ITS IN THE DETAILS
A tag hand-scrawled on a hopper 10 years ago, a sticker slapped on a control stand by an engineer on the other side of the country, rust forming on a weld seam on the nose of a locomotive, a beat-up and dirty number board and its clean new counterpart on the other side of the cab roof, a joke written in grime on a fuel tank—these tiny details contribute to the story of modern railroading, and each tells a story themselves.
The distinct profile of General Electric's Standard Cab is evident on Canadian National C40-8 #2007 as it and two sisters take a train of taconite loads north at Ramshaw, Minnesota. The CN is the last class one railroad to roster any type of standard cab GE.
A pair of Geese wade in a puddle in downtown Chicago, Illinois as Union Pacific's "Tribune Local" waits for the gate to be opened at Blommer's Chocolate. Blommer's had closed a few months prior, and UP still had yet to retrieve the last tank car from the property.
A faded @ symbol resides on the side of a covered hopper in Memphis Junction, Kentucky. The text underneath is referencing some sort of mishap that occurred at a location known as "Yard Two" outside of Cincinnati in July of 2020. These tags are quite possibly the most popular railroad monikers out there, and they belong to a freight conductor who has since left the railroad industry after over two decades of service.
Built in September of 1948, Duluth Misssabe & Iron Range ore car #49305 is among around 2 dozen sisters as it makes another routine trip to Fairlane, Minnesota out of Thunderbird Mine, which this car and others like it were tasked with doing towards the end of their service life. These cars were withdrawn from service in the latter half of 2024, marking an end to these cars' nearly 80 year careers in Minnesota's northwoods.
One of 11 remaining semaphore signals along the former Santa Fe- now BNSF Raton subdivision stands solemnly against the desert sun at the west end of Levy siding outside the town of Wagon Mound, New Mexico.
The Mars oscillating light on Metra F40PH #110 flashes away as the 110 awaits the call to duty at Chicago's Ogilvie Transportation Center. Sitting above the Mars light, is a Nathan P5A air horn; a sound Chicagoans are likely all too familiar with.
A Robin takes refuge in its nest in one of the crossing signals at Church Street in the small community of Stanley, Kentucky. This peaceful perch will soon be disturbed by the activation of these signals upon the arrival of a westbound grain train.
The headlight of CSX CW44AC #297 shines into the rainy darkness as it idles the night away on the point of a grain train in the outskirts of Bowling Green, Kentucky. In the morning, a crew will come aboard to take the 297, and the train, to points south.
