Conrail’s North Penn local, which was a second-trick job, allowed after-work opportunities for local photographers. Here it moves from Hatfield to Souderton, Pennsylvania on an August day.

An eastbound Norfolk Southern manifest passes an small farmstead near Myerstown, Pennsylvania. DC-to-AC conversions of EMD and GE origins lead the train.

Fall colors are still strong in parts of Central Pennsylvania. Here Strasburg 2-6-0 89 passes a late bloomer at Carpenters.

Conrail’s North Penn local works a siding in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. Because of limited passing sidings on this line, the train has a GP15-1 on each end, to serve facing- and trailing-point siding... (more)

Conrail train WJAL-12, the Cement Secondary local, tied down in Stockertown, Pennsylvania the previous night, and a new crew is finishing the work that was left undone. They have separated a GP38-... (more)

Conrail local WJAL-12 is seen on the lead to Hercules Cement in Stockertown, Pennsylvania with a cut of hoppers. The track in the foreground is the former Lehigh and New England Martins Creek bran... (more)

Conrail’s Cement Secondary local, WJAL-12, is seen working in the small former Lehigh & New England yard in Stockertown, Pennsylvania. The tracks to the right lead to the Lehigh Valley’s Easton & ... (more)

Conrail’s Cement Secondary local, WJAL-12, pulls a cut of empty hoppers from the Hercules Cement mill in Stockertown, Pennsylvania.

Delivering the Bone

A friend and I heard Conrail local WJAL-18 on the scanner and decided to follow it on an unusual Saturday run. WJAL-18 was a turn from Allentown, Pennsylvania, ... (more)

During the year that Back to the Future appeared on the silver screen, the town where time stood still had its own back to the future moment. Chesapeake & Ohio 4-8-4 614 was back pulling co... (more)

With marker lamps lit and flying American flags, C&O 4-8-4 614 leads an eastbound coal train through Deep Water, West Virginia.

After close to three decades of absence, coal smoke filled the air over trains of black diamonds in January, 1985. Here an eastbound train powered by C&O 4-8-4 614 passes through Handley, West Vir... (more)

A cloudy day at Strasburg was redeemed with a small opening of sun as 2-10-0 90 passed a herd of cows laying in the grass.

Steam returned to coal train service on the Chesapeake & Ohio main line during most of the month of January, 1985. C&O 4-8-4 614 pulled coal trains between Huntington and Hinton, West Virginia, wh... (more)

Completed in 1835, the Thomas Viaduct is the world’s oldest multiple-arch stone railroad bridge. Situated over the Patapsco River near Relay, Maryland, the structure was built by the Baltimore & O... (more)