Most people don’t think much about railroads unless they’re stuck waiting at a crossing. When they do picture them, it’s usually the big stuff. Long trains. Long distances. Freight moving from one side of the country to the other. That

War on Two Fronts By the early 1940s, the United States was stretched to its limits. American factories were running day and night. Railroads carried steel, grain, oil, and soldiers to ports on both coasts. In the middle of all

Railroads carry the bulk freight that keeps industries running. Tank cars are a big part of that system, moving liquids and chemicals across the country. But all rail cars have running gear which must be maintained to strict safety standards.

Tank cars don’t convert from one commodity to the next without preparation – or, in railroad terminology, change of service cleaning and, often hand-in-hand, service equipment replacement or re-conditioning. These routine steps often matter as much as heavy repairs. Shippers

The 1930s were not kind to railroads. Across the United States, the Great Depression pushed companies into bankruptcy, silenced factories, and left freight cars standing idle in weedy sidings. In northern Arizona, the Apache Railway should have been another casualty.

The Roots of the Apache Railway The year was 1917. War pulled men and materiel in every direction, and trains in the East ran heavy with troops and munitions. Out in northern Arizona, far from the battlefields, a different kind