December 1942. "Proviso departure yard of the Chicago & North Western R.R. at twilight." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size.

Freight cars in the Proviso Yard of the Chicago & North Western Railroad. April or May 1943. View full size. Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

Flagman behind a Santa Fe R.R. westbound freight during a stop at Bagdad, Calif. March 1943. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

March 3, 1909. Southern Railway wreck at Tye River, Virginia. A tampered switch derailed Southern No. 35, a mail train. Engineer H.C. Linn was slightly injured. View full size. George Grantham Bain Collection.

Circa 1905. "Tramps fighting on R.R. train -- Get down and hit the grit." Bain News Service reproduction of a Brown Bros. print. View full size.

April 1943. Galewood Yard of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) at Chicago. View full size (if you don't, you're missing a lot). 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

Working on the cab of a locomotive brought in for repairs at the Chicago & North Western 40th Street shops, Chicago. December 1942. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

Truck trailers at the Chicago & North Western R.R. freight house, December 1942. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

Illinois Central freight cars at the South Water Street terminal, Chicago. May 1943. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

Santa Fe freight about to leave for the West Coast from the Corwith Yard at Chicago. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. This is the freight Jack accompanied from Chicago to California in March 1943, taking many pictures along the way for the Office of War Information.

Classification yard at the Chicago & North Western Proviso Yard. December 1942. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

Santa Fe R.R. westbound freight stopping for water at Melrose, New Mexico. View full size. Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. This is one of about a thousand pictures Jack took for the Office of War Information in March 1943, riding a freight from Chicago to California. Most of them were in black-and-white. He used a Graflex Speed Graphic press camera that took 4x5 inch film.

General view of one of the Chicago and North Western railroad yards at Chicago. December 1942. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

"Train of 1862 & 1924 Limited - Great Northern." 5x7 glass negative. George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.

Vernon Brower riding the footboard of an Illinois Central diesel switch engine at the South Water Street freight terminal, Chicago. May 1943. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.