Santa Fe Brakeman Jack Torbet is seen gazing through the window of the caboose as it is pulling out of Waynoka, Oklahoma. It looks like there will be no hot meal while underway since he’s brought his lunchbox and Thermos bottle along.

Note the battery powered brakeman’s lamp sitting on the table. Electric lamps had been available for some time, but didn’t really “catch on” until the 40s. Most of the lamps we’ve seen in this Delano series have been kerosene.

Photograph by Jack Delano, March of 1943.

In March of 1943 Jack Delano recorded this scene of an AT&SF freight train as it was pulling out of the yard in Kiowa, Kansas. Kiowa lies on the line running between Wellington, Kansas and Waynoka, Oklahoma.

Steam locomotive #4097 is a 2-8-2 Mikado built by Baldwin in (likely) 1926. Note the passenger car behind the locomotive, which I suppose makes this a mixed freight, even if for only this day.

In March of 1943, while in the Santa Fe yard in Wellington, Kansas, Jack Delano spied this special load . . . a huge naval gun en-route to the west coast. I’ll speculate that this may be a 16-inch/50-caliber gun, the primary armament for the U.S. Navy’s newer battleships.

Note that three flatcars were required for transport, two carrying the gun, and the third for the barrel’s overhang. The blocking and bracing to secure the barrel looks pretty stout!

Conductor F. T. Granstaff is seen working on the paperwork in his caboose on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad while traveling between Marceline, Missouri and Argentine, Kansas.

The conductor’s desk has always fascinated me simply because of their variety and usual clutter. Note the kerosene lamp lighting the desk. The shade must be new and Conductor Granstaff will keep it looking that way by keeping the cellophane shipping wrapper on it (how many times did you see that in Aunt Margie’s home?). Of course, the ever-present cigar box is seen in the desk drawer keeping the various writing, erasing and taping paraphernalia corralled. There’s a stack of used switch lists to its side, along with other forms. The conductor may be working on his wheel report.

Photograph by Jack Delano, March of 1943

Jack Delano captured this view of Mr. Edward E. Leonard pushing a driver wheelset in place under an engine being wheeled. We’re at the Shopton locomotive shops of the Santa Fe railroad in Fort Madison, Iowa in March of 1943.

A locomotive’s drivers experience wear, and are built such that the outer ring (the tire) is removable for re-conditioning or replacement. We’ve seen this earlier photograph of a tire being replaced on it’s wheel.

In March of 1943, while in Fort Madison, Iowa, Jack Delano decided to visit the Santa Fe’s Shopton locomotive shops. He chanced upon a pair of boilermakers doing repairs inside of the firebox of a locomotive (yes, there are two men inside that cavern). It looks like they’re doing some welding repairs, something not uncommon in this environment.

It looks like that opening into the firebox is quite large, but in fact, it’s barely big enough for a man to squeeze through.

As darkness approaches, brakeman M. H. Burdette lights his markers and gets them ready to hang on the rear end of the caboose. We’re on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad on a run between Chillicothe, Illinois and Fort Madison, Iowa.

Photographed by Jack Delano in March of 1943.

A helper engine was taken on at Chillicothe for added power to tackle an eight mile grade on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Chillicothe, Illinois and Fort Madison, Iowa. Here the helper has been cut off at the crest and the train will proceed on unassisted. The #3286 is listed as a Baldwin built 2-8-2 “Mikado” manufactured in 1920.

Photograph by Jack Delano, March of 1943.

We aren’t too far out of Chicago as the westbound Santa Fe freight on which we’re riding passes through the tiny community of Ancona, Illinois. This depot is long gone today, though the tracks are still there (and not much else).

Spring time might be just around the corner, as the snow appears to be melting away. Jack Delano recorded this scene in March of 1943.

Seen through the window of the cupola, Jack Delano photographed an eastbound train on an adjacent track as his train was passing by. We’re riding the Santa Fe on the line running between Chicago and Chillicothe, Illinois on a snowy day in March of 1943.

Jack Delano’s freight train has pulled into a siding somewhere in the vicinity of McCook, Illinois, this being on the Santa Fe’s line running between Chicago and Chillicothe. He captured this image of an eastbound passenger train flying by, with the heavyweight cars lifting the snow on this frigid day in March of 1943. Upon reaching San Bernardino, California, the end of his journey, he will see railroaders in short sleeve shirts.