This is one of the most famous faces in railroading. Few things scream "classic" more than the bulldog-nosed EMD "covered wagon" cab unit and the famous Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe "warbonnet" color scheme. And thankfully, it's preserved for us to see and enjoy...

Not every piece of railroad rolling stock winds up in the scrapyard at the end of its service. Those few locomotives, passenger cars and other rolling stock that are lucky enough to survive into preservation begin a second life in which they educate the general public and, in some cases, assume near-mythic status.

Such is the case of ATSF F7A #347C and F3B #347D. They are literally the last of their kind -- the only true survivors of Santa Fe's huge F-unit fleet. All the others went to scrap or were turned into CF7s, but these two went into the railroad's historical collection. Today, they are centerpieces of the extensive rolling stock collection found at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.

They may be "stuffed and mounted", never to turn another wheel unless they're moved from one part of the museum to another. But their very presence assures us that the memories they bring will remain for as long as they are on display.

The B&O Museum's rolling stock collection doesn't stop with just the B&O's artifacts. Today, it also encompasses other railroads that operated in Maryland or were, at one time or another, part of the B&O family.

This is L-1a Hudson #490 of the Chesapeake & Ohio, and it represents both the streamliner era and the sometimes over-the-top optimism of the time. It was rebuilt and streamlined in 1948 to match the Budd rolling stock for the C&O's ambitious Washington-Cincinnati Chessie. Had this train ever gone into operation, the 490 and its sisters would have pulled the train's Newport News-Charlottesville, Va. and Ashland-Louisville, Ky. connections. Instead, they wound up in general service before their retirement in the early 1950s.

We've seen the classic face of dieseldom, and now here's an equally famous example of electric locomotion. The GG1 of the Pennsylvania Railroad is probably the best known electric locomotive in the U.S.

Its sweeping lines are one of the many creations of famed 20th-Century industrial designer Raymond Loewy, and it could make short work of the heaviest passenger or freight trains. The Pennsy acquired 139 of these workhorses between 1934 and 1943, and several of them lasted in service into the early 1980s.

This is #4935 on display in the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania at Strasburg. It wears the familiar PRR Brunswick Green and gold pinstripes in which these locomotives were originally painted. Amtrak, which acquired the unit in the early 1970s, repainted it into these classic colors at the behest of a preservation group and operated it in revenue service. It's one of two at the museum; the other, #4800, is the original GG1. The museum also owns a third GG1, #4859, on display at the Amtrak depot at the state capital, Harrisburg.

The NW3 and its larger brother, the NW5, were among EMD's first attempts to produce a road-switcher type of diesel locomotive. Its contours show how EMD extended the existing end-cab yard switcher design of the day. The design included a steam generator for passenger service as well as FT-type road trucks.

The 181 is one of several GN diesels to survive into preservation. It has a prominent display site next to the Whitefish Amtrak depot, where travelers on the Empire Builder can see it every day. Three former GN NW5s survive in museums or in private ownership.

The OERHS has both static and operating rolling stock, as shown here during the 2007 "Great Oregon Steamup", an annual event held at the Western Antique Powerland museum complex, of which the OERHS is a part. The PCC streetcar on the left is a former San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI) car, and was sitting outside the Society's museum building and repair shop.

In the background is an open-air tram the Society acquired from Sydney, Australia and currently operates on a stretch of track that circles the museum grounds. The Sydney car also previously operated on the Willamette Shore Trolley, which the OERHS runs on the former SP Jefferson Street Branch between Portland and Lake Oswego. This operation helps preserve the former interurban line for future transit use, and currently uses a former Portland "Broadway" Brill Master Unit on its seasonal runs.

The California State Railroad Museum has not only the last true "warbonnet" F-units, but also the last surviving Southern Pacific E-unit. This is E9 #6051, basking in the sun at Old Sacramento on June 12, 2001, and wearing the SP's colorful "Daylight" color scheme.

The 6051 is unique because it was equipped with dynamic brakes for operation on some of the SP's heavy mountain grades, such as Donner Pass and Tehachapi.

The two cars with the 6051 are also classic. They are a diner and lounge built by the Budd Company in 1950 for the SP's Sunset Limited between Los Angeles and New Orleans. When built, both wore plain stainless steel instead of the "Daylight" colors they are shown in here. The dining car interior motif represented Audubon Park in New Orleans, while the lounge was outfitted to represent the city's French Quarter. Both remained in the SP business car fleet for many years after the railroad gave up passenger service.

Troop sleeper #7437, shown here at the B&O Museum in Baltimore, was one of 2,400 similar cars built by Pullman to move troops during World War II. There was nothing fancy about it. It housed 29 soldiers and a Pullman porter, who slept in three-tiered bunks while traveling to and from military posts and ports of embarkation. American Car and Foundry (ACF) also built 440 troop kitchen cars to this same design.

It was not unusual to see whole trains of these cars moving hundreds of troops at a time along America's mainlines. And after the war, many continued to serve. Some were converted into maintenance-of-way rolling stock, while others hauled mail and express for railroads such as the Monon, which used its former troop sleepers on passenger trains made up of rebuilt former Army hospital cars.

Former Reading Company EMU #863 worked in Philadelphia-area commuter service for nearly 50 years before being retired in favor of newer cars. It is shown here parked with other former RDG rolling stock on the Blue Mountain & Reading RR at Leesport, Pa.

The RCT&HS has collected a wide range of former Reading locomotives and cars, including two of three surviving RDG FP7s (#900 and #902) and the first production model GP30 (#5513). Since it didn't have a museum site until recently, it had to store its collection at several locations along former RDG and PRR lines north of Reading, Pa.

The Society now has a museum on the site of a former steel foundry in Hamburg, Pa., about 18 miles north of Reading. Its Reading Railroad Heritage Museum opened April 18, 2008.

This "stuffed and mounted" Budd observation car is miles from the nearest railroad track. It's a 1948-vintage former NYC tavern-obs purchased by Kansas City Southern in 1959 and used as a diner-lounge-obs on the Southern Belle and other KCS trains.

After KCS ended passenger service in 1969, this car was trucked into the woods near Jackson, La. for use at a sportsmans' camp. It's now on display in Jackson, just north of Baton Rouge, and is also used as a rental venue for dinners and parties.

For more information about these rail museums and historical collections, you can visit these web sites:

www.csrmf.org/ (California State Railroad Museum)

www.borail.org/ (B&O Railroad Museum)

www.rrmuseumpa.org/ (Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania)

www.readingrailroad.org/ (Reading Company Technical & Historical Society)

www.trainweb.org/oerhs/ (Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society)