This is on the Northeast end of town looking West, that would be "B" Hill in the background (named for the big B on the other side of it) and I think the Harvey House is just visible directly below the peak of the hill. Santa Fe all the wayConsidering this photo was taken when WW2 was really ramping up it's interesting that almost all the equipment is ATSF. There is a ST L & SF (Frisco) boxcar on the right, a B&O wagon top boxcar in the short train on the left and a handful of very cool D&RGW drop bottom gons in the hopper train. Other than that it is mostly ATSF and considering the sheer amount of goods coming and going from all over the country in the war effort I'm really surprised. Most period railroad photos show huge amounts of foreign road equipment and even in the non-war years this photo would be unusual. Ah! The Sounds; the smell.Even some old cars with the brake wheels on top. Other wayDelano is looking northeast from the overpass at 34.9036N 17.0272 W; the passenger station is just out of the pic to the left. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Second Home: 1943
... "Freight train operations on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad between Chicago and Clinton, Iowa. The caboose is the conductor's ... family, my father would periodically take me to the yard with him to work. One of the highlights of the trip was reaching for the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/08/2014 - 12:39pm -

January 1943. "Freight train operations on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad between Chicago and Clinton, Iowa. The caboose is the conductor's second home. He always uses the same one and many conductors cook and sleep there while waiting for trains to take back from division points." Medium format nitrate negative by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. "Stormy" and brake tests."Stormy" Kromer was the inventor's name, the hat was a Kromer Blizzard Cap. The last one my wife bought for me was made in China, so I don't buy them anymore. There used to be a pair of hand (lantern) signals in the rulebook to handle brake tests: Rule 12(f), the lamp swung horizontally over the head was the signal for the engineer to apply the brakes for the test, Rule 12(g), the lamp held at arm's length overhead was the signal to release. If all was well and the pressure recovered at the caboose, the next signal would be the "highball", otherwise someone would start walking the train to find the problem. Classy RV-ingWouldn't it be great to have an RV these days that looked more like that than the generic, mundane look most modern RVs have? I suppose one could refit an RV to look like this, but the weight of the wood paneling might be a problem, not to mention the weight of the woodstove. One can dream, however unrealistic one's dreams might be. The Modern CabooseIn Canada at least there are still uses for cabooses. Mainly they're used on short switching runs where one or two cars are dropped off and or picked up at a specific shipper. I suspect that this is a time saving measure since it would be inefficient to keep moving the ETD (FRED) to the new end car, and it poor electronic brain might not be able to cope with a movement that temporarily splits the train in the middle. Lots of factors killed Cabeesemost already mentioned, but there were a large number of workers comp incidents that arose in a people transporter located a mile back of slack action on a freight train. One of the best ways to improve safety is to eliminate the need to expose workers to the danger in the first place. So this was a big improvement. Cheesecake, though, is something to be missed. Comforting memoriesAs a young boy in Maine my brother and I would watch the trains go by and count the cars. It was a thrill to wave to the conductor. My grandfather, an old railroad man, introduced us to a conductor friend of his and we even got a quick look inside a caboose. A dream come true for a young railroad fan. Proper pinupsSome tasty cheesecake here. Contemporary girls a la Sundblom and Elvgren along with some smaller older pieces. I Miss the CabooseNice man cave. September snowThe graffiti is correct; it did indeed snow in Illinois and Iowa on Friday, September 25, 1942 - up to two inches (in Iowa Falls). Newspapers the next morning reported that this was the first September snowfall in Des Moines in the history of the weather bureau. The high school football game between Garner and Buffalo Center was called because of darkness after "driving snow" knocked out six lights. Wall CandyI worked on a railroad for 36 years and the cabooses never were allowed to look like that. Years ago the caboose was assigned to the Conductor for each trip he made so it was decorated it the way he wanted it. I rode these for many years until they were replaced with a flashing rear end device. FRED Back in the day!It would have been nice to be there. Caboose LoreWhatever happened to cabooses? Were they stopped as a cost-saving measure, or was the conductor no longer needed on freight trains? They were a "natural" ending to trains as they looked so different from the other cars. When they passed you knew that it was OK to cross the crossing. Now freight trains just end and it is sad. Part of the fun with trains was waving at the caboose. Quite often, the conductor or whoever was in it would wave back. Cabeese and conductorsThough the cabeese have been replaced, not so the conductors. Their office has been moved into the cab of the locomotive..Conductors are actually in charge of the train, not as ususlly believed, the engineers. Engineers run the locomotives and the conductors tell them where to pick up and drop off freight cars. I prefer the caboose to the Freds that are used now. The Freds not only have a flashing light, but they radio air pressure and other information to the engineer, but the conductor is usually a nice friendly guy, much more than the Freds, A Place to HangI feel sorry for the modern conductor and brakeman. They used to have a home away from home at the end of the train but now only have a seat in the lead locomotive or a seat in the empty slave locomotives. Get a load of the CabooseGet a load of the caboose on the broad on the wall of the caboose. LOL (Am I the only one to post this obviouse joke?) A glimpse of the cabooseFrom "I Like Trains" by Fred Eaglesmith Sixteen miles from Arkadelphia right near the Texas border traffic was stopped at a railway crossing I took it to the shoulder I stoked the kettle I put it to the metal I shook the gravel loose I missed the train but I was happy with a glimpse of the caboose (chorus) cause I like trains I like fast trains I like trains that call out through the rain I like trains I like sad trains I like trains that whisper your name I was born on a greyhound bus my Momma was a diesel engine They tried to put me behind the wheel but I wouldn't let them You should have seen the look in their eyes and how it turned to tears when I finally told them I wanna be an engineer Now you think I've got someone new but darlin' that ain't true I could never love another woman besides you It's not some dewy-eyed darlin' darlin' that's gonna drive you insane But anymore I'd be listenin' for the sound of a big ol' train (chorus) cause I like trains I like fast trains I like trains that call out through the rain I like trains I like sad trains I like trains that whisper your name Cabeese have always intrigued meThanks for the view of life inside a caboose, I have always been fascinated with them. After reading Lectrogeek's link about the demise of the caboose I learned quite a bit of info about trains that I just took for granted before reading the link. The link's explanation of the features of the FRED device does bring up one question though. Before the days of computers and the prevalence of two-way radios from the back of the train to the front, how did the engineer get all of the air pressure and movement information from the conductor? Stormy Kromer!I spy an actual Stormy Kromer hat hanging on a peg! Still made in Michigan, originally designed by Stormy's wife from a baseball cap and made to stay on a railroad engineer's head no matter how windy. Technology overtook them.Renaissanceman asked "Whatever happened to cabooses?" Technology, in the form of flashing end-of-train devices (acronym is FRED, I think) and computerised detection for when the rear end passes critical points (signals, switches, etc) replaced the need for a man at the back. Home sweet home!Except for the slack action when a long train started up, I'm sure. Note the stout rod holding the potbelly stove down to the floor. And here is an explanation for why we no longer have cabeese. MemoriesMy brother forwarded this shot to me and boy do I love it. Our father was a conductor on the C&NWRR and the photo brought back so many wonderful memories of my childhood. As a railroading family, my father would periodically take me to the yard with him to work. One of the highlights of the trip was reaching for the curved handrail on the side of the caboose and let the train's passing movement pull you up for the ride. Once on-board, I loved climbing up to the copula for a bird’s eye view (usually it would be a trip to Proviso Yard where I could be handed off to see my uncle, grandfather or a cousin). Thank you for any train picsMy Grandfather, whom I adored, worked on the Erie Lackawanna from the early 1910's to the late 1960's. Any old pics of the great train days are so appreciated. Thank you. I find it interestingwith the cheesecake motif that in the upper left hand of this photo (near the stove pipe) there's a picture of what appears to be a mother consoling a child. Penny for his thoughts.Pipe smoker is wearing a Stormy Kromer as well. I wonder what he's thinking? How long will the war last? How long till he sees his son again? How long till lunch? How long is it gonna take this photographer to get his shot? The end of the endTwo innovations contributed to the end of the caboose. Roller bearings on the freight cars meant the guy in the cupola didn't have to watch for "hot-boxes" from the earlier cotton-waste oil-saturated bearing packing. The advent of the walkie-talkie meant communication between the engineer and the guy on the ground taking care of the switching. Not Politically CorrectPersonalized cabooses like this started dying off probably by the 1950s when most large railroads and the unions agreed to use "pooled" cabooses where the caboose stayed with the train and only the crews changed. Today it is totally politically incorrect to post lewd photos or drawings like those in the photo. If doing such today does not get you fired, it will certainly cause you to have to attend Diversity and Sensitivity Training Sessions. Oh yeah, most jokes are strictly off limits, too. The railroad is a changed place these days. It's all in the detailsAnd what a wealth of details in this photo! Like the splatter on the side of the cabinet just above the waste basket. Probably from tobacco juice, or possibly empty beer cans? Neither of which would fly in today's railroad workplace, according to several of the comments. And the guy with the pipe would probably be out of a job as well. And what's up with the rolling pin hanging on the wall? Maybe to roll out a few pancakes for cooking on the stove when they got hungry? The print of the mother and child on the left looks like it has been hanging there since the caboose was built. And, echoing several of the other comments, I miss the caboose and the waving conductor. I still remember that as a kid, and this was back in the 1970s. Outstanding photo and keep up the great work. Politically Correct PinupIt's in the eye of the beholder. Working on the railroadI come from a railroad family. My grandfather had 50 years on the job, as did my father. I haven't seen the interior of many caboose cars but I did not see any decorated like this one. My dad used the downtime to study his safety rules for the next level of exam, necessary for promotion, not looking at nekkid women. Men were paid on time in grade status, but to promote you had to take a test and wait for an opening. Railroading was a serious job, the company took safety very seriously as did the men, particularily the brakemen because they would be out there on the track swinging the lantern to guide the engineer on his back-up as well as to switch the track. Never would alcohol be on the job, not ever. It would not be tolerated by the company, nor by the men whose lives were at stake. My dad smoked cigarettes, as did his father. Everyone smoked cigarettes and since it was not an issue like it is today, I cannot image that it wasn't allowed in the caboose. My dad quit railroading in the 1980s saying he was quitting because the new men coming in did not care--they were not interested in learning the job the right way, just "get it done quick, rest, play cards, and get my pay". It hurt him to see this low standard of work ethic, as it did other men. Sad commentary on progress, is it not. We loved seeing the trains pass--ran from our play when we heard the whistle blow just to wave, first at the engineer who would sound the horn for us, and then at the caboose where the men would wave back. it was especially nice if it was our dad in the caboose. Dining carI assume the "Dining Car in opposite direction" sign is a joke? If so, very clever. Afterlife of CabeeseA friend of ours, who has a stand of sugar maple trees and a hobby sugaring operation, got a retired Canadian National caboose (red, of course) with the idea of using it as a warming hut during the sap boiling. He paid some nominal price, and it was delivered to his site on a flatbed truck. He'd determined how high the caboose should be mounted -- you get the caboose only, not the wheels -- and he'd prepared a foundation for it that would place it at the actual height of a operational caboose. To get the thing off the truck an into place, he rented a crane and operator at something like $100/hour (this was three decades ago). Well, it took the crane operator four hours to get that caboose off the truck and onto the foundation! Yes, it all worked out OK, and yes, there's a red CN caboose sitting in a southern Ontario stand of maples. But that "freebie" caboose ended up costing a whole lot more. Air on the BrakesAccording to the air brake gage on the back wall there is air on the train so the caboose is hooked up (coupled) to the train. I wonder who's cut out head is pinned to the lower left door window? (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western: 1900
... circa 1900. "Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad yards." Panorama of two 8x10 inch glass negatives. We've seen the left ... would blow over on my mother's laundry hanging on the yard line (before there were dryers). Inside the house, the thundering trains ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/28/2012 - 4:36pm -

Scranton, Pennsylvania, circa 1900. "Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad yards." Panorama of two 8x10 inch glass negatives. We've seen the left half of this view before; the right side, with someone's laundry billowing bravely amid the the soot, is new. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. The RampI think that the ramp that the left hand photographer is standing on is now the pedestrian ramp to the walkway between Steamtown National Historic Site and The Mall at Steamtown. Advertising to the contraryI doubt that Miss Phoebe Snow's gown would have remained spotless if she had had to change trains here! Dad-burned, no good, blankety blank!The wash on the line reminds me of my early years when our family lived in an old three story railroad station that the RR leased to us since it was no longer needed. There were still a couple of trains per day that went right by our picture window (formerly station master's window). The dirt raised and produced by the trains would blow over on my mother's laundry hanging on the yard line (before there were dryers). Inside the house, the thundering trains would shake down dust to drift onto newly wiped and polished tables, etc. Looking back, I believe this was about the period that my mother honed her "cursing like a sailor" skills to world class levels. Dad kept his face in the newpaper at these times. Graffiti in 1900?Boxcars on the left. Kids were "tagging" even back then? [Chalk marking of cars by switchmen was an essential part of railroad yard operations.] CamelbacksThose locomotives, like the 808 in the foreground, had much larger coal grates in them to facilitate burning the anthracite coal in the region. The wider firebox, known as a Wootten, necessitated moving the cab for the engineer and brakeman forward since there was no room over the firebox. Hence this type of engine was known as a camelback. There have been cases where a broken side rod had completely sheared the cab, along with the engineer, clean off. It must have been miserable for the fireman on rainy or snowy days for the only protection afforded was that little hood over the back of the boiler. Those beautiful steam locomotives are known as Camelbacks or Mother Hubbards, as the engineer sat in the middle of the locomotive astride the boiler, the firebox was wider than a conventional locomotive and would not allow a forward view, the poor fireman was open to the elements at the rear of the locomotive. I don't want to hear it Dutch!I live across the street from the UP line. Two sets of rails, all hours of the day AND night. I'll try your dad's newspaper trick sometime. Re: CamelbacksGoats of Venus: The proverb about camelbacks was "in the summer the engineer roasted; in the winter the fireman froze." Exposed to the elementsIn Britain and some other countries closed or even partly closed cabs were not favoured for some time after railways were invented because of the idea that the engine crew needed to be wide awake and would doze off if coddled by a bit of shelter. DL&W(I think I've posted this before, but what the heck.) My grandmother, who often rode the DL&W over a century ago, told me that they used to joke that the initals DL& W stood for Delay, Linger and Wait. A quick tour of DL&W's downtown yardJust left of the lady's wash is DL&W's Scranton depot, with the long covered platform. It was built in the 1870's at the end of Lackawanna Ave. and was replaced by the palatial Lackawanna station, now a hotel, in 1908. The camelbacks seen here were known as "Hogs" on the DL&W. This batch was numbered 801-815, and were a fairly rare 4-8-0 wheel arrangement. This group of locos was built by the Brooks Locomotive Works in 1899. They were actually too powerful, and so were slippery. Too slippery for road work, they were used on mine runs and in helper service from Scranton to Nay Aug and Gouldsboro, and from Scranton to Clark Summit. They were all retired in 1923. In the distance to the left is some of DL&W's shop facilities and also the plant of Dickson Locomotive and Machine Works. Dickson built a lot of locos for DL&W and other roads in the 1800's, but was rolled into the new American Locomotive Company and was closed. Just beyond the distant middle of this shot is "Bridge 60", where the main line continues west to Buffalo, and the Bloomsburg Branch turns south for Northumberland. [And yes, this is the location of Steamtown today.] Steamtown, USAThis is the yard that is now known as the Steamtown National Historic site. The rampled to the top of the coaling station. Full coal cars were dumped there into hoppers which in turn filled the bunker on the tenders. The ramp from Steantown Mall is in the same place and I think uses some of the same foundation. Steamtown is a great place to visit! (Panoramas, DPC, Railroads, Scranton)
Locomotive Lair: 1942
December 1942. "In the roundhouse at Proviso Yard, Chicago & North Western Railroad. Chicago, Illinois." Nitrate negative by Jack Delano, Office of War ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/12/2022 - 11:01am -

December 1942. "In the roundhouse at Proviso Yard, Chicago & North Western Railroad. Chicago, Illinois." Nitrate negative by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. Proviso Yard Noir"Yeah, that was a gunshot ... but pay it no never mind. Quit lookin over there; look at me! You ain't heard nothin! Got it? You, me, and Crazy Dave was workin' together all night in the roundhouse. Got it?" Steam age environment ... captured on film. This is a marvelous photo. Where there's smoke, there's work. Superb imageWhat a powerful, evocative image. A dual environmental portrait with an element of mystery. I suspect if he ever saw this, Alfred Stieglitz said or thought to himself, "well done!" For his part, could he have seen it, Rembrandt would have found the lighting to be familiar and splendidly appropriate. For my part, I hope Jack Delano won an award for this one. He certainly should have. When I was about ten years old, out of boredom,I would hop on my trusty Hercules "racer" and pedal the two miles or so north on Westchester Boulevard that became Bellwood Avenue and ditch my bike in the bushes where Bellwood dead-ended at the Proviso yard. I would then wander around one of the largest railroad yards on the continent. Upon my return my Irish mother would ask what I'd done all day, and I would reply, truthfully, "riding my bike." Any more detail would have invoked a wrath I did not want to even imagine. When my father came home, though, I'd relate to him in detail the engines and rolling stock I'd seen. His job after leaving the navy was to deliver Diesel locomotives for Electro Motive and instruct steam engineers in their operation, so he was an interested audience, and saw nothing odd about such an adventure. I doubt kids do that kind of thing today. Indeed, thinking about it, they shouldn't. No steam locomotives at the yard then, but there was a long line of tenders that sat there for several years. When I was a bit younger, though, I distinctly remember running a few doors down to the corner (not allowed to cross the street on my own) on those rare instances when I heard the unmistakable sounds of a Milwaukee Road steam locomotive puffing down the Indiana Harbor Belt Line tracks and becoming visible in all its smoke-belching, steam-hissing glory in the not-too-far distance from that corner. What a memory that is. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
The City That Works: 1943
... view of part of the South Water Street Illinois Central Railroad freight terminal." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by ... from the trains. [Soot. - Dave] South Water Yard and freight house At least some of those tracks were there into the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 10:05pm -

Chicago, April 1943. "General view of part of the South Water Street Illinois Central Railroad freight terminal." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. ChicagoI worked in the Wrigley Building the last 8 years, I love seeing pics of what the area was like. Hard to picture the rail where skyscrapers are now, and with the Trump Tower behind. State of the BuildingsThey are so dirty! Obviously the smog at times was unbelievable from the trains. [Soot. - Dave] South Water Yard and freight houseAt least some of those tracks were there into the 1970s and early 1980s. I remember seeing strings of Illinois Central Gulf boxcars parked there, visible from the Outer Drive. My father was in that freight house around 1950, when he was with New York Central. He recalled the flooring was of hardwood blocks with the end grain facing up. He also recalled being there with a survey crew on another occasion when it was cold out, and his crew had to go to a nearby switch shanty to warm up. There was some guy in there, probably fresh from the old country, who smelled like he ate nothing but raw onions and garlic. He and his coworkers lingered there just long enough to get warm and RAN out of there! ProtectionI like the particularly bright blue flags in place to protect carmen. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Soo Line Station: 1910
... St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie (pronounced Soo Saint Marie) Railroad. Sault Ste. Marie is at the other end of Lake Superior from ... steepness, but coated with winter ice. Unofficial yard monitor If I'm ever reported missing... well, I'm just sayin'. Don't ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/18/2022 - 8:40pm -

Duluth, Minnesota. "Up the incline from Superior Street." Competing for our attention with the Duluth Incline Railway is the trainyard fronted by Soo Line Station, and that 325-foot tower on the horizon. Built in 1910 by the Radio Wireless Telegraph Company, it blew over in a gale the following year. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. See the Trains and Ride the Trains Here!The same view today: The Incline Railway may be gone, but The Bethel is still visible to the left of the apartment block, here's a closeup: and the Townview Villas and the four houses to the left of it with the big stone wall are also still there: Soo = SaultThe Soo line was formally the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie (pronounced Soo Saint Marie) Railroad. Sault Ste. Marie is at the other end of Lake Superior from Duluth, and it's where the freighters use locks to drop 21 feet down to the level of Lakes Michigan and Huron. We visited the Soo a few years before for a celebration: Shorpy - Sault Ste. Marie: 1905 Radio tower in 1910?Curious what the tower was? Did they have radio or wireless telegraphs? [Radio, which got its start in the 1890s, includes wireless telegraphy, radiophone, commercial broadcasting, etc. Ship-to-shore communication was among its earliest applications. - Dave] Icing on the streetsDuluth, MN: all the charm of streets with San-Francisco steepness, but coated with winter ice. Unofficial yard monitorIf I'm ever reported missing... well, I'm just sayin'. Don't spend too much time searching. Old TimersI'm surprised to see that they were still rolling old-fashioned wood sided open-platform cars at that time. Perhaps for local service? Downhill, both waysThis photo did everything by halves: the car is halfway on its journey (OK I'm starting with a bit of poetic license), the incline has only half as many cars remaining as it started with -- a brief and unintended conversion into a fireball in 1901 explains the reduction -- and is about halfway thru its existence (1891-1939), and whatever perch the shot was taken from (a silo? a balloon?) seems halfway to Heaven. But it is thoroughly enjoyable. [And (what I hope is) a helpful hint to 'bigguy1960': be not surprised: railroad technology moves s-l-o-o-o-w-w-l-y] So inclinedThe only funicular I've ever been on is the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh. I hate heights but I love inclines even though riding them is moderately scary. I think what draws me to them despite my nerves is their iconic status, the engineering, the history, the view from the top, and the photographic opportunities afforded. My favorite episodes of Bosch were those that involved the Angels Flight Railway in Los Angeles. I'd like to ride that one but I'm afraid of flying (hello? heights) and it's too far for me to drive, at least today. I looked it up and learned that while the Duquesne Incline is 800 feet long and 400 feet in height, and is inclined at a 30-degree angle, Duluth's Incline Railway climbed 509 feet in slightly more than half a mile and the grade ranged from 15 to 25 percent. That is interesting to me because the Duluth incline appears in this picture to be longer than my memory of the Duquesne Incline. But I can clearly see the less steep grade of the Duluth railway as compared to the Duquesne. At any rate I would have very much enjoyed riding it, camera in hand and jitters suppressed. (The Gallery, DPC, Duluth, Railroads)
Pittsburgh: 1941
... had a similar wooden staircase from Main Street over the railroad tracks. When we had to attend church, it was necessary to ascend ... altarpiece, it is more than two yards long and a yard high and took five years to paint. Its central figure, a factory worker, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/22/2018 - 11:03am -

January 1941. "Long stairway in mill district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania." Medium-format nitrate negative by Jack Delano for the FSA. View full size. HauntingSad but yet beautiful photograph. You can hear the ice crunching under the woman's steps on the long stairway. Would love to see a picture today to see what remains. When the mills closedI moved to Pittsburgh (Ambridge) in 1980 and the sky was yellow. By 1984 when I left the sky was blue...most of the mills had closed. This scene could be anywhere in the Pittsburgh area and is really representative of what it was like. Except for the vintage car, I've been in this scene. I don't understand why I'm coughing......maybe it's the pollen??? Less smoggy, still cloudyWell, the hills are still there! The mills, not so much. The smell of moneyLooks downright Dickensian. There is a pulp mill out in the bay near where I live. For decades it belched a foul smelling brew of toxins from the stacks until the owners were forced to install scrubbers to clean up the exhaust. Now you'd hardly know it was there. When someone would complain to my friend's dad, who worked there for decades, he would reply, "That's the smell of money." City StepsA few years ago Bob Regan documented these stairways in a book called "The Steps of Pittsburgh." There are some 700 stairways all over the city. From the publisher's website: Many of Pittsburgh's steps are legal streets, and all of them reflect the city's unique topography and history. Together, these 712 sets of steps provide a vital link in the city's transportation system as well as unusual challenges for pedestrians, joggers, the bike police, and especially pizza delivery. . . . San Franciscans like to boast about their steps and consider them a top tourist attraction, but they "only" have 350 sets. Cincinnatians do the same, but claim a mere 400. Neither have steps that are legal streets. Pittsburgh is clearly King of the Steps and a place beloved by the self-propelled. Whether you're an active step trekker or an armchair climber, The Steps of Pittsburgh should be on your to-do list! Every year there's an event called the Step Trek that takes participants all over the steps on the South Side Slopes. It's pretty cool and great exercise! Thanks for the beautiful photograph. Led ZeppelinI was raised in a small, very industrial Connecticut town in the 1940's which had a similar wooden staircase from Main Street over the railroad tracks. When we had to attend church, it was necessary to ascend these many, many stairs, after which we were faced with a steep, almost straight up hill, to get to the level of tiers on which our church stood. It was so steep, the concrete was scored about every inch to give better footing and in icy, snowy weather, it was a real challenge. I used to think of it as a stairway to Heaven, and then the title above came out with their hit song. I thought of it first. The town was Seymour, for all you doubting Thomases. The church was St. Augustine's. Good day. Smoke ControlPittsburgh passed strict (for the time) environmental laws a year later, in 1941. What they called "smoke control" back then was delayed until after the war, but went into effect in 1946 and cleaned up the city's air well before the steel industry went south. Smoke Gets in Your EyesMy dad visited cousins in Pittsburgh around the same time this photo was taken. He spoke of sitting on the front porch and watching soot settle on the railing. Hell with its hat offI saw that caption on a picture of a Pittsburgh populated by stacks belching smoke in the bad old industrial days. My daughter is studying ballet there now. It's a different place, really an beautiful city. Not hard to find reminders of those days, though -- soot-blackened buildings and decrepit factory sites. Bisbee, ArizonaAnother vertical metallurgical town where stairways take the place of streets. Three shirt townThey used to call Pittsburgh a three shirt town. You'd wear one in the morning until the sweat and soot mixture was turning your collar gray, then change into another at lunch, and then into a third at dinnertime. I Had No IdeaI had no idea that Pittsburgh was a city of steps. You learn something every day. Thanks for posting this beautiful picture. Photos of some of the city's steps here (http://www.frontiernet.net/~rochballparks2/towns/pgh_steps.htm) for those as ignorant as I of the wonders of Pittsburgh! Epic PicThis is an epic capture. Its like a frame from some Academy Award bait movie. This image is as fantastic to me as something from the new Star Trek movie - and I mean that as a compliment. So inclinedMy son delivers appliances in Pittsburgh, a challenge in that city. And watching a cable guy run a new wire is like having a front row seat a Cirque du Soleil. One of our roofers lives on one of these "stairway streets". He says that there are 214 stair steps to reach his front door and that the number one rule in his household is that you never enter or leave empty-handed. Those Steps...........look like a heart attack waiting to happen. I'm surprised someone didn't rig up some type of trolley to get from one end to the other (both ways). Dig Sixteen TonsAngular staircase, belching factory, grim lack of scenery: Makes me think of the bleak urban intro to Joe Versus the Volcano. Gotta hope someone in one of those houses has a hula lamp. Honore SharrerYesterday's New York Times carried the obituary of Honore Sharrer, "a noted American artist of the 1940s and afterward whose bold, witty, incisive paintings documented the daily experiences of ordinary working people. Known for their jewel-like colors and painstaking attention to detail, her paintings were purposely flat, hyperrealistic and strongly narrative in their depiction of everyday life." It doesn't have anything to do with this particular photograph, but I found this part of the obituary to be of interest to Shorpyites: Ms. Sharrer’s masterwork, critics widely agree, is her painting “Tribute to the American Working People.” A five-image polyptych that recalls a medieval or Renaissance altarpiece, it is more than two yards long and a yard high and took five years to paint. Its central figure, a factory worker, is flanked by smaller scenes of ordinary people at a picnic, in a parlor, on a farm and in a schoolroom. Completed in 1951, the painting was unveiled that year at Ms. Sharrer’s first solo exhibition, at the Knoedler Galleries in New York. Reviewing the exhibition in The New York Times, Stuart Preston called “Tribute” “a notable contemporary American painting” and “a bold, frank and fine achievement.” “Tribute,” which is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution, was the subject of an exhibition there in 2007 devoted exclusively to it. Titled “Anatomy of a Painting: Honoré Sharrer’s ‘Tribute to the American Working People,’ ” the exhibition featured much of Ms. Sharrer’s source material, including Farm Security Administration photographs from the late 1930s. Hats off to Jack Delano and all the FSA photographers. "Paper Streets"I live in this neighborhood. The term we use is "paper streets" because on the city map, they look like any other street, but that's only on paper. My girlfriend has called me in tears when her Garmin couldn't get her home because it wanted her car to take staircases. These sets of steps also all have street signs like any other city roadways. Paper Alley"Paper streets" are common here in Pittsburgh and the suburbs, but most common are "paper alleys." There is one directly across the street from me that runs up the side, then in back of all of the houses. It's now covered in grass and woods (and I imagine it has been this way for at least 90 years). My parents used to fight the boro to let them take ownership of the "property," however they have not budged in 35 years. Funny how the local gov't doesn't want to take care of it, and after my parents stopped, the neighbor does on the other side. Love Pittsburgh!I have lived in Pittsburgh all 23 years of my life. I would never live anywhere else. It's sad we can't get this smoke-ridden image out of the minds of people. This is nothing like the city today. Pittsburgh is a beautiful, growing city that is leading the way in green technology. After the steel industry collapse, the city plummeted into debt. Now, we are a shining example. Anyways, that misconception will be shattered with the hosting of the G-20 Summit here in September! Pay attention to the news around that time. Anyways, this is still a great image. You cannot deny this city's history, and the steel industry was vital to the US, especially during WWII. Pittsburgh has always been a pivotal cornerstone in American (and world) history. Does anybody know where this mill is located? Warhol-landThis is the Pittsburgh that artist Andy Warhol was born into in 1928. When this picture was made, a 12-year-old Warhol was living with his family in a house on a soot-covered hillside in a neighborhood just like this. It's Tullymet StreetThese steps connect Sylvan Avenue and Chance Way in the city's Hazelwood neighborhood. The old wooden steps have been replaced with concrete. The house sitting just out of the frame is gone along with most of the homes on Sylvan. [Thanks for the answer to a longstanding question! - Dave] First Three homes are still thereIt looks as if the first 3 homes in the middle of the picture are still there. So cool to finally know where this photo was taken! many thanks to sinking_ship for solving that mystery! This is still one of the most beat up areas in the 'burghWhen I return via Allegheny County airport in W. Mifflin, we always pass thru this area on our way to Oakland. It's pretty sad now but still very recognizable from this photo. My foreign born wife immediately recognized the neighborhood just from the lay of the land. Back in the early 70s I worked the last in-city blast furnaces at Jones & Laughlin steel just down the road towards Oakland. Very glad I had the chance to touch the history before it was gone. Been thereI lived in the third house in from 1953/1960. Glad my house is still there. First Two HomesSince the photo of first three homes still standing was submitted, the third one in is now gone also...along with pretty much everything in the 1940 photo... (The Gallery, Factories, Jack Delano, Pittsburgh)
Lionel Lines: 1946
... same as the one here. It is a replica of a Pennsylvania Railroad steam turbine locomotive. One more trivia item. This ... caboose. My layout has the same trestle, and a yard light tower and a collection of "Plasticville" buildings. I still have it ... 
 
Posted by Sparkplug - 12/24/2022 - 3:19pm -

From circa 1946 comes this 35mm Kodachrome of Jim and Jack Hardman and their Christmas train set in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. View full size. Olfactory memoryThe smell of ozone still takes me back to Christmastime on the living room floor with our oft-shorting electric train set. Nobody ever thought to get a photo of anyone in the act of playing with it, but at least there's this color shot from December 1954, complete with old sofa cushions for hills. AccessoriesThere's a plastic tray for a hopper car to dump its load into but I don't see the special magnetic section of track that activates it; on the other hand there's one section that seems to have five rails rather than three, which perhaps is an early version of it. Those are standard O-27 curves. If you have a whole-room floor layout, you can get O-72 curves, which have double the turn radius. The three rails fill out voids in the track left by having few ties; American Flyer had the disadvantage that the track looked very empty by contrast. I can smell the smoke pill from the engineOzone and the smell of the artificial smoke pill is still in my mind's nose from my 1955 Lionel train set. No Ping-Ponguntil next year! Without a NetThe ever-useful Ping-Pong table. Its surface served at so many different functions. "The Blue Haze"My first train was a used Marx set that the older boy across the alley from us was selling for $10 because his family was moving. It was the little black Commodore Vanderbilt streamlined tinplate engine, with three tin freight cars and a caboose, and a set of four little green tinplate passenger coaches. The 027 gauge diamond track layout was mounted on a 4x8 sheet of plywood, and I would run that thing on the floor after school and on weekends until the whole basement was a blue haze. And yes, as others have said, I can still smell the ozone, and I loved it! It was a smell that meant FUN! And that little Marx engine ran like crazy and lasted a long, long time! I'll bet my mom wished it would finally burn up, but it didn't. The little engine wore out the brushes until it wouldn't run anymore! 1946 set 2111WSThis is a 1946 set from Lionel numbered 2111WS. The Baby Ruth boxcar is an extra not included in this set as sold. What is important to Lionel collectors is that the work caboose is a two tone grey that is normally attributed to a different set in 1946, No. 2115WS. The caboose in the near foreground is prewar, which implies that the young engineer in the picture, or his older brothers, had trains from before WWII. Here is the set, fourth from the top. Click to enlarge. Hot!I still remember the stench of the transformer. After about a hour of play, it got so hot Mom would be screaming to "turn it off before you set the house on fire!" My Lionel TrainMy 027 gauge set from 1947 doesn't have the log car but I did have a refrigerated boxcar that unloaded small cubes of merchandise and it used the five parallel tracks to activate the unloading process. This track section is also used to activate the knuckle couplers to disconnect a car. My locomotive (#2020) appears to be the same as the one here. It is a replica of a Pennsylvania Railroad steam turbine locomotive. One more trivia item. This locomotive/tender combination is also seen in the TV Series "Young Sheldon" when he is playing with his train in the family garage. Sales were goodLionel sold thousands of that locomotive, a copy of the Baldwin/Westinghouse Steam Turbine. Baldwin only sold one; it looked like this when it left the shops. BTW this layout is O-Gauge, not 0-27. A circle of track is 31 inches, 0-27 is 27. I'm waiting for someone to do a count of all the Lionel accessories in this photo; there are a lot! Ah, them was the daysI had that same 2-6-4 engine, the dump car, the crane car, and the work caboose. My dad had a friend who collected Lionel stuff and we made an annual trip to his house across town and always came home with a pair of switches, some track or a couple of cars. Had a lot of fun with that stuff. Ended up giving it to my nephew. Thanks for the photo. Hazy MemoriesI remember the train sets with the smoke tablets, but I also seem to remember having a set that had the smoke caused by drops of 3-in-1 Oil put into the smokestack. Or maybe one of my friends came up with that approach. Red Baby RuthGrowing up in the 1960s I inherited a Lionel set that my brothers used when they were younger. It also had a Baby Ruth boxcar (my favorite) but it was a dark red color. I can only assume it was of later vintage than these pale orange ones shown. Wish I knew what happened to that set. Smokin' the TrainLong ago my iron horse Lionel engine would smoke after you dropped an aspirin down the stack. The Red Pill We had an American Flyer. They only used two rails, and appeared more realistic than the three-rail Lionel sets. The smoke generator took a red pill that was filled with some liquid that was squirted down the smokestack. The pill was made of some sort of rubber and had a narrow end that was to be cut off so the liquid could be directed without spilling. It resembled a CO2 cartridge, but was significantly smaller, about an inch long. Future employers20-plus years later I worked part-time after school and a few summers for these brothers, and their small (about 40 employees) industrial adhesives business in nearby Belleville. It had been a family business for 3 or 4 generations, and they were quite friendly with the employees and generous with the perks. Neat train setThat family must be fairly well off because that train set cost a tidy little bit. I had a Lionel set in the mid 50s but all it had was a figure eight. What's that smell?When I was a young boy, my father liked to take us on hours-long Sunday drives. I found these almost unbearable, sandwiched between my two older sisters (yes, I was raised with three mothers) and my mother riding shotgun and trying to keep order in the back seat. Unbeknownst to me or anyone else, I failed to completely turn off the train transformer before we embarked on our excursion. It was on low, not enough to supply power to move the locomotive, but enough to keep the transformer powered up. We arrived back home and were greeted by the pungent odor of an oily sort. My father and I hurried to the basement to be almost bowled over by the aroma. Fortunately, there was no damage, only a huge Lionel transformer hot enough to cook an egg. I no longer have that train set. It was put into storage right after this, because it COULD have caught fire and we would have come home to something I still cannot imagine. To this day when I am finished with a train set, the transformer is unplugged from the wall. I was an American Flyer kidBut I appreciate and enjoy all toy trains. My dad got me a basic AF set up as a kid. Over the many years I've added quite bit to it, and made a few custom S gauge trains too. Wonderful fun for kids of all ages. Smoke 'em if ya got 'emAnd now a few words about Lionel "Smoke". The first version of that turbine had a smoke bulb, and used a pill that worked poorly, and corroded the engine. The bulb would heat up, and melt the pill. It lasted a year, and then was replaced by the smoke pellets. The pellet was paraffin that went down the stack where it melted on a small heater coil -- wire wrapped around a piece of mica. I've heard the aspirin trick, but don't think it was as satisfying as the real pellet. 3-in-1 Oil? Yikes, it would work, but it would run thru the engine. (More on that later) The problem with the postwar Lionel smoking engines is that there was no "off" switch. You had to keep feeding it pellets, or the element would burn out. But if you overfed it, it would stop smoking as well. If you find one today, most times you can get them to smoke by scraping the sides of the stack. Lionel stopped making the pellets in 1974. But wait! There's more! A hobby shop in Atlanta (they are online) has reproduced the paraffin pellets for your 1954 smoker! These days Lionel makes smoking engines that have a resistor down the stack and some fiberglass batting and a small well. These engines smoke when a smoke fluid (mineral oil, some of it now scented) is dropped down the stack, AND there is an on-off switch, to preserve that resistor when there is no smoke fluid. n.b. The postwar pellet smoke units can use the modern fluid, but with no reservoir; use only a few drops or it will run out the bottom. Now everybody with trains in the attic, basement or under the bed, get them out for Christmas, oil them and run them. Speaking of SmokeI believe the little log cabin on the lower left may actually be an incense burner. A friend of mine had one. The roof came off and you could put a little cone of incense in and the smoke wafted out the chimney. Straight outta RockwellNorman of course. Lotsa memories hereMy father brought home a very similar Lionel train set for Christmas, probably 1946 or 1947. As a youngster I have a lot of great memories helping him set it up every year for the holidays. My O27 layout has the same 2020 Steam Turbine Locomotive and Tender, Baby Ruth boxcar, Sunoco tank car, gondola, log car that would dump the logs and a red Pennsylvania caboose. My layout has the same trestle, and a yard light tower and a collection of "Plasticville" buildings. I still have it safely stored in my basement. The track is still on the plywood board that my father mounted it on. I set it up several years ago for the memories. I also noticed that "Young Sheldon" was using "my" locomotive. No. 1 Christmas memory everWhen I was 4, I woke up on Christmas morning to find a big piece of plywood on sawhorses set up in the living room. It was covered with newspapers. As I watched, the papers started moving and a Lionel train appeared. Over the years, I expanded the layout to 4x12 and, with the help of my dad, attached it to the garage wall where it would fold up when not in use. I finally sold it to help pay for my first car 12 years later. Inherited CurvesI inherited a 1930s Union Pacific M10000 streamliner which required double-radius o72 curves so always had as a kid a full-room layout for every other Lionel train too. I suppose Lionel figured out that there wasn't as much of a market for the quadruple-sized layout areas required and scaled down quickly. I never should have opened that presentWhen I was 5, way back in the ancient times of 1970, I got a very special train set for Christmas. It was a replica of the Disney Monorail. Considering that about 10 years ago, I heard that an unopened box set went for $250,000 I'm beginning to think I never should have opened the box. Actually, though, my father had already opened the box and he and my brother set up the train and mounted it on a large piece of plywood. All that's left of it now is the 12v-18v variable power supply. I remember spending hours with that train set. Of course, now I can play with a train set again... virtually. I have software that lets me mimic any train and any location or scenery, but somehow it's not the same thing. Lionel was the greatest!Best part was I learned basic electrical circuits as a pre-teen. Besides all the fun, it was a learning experience. Not only for me, but also for all my Lionel cousins! Color CoordinatedThat has to be one of the most complex color coordination scenes I've seen. Even the boys' clothing matches everything else. I'm sure they had plenty of fun with that amazing train set up. Still with usFrom what I can tell through Ancestry and general internet snooping, both "boys" are still with us. Jim would have been about 10 here, and Jack would have been about 7. [It was Jim who posted this photo. Click his username to see his profile. - Dave] (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Christmas)
Old King Coal: 1925
... Another view from 1925 of the W.H. Hessick & Son coal yard in Northeast Washington, D.C. By December 1925, the company had moved to ... main tracks of the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad . A 1924 advertisement (also shown below) displays a line of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/12/2011 - 2:29pm -

Another view from 1925 of the W.H. Hessick & Son coal yard in Northeast Washington, D.C. By December 1925, the company had moved to 14th and Water Streets S.W. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. W.H. Hessick coal yardDave, I think these photos of are of the Hessick Coal yard at 14th and Water streets S.W. Three reasons: If these photos were of of facilities at 53-59 N sreet N.E., why would the sign have to include the information regarding the location of the office? Consulting the 1919-1921 Baist Realty Maps, the orientation of the pictured sidings corresponds very well with a coal yard at 14th and Water streets S.W. (shown below). The maps of the area at 53-59 N sreet N.E, while close to the B&O tracks, shows no coal yard or similar sidings. In addition to the general track layouts, two additional details seem to fit with this location: The Bradley School was located at 13 ½ & D streets S.W. and could be the building visible in the background (under the gantry crane) of the earlier photo; The signal bridge shown in this photo is consistent with a location over the main tracks of the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad . A 1924 advertisement (also shown below) displays a line of trucks in front of what appears to be the facilities at 53-59 N St N.E. It is not the clearest image but the buildings and signage appear quite different from these photos. (click on images for larger versions) [The company's advertising prior to December 1925 has the coal yards on N Street N.E. The map below, from 1919, shows numerous coal yards and sidings there. The yard would have the address sign because it's east of the main office. Click to expand. - Dave] (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Railroads)
Military R.R.: 1865
... J.C. Robinson" and other locomotives of the U.S. Military Railroad. From views of the main Eastern theater of war, the siege of ... photo taken within minutes of this one shows it in the yard. Watch that last step... I don't think that cliff-side ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 8:53pm -

City Point, Virginia, circa 1865. "Gen. J.C. Robinson" and other locomotives of the U.S. Military Railroad. From views of the main Eastern theater of war, the siege of Petersburg, June 1864-April 1865. Wet plate glass negative. View full size. Robinson ahead by a nose Seems that the Lt. Genl. Grant is running a close second. The named locomotives are from the Wm. Mason Machine Works in Taunton, Mass. The engine ahead of both seems unnamed. Might be an "American" locomotive or a Wm. Mason. LocationThe terrain and the enormity of the facilities in place makes me almost certain that this was taken at City Point, Virginia, the Union's main supply depot for the area at the time. [Another clue would be the first three words of the caption. - Dave] Who's DrivingThe engineer is definitely not Buster Keaton. Any ideawhat the black things are in the upper right hand portion of the picture? When I looked at the blown up picture it looked a little bit like a lot of black socks hanging on a clothesline but that's obviously incorrect. [It's a scratch in the emulsion. - Dave] A bigger nameHard for me to see, but appears to be "Lt Gen. US Grant" on loco behind the Robinson machine. I am amazed at the hillside, ships and living conditions of the period. Grant's Iron HorseSaturday we saw Grant's horse "Cincinnati;" today we see Grant's Iron Horse, "Lt. Genl. Grant," on the left. Union IroncladA turret of a Union ironclad can be seen in the background over the top of the pier-side warehouse. This could be the USS Onondaga, which was stationed at City Point to prevent Confederate ironclads from breaking out of the James River and attacking the supply base. The problem is that the USS Onondaga had two turrets and I only see one. Grant and Lee There is a photo so similar to this one in the book "Grant and Lee" by William A. Frassanito that it must have been taken about the same time. It is in the City Point chapter view 8. The tents and buildings on top of the bluff were part of the Railroad Hospital. The wharf shown is a replacement for one that was blown up by saboteurs on August 9,1864. The explosion killed 43 laborers and according to Mr. Frassanito narrowly missed General Grant who was in front of his headquarters tent at the time. His books have photos taken during the Civil War and then the same scene in modern times. IroncladIn regard to the comment by Excel08 about the ironclad. Also according to Mr. Frassanito there would be about 200 vessels anchored off of City Point on any given day by the fall of 1864 including the ironclad ram "Atlanta" with one stack. Poor LightingAmazing that all the headlights on these locomotives were a kerosene lamp in a box with a magnifying lens. Spectre-visionNifty ghost in front of main tent! Hillside erosionAttention troopers! Gen. Grant has authorized the issuing of hazard pay due to the hillside erosion and the location of the outhouse. It is further recommended that only those soldiers who know how to swim should make use of the facilitiesafter dark. Buster Isn't ThereI'll bet he is out visiting Annabelle Lee. InterestingAlmost as interesting as the locomotives are the view of the ships in the harbor. OopsHow did I not see that? Boy, is that embarrassing. Hey youget back to work. 25 years of progressIt amazes me to think that these beautifully turned out engines are only one generation away from the dawn of American railroading (think Tom Thumb and iron-plated wooden tracks). A person born in 1820 grew up with horse, foot or canal-boat travel, when 50 miles was a good day's journey. During their adult years, they saw the rise of well-established railroads that could travel fifty miles per hour. This, together with the telegraph, was the dawn of the "shrinking world." The Third LocomotiveThe locomotive moving forward between the "Lt. Genl. Grant" and the "Genl. J.C. Robinson" is the "Governor Nye." This 4-4-0 was built by the Richard Norris & Son locomotive works in Philadelphia, and was acquired new by the USMRR on February 18, 1863. Sent to North Carolina in 1865 to work on the USMRR, it was still in the USMRR inventory in April 1866. Another photo taken within minutes of this one shows it in the yard. Watch that last step...I don't think that cliff-side staircase meets any imaginable safety regulation. Bridge Of Beanpoples & Cornstalks General J.C. Robinson 4-4-0 (Construction # 124) Formerly known as the USMRR locomotive General Haupt and acquired new by USMRR on January 17, 1863. Renamed General J.C. Robinson. Sold to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1865. http://www.nvcc.edu/home/csiegel/USMRR%20Locomotives.htm "That Man Haupt has built a bridge over Potomac Creek, about 400 feet long and nearly 100 feet high, over which loaded trains are running every hour, and upon my word gentlemen, there is nothing in it but beanpoles and cornstalks." Monitor identityThe monitor noted by others is most likely a Passaic-class ship and probably the Lehigh. The primary assumption is that the ship is perpendicular to the line of sight (as are the other ships). In that case comparing the monitor's funnel (tall thin light-colored tube to the left of the turret) to the turret, they are signifiicantly closer spaced than would be the funnel-turret distance for a Canonicus-class ship, the only other type which fits what is visible. This marks it as a Passaic. To identify it as the Lehigh is the stretch. At least three Passaics were known to have been in the City Point area at this time; the Lehigh, Patapsco, and Sangamon. The Patapsco and Sangamon were both confusingly identified as having a white ring at the top of the turret/base of the rifle shield. There is no ring visible on the turret of this monitor. The Lehigh was all black. O Scale model Civil War model railroadBernie Kempenski is building a model railroad with these kinds of locomotives, etc. His is dated 1862. http://usmrr.blogspot.com (The Gallery, Civil War, Railroads)
Mill-Industrial: 1939
September 1939. "Railroad yards and flour mills. Minneapolis, Minnesota." Medium format acetate ... 'architecture' of the Guthrie Theatre. Yard Man of Letters Stopping to send a text message to someone in the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2021 - 12:51pm -

September 1939. "Railroad yards and flour mills. Minneapolis, Minnesota." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Flour PowerIf you look closely, you might notice a few subtle changes that have taken place since the photo was taken. Give me the trainsThe former view seems preferable to the style-starved 'architecture' of the Guthrie Theatre. Yard Man of LettersStopping to send a text message to someone in the office? Or to get a fresh chaw from his tobacco pouch? Probably neither; when I zoom in it looks like he is scribbling something in a notebook. Some Buildings Are Still ThereThe pointy building with the pole on top is Minneapolis City Hall. The building to its left (in the photo) is the CenturyLink Building, the building behind it is 105 S. 5th Street. The man on his cell phone is no longer there. Come hell or high waterThere is very little that could get to you if you live on top of those grain elevators. Tweeting from the trainyard"Dude w/big camera standing on trax, lol. Next train will nail his butt IMHO." SynergyTo the right of the photographer is the Mississippi River. We can bring grain in from the prairie on the train and then load it (or Gold Medal flour) into barges to send downstream. Gold Medal SignHere is an interesting link on the history of the Gold Medal Sign, and the Eventually Sign you can see to its left. https://blog.generalmills.com/2016/06/the-gold-medal-signs-that-salute-o... A gem on the skylineAt the right end of the downtown Minneapolis skyline in the distance is the City's martyr to future historic preservation - the Metropolitan Building, originally known as the Northwestern Guaranty Loan Building. Shown in this 1905 photo taken from a different angle (from the top of the Minneapolis City Hall and County Courthouse), it was lost to misguided postwar scorched-earth urban renewal. https://www.shorpy.com/node/6973 (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Railroads)
Maine Train: 1940
October 1940. "At the railroad terminal in Caribou, Maine." Medium format acetate negative by Jack ... bigger than your car. Pin the tail on the railroad track Here is the railroad terminal in Caribou, Maine today. You ... say that three times fast ! -- on the eastern edge of the yard, which together with configuration of buildings, suggests the shot was ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/01/2022 - 12:27pm -

October 1940. "At the railroad terminal in Caribou, Maine." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. The Trains in Maine ...Stay mainly in their lanes? Can't get theah from heah ...Well... I think you'll have to wait a bit longer, and ride an open boxcar hobo style. Today, the passenger service from Boston only comes up as far as Brunswick. That's a good five hours south from up these neck of the woods. And keep yer eye out for moose young fella, especially at dawn or dusk ... they're much bigger than your car. Pin the tail on the railroad trackHere is the railroad terminal in Caribou, Maine today. You can't tell much from a Street View because of trees and vegetation. The terrain in the distance supports Jack Delano was facing north (top of photo). But I cannot find an arrangement in the tracks that match the 1940 photo, or where that arrangement might have been. I'm attaching a photo you can embiggen if anyone feels like figuring it out. Down south, Down East styleThe "Historic Aerials" overhead for 1953 shows a telltale trio of tanks -- say that three times fast ! -- on the eastern edge of the yard, which together with configuration of buildings, suggests the shot was taken from the vicinity of Hancock and Limestone Streets (they no longer intersect) looking south. Mr. Willie, you're supposed to be in the boxcarThis is a fantastic composition. If it had been in color, the power of the photo would be lost. Facing SouthI agree with Notcom; the view is toward the south/southwest; based on the shadows it's late morning. The crossover track just behind and to the right of the engine is still there. Foundations for the long row of warehouses for potato storage on the right in the photo are still visible. The passenger station's still there; now it's Theriault Lawn Care. Engine 403 was one of the last steam locos on the Bangor and Aroostook, retired in 1956. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads, Small Towns)
Amethyst Twilight: 1942
December 1942. "Proviso departure yard of the Chicago & North Western R.R. at twilight." 4x5 Kodachrome ... my ignorance... I've seen a couple photos on Shorpy of railroad yards that have the same light trails like this one. I'm assuming ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/15/2016 - 8:07pm -

December 1942. "Proviso departure yard of the Chicago & North Western R.R. at twilight." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size. Fantastic ShotDoesn't matter how it was done, I wouldnt understand it anyway. trick shot?yeah - i'm a big fan of delano, too... but.. how'd he manage to have the lantern in the foreground be in sharp focus when it is in a field of soft-focus cinders? odd. shifted focusExposing for that scene would likely leave the lantern badly over-exposed. I'd bet that the lantern was masked and the focus adjusted mid-exposure. Perhaps...... my favorite Delano shot ever. a touch of tiltLooks like he tilted his focal plane to keep the ground in focus off into the distance (note the top of the building is also out of focus) Forgive my ignorance...I've seen a couple photos on Shorpy of railroad yards that have the same light trails like this one. I'm assuming that they were captured by leaving the shutter open longer (hence the double image of the rail car on the left), but what were they created with? Were they lanterns being carried around? Was this a Jack Delano trademark? In any case, beautiful photo, and one more example I'll be directing people to when I next praise this site. [Yes, lanterns. - Dave] Jack's lanternIf you look close you will see two lanters that left the trail of lights....One lantern has a freshers battery in it and thus produces a slightly brighter trail. One man was standing outside the shanty and the other was inside (probably getting a switching list, they both walked to the right where they were probably doing switching. [The other shots show kerosene lanterns, not battery-powered. - Dave] Nikon EM can achieve theNikon EM can achieve the same shot with given circumstances Jack's Lantern"how'd he manage to have the lantern in the foreground be in sharp focus when it is in a field of soft-focus cinders?" Photoshop maybe? Just kidding. I'm guessing he did it by tilts. Could the lantern have been flashing perhaps? This could prevent it from being overexposed. Or perhaps Jack knew when it was turned on and setup the exposure so that the lantern would be switched off for the first portion of the exposure and switched on for the second portion of the same exposure. this is simply stunning. onethis is simply stunning. one of my favorite photos as well. Jack DelanoThis is the work of a master. That's obvious, but I had to say it. LanternThat's a kerosene oil switchlamp. No on/off switch. The flashing lanternobviously on his other side from the camera. Stating the obvious, againAll you have to do is do is google "KODACHROME DELANO." Library of Congress has many more. Indeed he was great. Master of lighting KodachromeJack Delano, wiley photographer. Beautiful image. Most color films tend toward blue with long exposures, with Kodachrome the reciprocity effect goes more toward this gorgeous indigo/violet. I think this is a double exposure: a short one with the lamp lit and the boxcar nearer (fainter image) and a longer one after the boxcar was moved. If there had been a longer single exposure I would expect the boxcar to show a gradient rather than two states (think of electron field probability diagrams...) He clearly used a small aperture as focus is maintained through a fair depth of field (at least on the longer second exposure). I doubt he used any tilt--not a significant feature on Speed Graphics of the era (I use one), and rise (pretty limited) would not help with the Sheimpflug effect. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Chicago Noir: 1942
... twenty-four hours a day at this Chicago and North Western Railroad yard." View full size. Medium format negative by Jack Delano for the Office ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/06/2011 - 1:38pm -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Work goes on twenty-four hours a day at this Chicago and North Western Railroad yard." View full size. Medium format negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. C&NW YardThis a hump yard, where a locomotive pushes cars up a small hill (behind the camera) and the cars are uncoupled individually or in groups to roll down the other side of the hump to their respective tracks. The thing on the ground around the rails is a pneumatic retarder that slows the cars to a safe coupling speed by gripping the wheels. The switches are controlled by the towers in the photo. It's an interesting operation to watch. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads, WW2)
The Railyard: 1942
... 1942. "Chicago. Looking toward the north classification yard and retarder operator's tower at an Illinois Central railroad yard." Medium-format negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/02/2014 - 8:47pm -

November 1942. "Chicago. Looking toward the north classification yard and retarder operator's tower at an Illinois Central railroad yard." Medium-format negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size. watch your step!Those rungs on that steel later seem awfully far apart; maybe to keep kids from climbing them when no one is around. I believe that "horseshoe" is a handle for the turnbuckle to tighten the band around the pole. It's very likely we’re looking at the Illinois Central Markham yard located in Homewood, Illinois (south Chicago). The yard is still there, about a mile west of Halsted Street underneath the Chicago bypass (I 294). Today it’s used primarily as an intermodal facility, the two humps having passed into history a long time ago. It's a long way to the outhouse!Just my luck! I climb all those steps and—wham, gotta go visit the outhouse!(centrally located, at least) Must have been quite a challenge during those Chicago winters! How about that "Good Luck" horseshoe hanging over the horizontal ladder brace? Just waiting to fall off and konk somebody on the head! Good luck, indeed... Working at The Hump.I had a summer job back as a yard clerk in college working at the Burlington's Clyde humpyard (near Cicero) back in the 1960's. My job was to stand at the top of the hump and staple a routing card on every card that went over the hill. I can still remember the screech of the retarders on hot, quiet nights and the slamming of the couplers when the cars connected at the bottom. Never did figure out quite how the retarders calculated how much pressure to apply to the wheels to get just the right speed, regardless of car weight or whether it was rolling to the end of an empty track or one that was nearly full. One of life's little mysteries. Boy, does this bring back memories. Mindless job, but a cool experience. Classification yardalso known as a "hump yard" a fairly complicated system of people, machines, and know-how to make up freight trains. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
PGH: 1905
... can see a sign for "Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad" I think that may be the old B&O station. On the right on the ... water being pumped into the open-top structure in the rail yard. I guess it got some natural fill from Mother Nature whenever it rained. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/15/2012 - 4:15pm -

1905. "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from Mount Washington." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Mon Incline, Smithfield St Bridge, P&LE to either sideWe're probably on the Monongahela Incline, looking at the Smithfield St Bridge with the P&LE Station to the immediate left. Some of the buildings on the far river bank, to the left of the bridge, are still standing, and we've seen them in other Shorpy photos. On the right of the bridge you can see a sign for "Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad" I think that may be the old B&O station. On the right on the near bank, those are 'team tracks' for the P&LE, where local freight would be loaded onto wagons by teamsters (hence the name 'team track'). There's a flat car with what looks like marble or granite spotted by the stiff leg derrick on the far right, and closer to the river there's a wagon being loaded from what I'm pretty sure is a 'beer car', an insulated car like a reefer that does not have ice hatches. The barrels in the wagon would reinforce that view :-) To the left of that car, note the C&O car on the adjoining track with a noticeable dip. That car needs to have its truss rods tightened. Fill 'er Up!Looks like water being pumped into the open-top structure in the rail yard. I guess it got some natural fill from Mother Nature whenever it rained. Hellwith its hat off. PGH 2011Here is a very recent night view from a different location on Mount Washington. This one is for Train Lovers.The four-lane road to the left, crossing the Monongahela River, is Smithfield Street. The lovely masonry arches are still there by Google Earth Streetview (the lower tier anyway). Also still there is the 12 story building on the far side of the river, to the right of Smithfield. It looks like there were two railway passenger stations, one on either side of the river. The building in the lower left, with the two-level roadway access is still there too. The sign out front calls it "The Landmark Building" with address "One Station Square". The station across the river is gone, as are the tracks on that side. There are still two tracks parallel the river on the near side which probably belong to the CSX Railway (At least there are current pictures of CSX trains on these tracks.) CSX predecessor roads include Chesapeake & Ohio and Baltimore & Ohio, so perhaps the still-extant station building belonged to one of those. I really get a kick out of pictures of old towns, and old railway infrastructure. There seems to be many more pictures of locomotives, some trains, but few views of yards, stations, etc. Asthmatics BewareClicking on the "view full size" button might cause you to need your inhaler! Also still standing.. The courthouse!Also still standing is the magnificent Allegheny County Courthouse, designed in 1883 by Henry Hobson Richardson, built between 1884-1888. It's the humungous stone building near the top of the image, just to the right of the center. I've never seen it standing so proud; the march of progress has surrounded it with taller buildings that make its presence less profound. I'm sure there's significance to the fact that it has no smokestack billowing puffy steam/smoke. Off-site heating? Government holiday? Thermal inertia? StunningSo many landmarks to pick out. This is one I'll come back to over and over. I can almost see my office building from there, but it's just a tad too far away. ContrastThe railway cars and those tracks look like a very elaborate train set and across the river, the smog and smoke in the air serves to hide most of the visible city. Based on the plumes of smoke the wind during the shot seems to have been from this side of the river. Maybe the photographer waited for just the right moment. Steam.Quite a few buildings have a plume of white steam coming from a funnel-shaped exhaust, often located on the chimney stack, where the coal-fired smoke would exit. Is this an early form of pollution control? If it is, the air quality is still pretty grim. Or maybe it would have been even worse without the steam treatment. Since steam heat was common at this time the vents could just be excess steam escaping from the heating system. But it seems unusual to have such a vent arrangement like that. Did Pittsburgh have a central steam plant that delivered steam to buildings downtown? That might be the answer. [What is the coal heating? Boilers. Which are the source of the vapor. - Dave] Pittsburgh TodayIt's such a clean, beautiful city. What a change. Los Angeles, 2019 A.D.Heads down when those flying police cars buzz just overhead. Ahead of its timeIn the foreground and to the right of the flatcar load of stone is a rarity for 1905. The P&LE coal car is steel, rather than wood. Steel cars of any type were just starting to appear on the nation's railroads at this time. The extra deep bottom side sill on that car was totally unnecessary, however the earliest steel cars were built that way because some railroads initially didn't trust the steel and so overbuilt. The small freight yard in the foreground is an excellent example of a "team track." Customers were notified by the railroad their load had arrived (or empty car spotted for loading) and the customer would send a crew with wagon down to work the car, as seen being done here. Team tracks allowed businesses without their own rail siding to use a railroad's service, and allowed firms with limited capacity rail sidings or desire to use other carriers to move their freight. Most towns, even small ones, had at least a team track. Big cities had a number of team yards like this one. Pittsburgh Steam ExplainedThe boilers placed in these buildings usually served a variety of applications at once. Each application may have required different steam pressures and/or temperatures. So a boiler would be configured to generate steam for the biggest load. To serve a smaller thermal demand, steam would be branched off the main distribution line and the throughput would be “stepped down” by simply venting the excess steam, which is what you see here. Thermally wasteful? Sure. But fuel was cheap then. [On a more basic level: The large buildings here would have used boilers (mostly coal-fired) for steam heat and hot water. Hence the many vapor clouds in skyline photos from the era. - Dave] Sentimental JourneyThe night before Amtrak took over rail passenger service I took the last westbound B&O Capitol Limited to Pittsburgh, repeating a trip I'd taken more than a dozen times as a kid. As they had for decades, the B&O used this station which the P&LE kept in immaculate condition. I remember walking up the grand staircase with the shining brass handrails, and out that door to the bridge. It looked the same, with streetcars still running on the right side. There was even a steamboat -- a dinner boat -- tied up where the two are in this photo. As I walked over the bridge to get a better look, they cast off and chugged up the river. I truly felt I'd stepped into a time warp. PGH railroad cars Once again the old axiom is true: Every old railroad train picture has to have at least one Northern Pacific freight car in it! Wagon GaugeThe wagons traveling across the bridge are yet another rarely seen example of wagons having the same wheel gauge or width as railroads, or in this case, streetcars, 56½ inches or Standard Gauge. In close quarters like these, one set of wheels would eventually fall into the inside wheel flange groove while the other set of wheels rode just outside the rail. Certainly easy enough to pull to the side to get out, but usually one just "rode the rail". In cobble stone streets wagons commonly "rode the rails" as it was a smoother ride, while not literally on the rails, but just to one side. This width or gauge began with the Roman chariots fitting behind two horses and became standard down through the years. The beginning of railroads used horse drawn wagons or carts on wooden plank with the same gauge as the wagons previously. Early automobiles such as the model T also used the same width to run in the wagon ruts made before it. The wheel width is still in use as standard gauge. Sharpies!The radius curves there in the lower right in the yard are pretty tight. A few even has guard rails to aid the cars and locos around them. I wonder why kind of engine serviced this facility? 0-6-0? Probably nothing with a pilot wheel set unless they were very nimble. Green spaceA neatly manicured green space can be seen by the heating plant on the right side of the bridge; flower beds included. No doubt that was mowed with a "push" mower powered by muscle. Look at the golf green pattern; nice job. This was a common site on railway properties large and small. These were probably sacrificed due to cost cutting: pity. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Pittsburgh, Railroads)
Rolling Stock: 1941
... New York, New Haven & Hartford Freight Yard I believe that this freight yard was located north of city center, just above the current I-84 / Route 44 ... 1974 and are puzzled to see that has its own now-abandoned railroad spur. (The Gallery, M.P. Wolcott, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/02/2019 - 12:59pm -

June 1941. "Freight depot in Hartford, Connecticut." Medium format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. The churches in the background.I can't pinpoint the location that this photo was taken, but in the background you can see the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and Faith Congregational Church. Ice to the rescueA lot of ice cooled reefers. NEMFNew England Transportation Co, now known as NEMF (New England Motor Freight). Only image I could find: https://www.trainz.com/products/usa-trains-17011-g-new-england-transport... New York, New Haven & Hartford Freight YardI believe that this freight yard was located north of city center, just above the current I-84 / Route 44 bridge over the Connecticut, at what used to be called the Bulkeley Bridge. The image was probably taken from the bridge approach. The New England Transportation Co. was a trucking concern created by the NY, NH & H in the 1920s to compete with motor carriers. The track layout and freight handling buildings are visible in 1917 and 1945 and also in this nifty aerial side-by-side, http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/mash_up/1934.html where the track layout is still almost visible today. (Look for the only bridge in town.) The high ground on the right is the makings of Riverside Park, which still exists. No idea what the freight yard was called, though. It's been said beforeThese are the team tracks. Zooming out makes the concept a little more understandable to those of us who were barely into our teens when the Interstate system was largely completed, who then visit a factory built in 1974 and are puzzled to see that has its own now-abandoned railroad spur. (The Gallery, M.P. Wolcott, Railroads)
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