A survivor of the "Glory Days of Steam" - the author: Burt C. Blanton - momentarily delays departure of the Clinchfield Railroad's special excursion train wich is standing at the Marion, North Carolina Depot; scheduled to leave at 9:00 am on Sunday morning, June 10, 1979. The train is headed by the Clinchfield's passenger locomotives, No. 200, type FP-7A, and No. 800, type F-7A. The consist was eight cars. The train's route was in a northerly direction from Marion to Erwin, Tennessee - a rail distance of 82.3 miles. The Clinchfield Railroad is a typical mountain line (standard gauge) - 275 miles in length - completed on February 9, 1915, at an average cost of $201,000 per mile. It's rails traverse a portion of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the railroad crosses the Eastern Transcontinental Divide in the Blue Ridge Tunnel which has a length of 1,865 feet. There are 55 tunnels on the route, ranging from 154 to 7,865 feet. This excellent short line railroad extends from the southern terminus, Spartanburg, South Carolina, via Marion, North Carolina to Erwin, Tennessee; and thence to the northern terminus at Elkhorn City, Kentucky.

Burt C. Blanton and G. Robert Freeman, Jr. have just de-trained from a trip aboard the "Flying Scotsman" at the KATY Station in Denison, Texas on June 20, 1970.

The famed English locomotive, London and North Eastern Railway's No 4472, "The Flying Scotsman" with its nine car consist leaving Dallas early on the morning of June 20, 1970. A southbound KATY freight train waits on the siding.

Southern Pacific's No. 1 locomotive - the C.P. Huntington - type 4-2-4T, built in the shops of Danforth, Cooke and Company of Paterson, New Jersey, in 1863. This diminutive steam engine was the first to cross the Huey P. Long Bridge spanning the Mississippi River during opening ceremonies on December 16, 1935.

Dearborn Station, completed and opened to service in 1885, was owned by the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad Company, together with its five owner companies. The station's main floor and mezzanine waiting rooms were completely modernized in 1947. This modernization program included the Fred Harvey operated restaurant and cocktail lounge.

View of Main Waiting Room in Pennsylvania Station, New York, looking towards the Main Information Desk (left) and moving stairs (right). In the background are visible some of the ticket windows and near the head of the stairs the bronze statue of Samuel Rea, former president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Measuring 300 feet long, 110 feet wide and 150 feet tall, this room is comparable in size to the nave of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. It could engulf an ordinary 15-story skyscraper.

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway train No. 111, headed by engine No. 12, a 4000 H.P. electro-motive diesel locomotive, on the Trinity River Bridge in Dallas.

In an era of long ago, this famous painting by William H. Foster, 1923, titled: "As the 'Centuries' Pass in the Night" was extensively used in advertising by the New York Central Lines. It was also featured in the acclaimed book “Try Giving Yourself Away” by David Dunn

One of the nation's great railroad passenger terminals, the Chicago Union Station on July 13, 1969.

South side of the Chicago Union Station which is used by passenger trains of the Penn Central, Burlington Northern and Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroads. The north side of this station is used by trains of the Milwaukee Road.

Concourse area of the Chicago Union Station looking toward the main waiting rooms on May 16, 1969.

Union Station in Denver, Colorado at 7:35 am (notice the clock) on the morning of May 31, 1968.

One of the finest railroad stations in the South is the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. Automobiles are parked outside the terminal near sidewalks and landscaped areas.

Early morning commuters from Chicago Union Station cross the Jackson Street bridge. In the background is the office portion which contains the Station's main waiting room.

Passenger train on the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway headed by engine No. 3, a Baldwin Vauclain compound 0-4-2T steam locomotive, with coach No. 104, traverses the Cog Wheel Route in the summer of 1965.

Menu from the automated restaurant on wheels in the consist of the New York Central Railroad's "World Fair Special" train No. 40, eastbound, enroute from Buffalo to New York, September 1964.

Illinois Central Railroad's modern streamliner, "Land O'Corn", train No. 14, eastbound, enroute from Waterloo, Iowa to Chicago.

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad's "California Zephyr", one of the nation's greatest trains, is leaving Chicago for the Pacific Coast, making a cross-over on the main line tracks south of the Chicago's Union Station in October 1963.

A famous name train which operated for many years between Chicago and Milwaukee, the North Shore Line's "Electro-liner" stands on elevated railway track in the Roosevelt Road Yard, Chicago on January 18, 1963.

"The Abraham Lincoln", train No. 2, northbound, departs from Springfield, Illinois in 1963. This Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad train ran from St. Louis to Chicago.

Six tracks south of the Chicago Union Station were busy on this autumn day in 1963. Burlington commuter train (center) backs into the station. The Morning Zephyr is pulled by a switcher on its way to be washed, turned and cleaned for its return run to the Twin Cities as the Afternoon Zephyr. Pennsylvania's The General is departing for New York and the Broadway Limited, which has just arrived from the East, is backing into the terminal.

The Santa Fe's attractive and well maintained depot at Amarillo, Texas.

The superb Vista-Domed streamliner, "California Zephyr", rolls over Western Pacific rails through Feather River Canyon in California, circa 1960. Mountains and a river are in the background.

The famous "California Zephyr" roll through Colorado on Denver and Rio Grande Western Rails, circa 1960. This modern Domeliner traveled a route of 2,532 miles from Chicago to Dan Francisco. The luxury train was jointly operated by the Burlington, Rio Grande and Western Pacific Railroads.