While railroad images frequently focus on equipment or trains in the landscape, railroads couldn't operate without people. Here's a small selection of railroad people at work. Please note that these images are not model-released but are available for editorial uses, such as magazines and textbooks.
These photos include both railroad employees and contractors working on railroad projects.
Click on the image to view a larger version with a more detailed caption. The numbers preceding the captions are the file numbers of the original transparencies.
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971449 A Burlington Northern Santa Fe track crew, working from a truck with heavy welding equipment, repairs a broken rail on Crawford Hill in far western Nebraska as a loaded coal train winds its way uphill. |
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991106 Burlington Northern Santa Fe Senior Special Agent J.F. Nelson (at right in white hard hat) explains the basics of modern diesel locomotives to a group of Denver area firefighters and paramedics who may may be involved in responding to a railroad emergency in the future. |
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950062 A conductor on a Virginia Railway Express (VRE) commuter service train leans out to check the platform at VRE's L'Enfant Plaza station in Washington, D.C., prior to signaling the departure of his train. |
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930073 In 1993 Amtrak leased several European high speed trains for testing and developing specifications for the next generation of Amtrak equipment for the Northeast Corridor. This is a view into the cab of the Swedish X2000 train about to depart Washington's Union Station for New York City. |
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960207 A Union Pacific Railroad signal maintainer checks timing circuits inside the relay cabinet for a grade crossing protection system on the line between Oroville and Sacramento, Calif. Even freight trains operate at speeds up to 70 miles per hour on this ex-Western Pacific line. |
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951029 Track workers, Powder River Basin, Wyoming. |
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900509 Union Pacific Railroad dispatcher, Omaha, Nebr. |
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991506 [Former] Amtrak President George Warrington speaking at an event to promote rail travel. |
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841590 On a snowy December 26, the engineer of an Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichische Bundesbahnen or ÖBB) regional train checks for a departure signal from Semmering, Austria. Class 1044 electric locomotives, like the one depicted here, are still a mainstay of the motive power stable of the Austrian railways. |
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791585 A volunteer crew from the Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichische Bundesbahnen or ÖBB) oils and checks the running gear of a preserved class 52 World War II era steam locomotive operating in excursion service. The process, called "oiling around" is much the same for steam locomotives all over the world. This privately-owned locomotive still makes occasional excursion runs. The engineer is in the foreground while the fireman is in the background at Krein-Bad Kreuzen, Austria. |
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