Photo Line
Welcome to Trains & Railroads of the Past’s Photo Line, a monthly gallery of creative railroad photography! Photo Line welcomes your submissions. We’re looking for a themed topic with six to ten unique images. Each photo should be no smaller than 14 inches (or 1024 pixels) across at 72 dpi (no verticals, please). Brief caption information must accompany each photo. Please send your inquiries to the Webmaster for consideration.
August 15, 2025
Copper, Coal, and other Western Treasures
Highlights of a trip around the American West in 1991, featuring Burlington Northern, Montana Rail Link, Copper Basin, Magma Arizona, and others.
May 13, 2025
No Drone Zone
Celebrate the ingenuity of railfans who found a way to position their camera more than six feet above track level before the invention of drones.
January 15, 2025
The Way it Was: 1970s Northeast Railroading
There was a wonderful variety of railroad action throughout the greater New York Mertropolitan area in the 1970s, and some folks were trackside to capture it.
May 16, 2024
Horseshoe Curve to Gallitzin
A photo gallery of heavy mountain railroading on the former Pennsylvania Railroad main line around Horseshoe Curve.
December 11, 2023
Diesel Deliveries
There is something special about the delivery of brand new motive power to a railroad. Enjoy this gallery of classic diesel deliveries!
April 3, 2020
A Busy Morning in Alexandria
Alexandria, Virginia, located just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., was the north end of the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad. Photographer Edward W. Horm lived in the Alexandria area before moving to Pittsburgh. These pictures highlight some of his photographic talents, including one memorable trip to Alexandria in 1973.
April 12, 2019
Going to Grandma’s in Cincinnati
My first real exposure to live freight trains happened in Cincinnati, Ohio, where I would visit my grandparents often. It became obvious to me that Cincinnati was a huge hub for railroads with Chessie System, Norfolk & Western, Southern, Conrail, and Louisville & Nashville.
January 17, 2019
Freight Car Frenzy
Trains & Railroads of the Past Magazine is THE place to go to see vintage rolling stock. In every issue we present a variety of freight cars that is sure to bring back great trackside memories. Here are a few examples from past issues…
January 31, 2018
50th Anniversary of Penn Central
For all of Penn Central’s woes, it still was a very interesting railroad to photograph and experience. You had a good chance of catching interesting motive power and the many of the signals, towers and other goodies from the golden era of railroading.
December 5, 2017
The Great Northern by Richard Yaremko
Financier James J. Hill became known as the “Empire Builder” for expanding the Great Northern into a transcontinental mainline connecting the Great Lakes with Seattle and British Columbia. With the arrival of the diesel era, the Great Northern owned and experimented with locomotives from nearly every builder, right up to the Burlington Northern merger in 1970.
