A Tragedy with a Happy Ending!

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is a Pacific type (2-6-2 wheel arrangement) #1278. This website tells us about the history of the locomotive: https://www.ageofsteamroundhouse.org/canadian-pacific-1278-4-6-2-the-unheralded-hero-of-modern-day-steam/ It was one of thirty, G-5d class engines built for Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) during 1948 at Canadian Locomotive Company in Kingston, Ontario (serial #2435). Their low-weight, 117-ton construction was perfect for light-rail and branch line duty on CP passenger and freight trains. These 4-6-2s had a perfect power-to-weight ratio and were known as “diggers” that dug in and ran as fast as engineers dared. The more you beat them, the hotter they got—800 degrees F steam heat going into the cylinders, so hot that sometimes their shiny piston rods turned blue! The balanced design of the G-5d had the advantage of a perfect ratio of crank position to small-ish, 70-inch driving wheels. That is important because of the increased number of power strokes per mile, compared with locos having larger drivers but less power. This G-5d steamer loved screaming uphill with 17-20 coaches and 1% grades. The #1278 was equipped with all modern devices of the day, including an Elesco 5-poppet front-end throttle, an Elesco feedwater heater and a mechanical stoker. Inside the firebox, new style button-head staybolts were used to affix the steel crown sheet. A big advantage was #1278’s small firebox with no large, expansive sheets, thus reducing thermal stresses because of limited strain due to less expansion and contraction. The G-5d locos had very strong fireboxes, but with generous grate areas and big ash pans. Like all of CP’s G-5d locos, #1278 had a slotted dry pipe and, therefore, needed no steam dome. They were easy to fire, easy to maintain, and strong as an ox! All G-5d Pacifics have all-weather aluminum cabs, but climb onto the engineer’s seat on a hot July day and you will soon learn that the poorly ventilated, hot, enclosed space is better suited to Canada’s cold winter weather. Along with CP 4-6-2 sisters #1246 and #1293, #1278 was purchased (in 1965) by F. Nelson Blount for use at his expanding Steamtown USA museum and Green Mountain tourist train operation in Bellows Falls, Vermont. This website tells us the history of Steamtown USA in Bellows Falls and its move to Pennsylvania. https://www.steamlocomotive.com/places/steamtownUSA/ Before there was Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA, there was Steamtown U.S.A. in Bellows Falls, VT. Steamtown U.S.A. was owned and operated by Nelson Blount and the Bellows Falls location was not the first. Mr. Blount bought the narrow gauge Edaville Railroad in South Carver, MA in 1955. His first standard gauge locomotive was the Boston & Maine 1455. As he began to collect other standard gauge steam locomotives, it became apparent that he would need a location serviced by standard gauge tracks. So, in 1960 Mr. Blount purchased a Boston & Maine rail yard in North Walpole, NH and moved all of his equipment there. In 1964 Nelson Blount obtained Rutland trackage rights between North Walpole, NH and Westmoreland, NH. Once again, Mr. Blount moved his steam collection from the Boston and Maine rail yard in North Walpole, NH to a new site roughly two miles north in Bellows Falls, VT. This latest location was at the former site of a proposed Rutland yard in Riverside, just north of North Walpole and Bellows Falls, VT. Tracks fanning out from a turntable provided an excellent place to display his collection of steam locomotives. Over the years, excursion trains were run out of four different locations: Sunapee, NH, Keene, NH, North Walpole, NH, and Bellows Valls, VT. Tragedy struck in 1967 when Nelson Blount was killed when his private plane crashed into a tree in Marlborough, NH. Nelson was only 49. This event took a lot of momentum out of Steamtown U.S.A. Most of the operational steam locomotives were either sold or fell into disrepair. Then, in 1970, Vermont passed air quality regulations which prohibited steam operations. Diesel locomotives were then used on Steamtown U.S.A. excursions and ridership fell dramatically. Despite the air quality regulations, the Steamtown Foundation again began operating with a steam locomotive. By 1983, Steamtown U.S.A. again had six operating steam locomotives. Despite the resurrection of steam locomotives, Steamtown U.S.A. was in financial trouble. It was determined that the main problem was its location -- isolated from any major population center. In 1984, Steamtown U.S.A. was moved to Scranton, PA. Still losing money, the Steamtown Foundation went bankrupt in 1986. Congress created the Steamtown National Historic Site and the National Park Service acquired the collection. If it were not for Mr. Nelson Blount amassing the incredible collection of steam locomotives he did, we would not have many of the operating locomotives and museums we do have today.

The post card was published by Forward's Color Productions out of Manchester, Vermont. The picture on the front of the post card was taken by Frank L. Forward, the president of this company. It was started in 1964. The internet search showed that in 2002 the registry was still open, but the company is no longer active.

Continuing with the Soo Theme

Last week we saw a Pacific (4-6-2) locomotive owned by Soo Line Railroad.

This week we are looking at a Northern (4-8-4) locomotive owned by the same railroad. This one is viewed at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin in July of 1951. Both post cars were published by Mary Jayne's Railroad Specialties, Inc. This photo was also taken by A. Robert Johnson.

So, Is It Soo or Saulte?

The locomotive on the front of this post card belongs to the Soo Line

Railroad. It is a Pacific type engine which means its wheel configuration is 4-6-2. Here it is viewed in Bruce, Wisconsin on June 21, 1959. It is a ten car special passenger train and it was a special train, because it was this locomotive's final run. This website gives some very detailed history of the Soo Railroad. I have shortened it very much. https://www.american-rails.com/soo.html Despite maintaining a respectable 4,700-mile network linking the Twin Cities with Chicago/Milwaukee the Soo Line was dwarfed by Midwestern giants Chicago & North Western, Milwaukee Road, and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. The Soo Line was created for a singular purpose, to improve the Twin Cities' transportation choices. All railroads reaching the Twin Cities did so via Chicago. As the lone eastern gateway this meant freight rates were controlled by that city. To correct this problem several businessmen came together for the purpose of constructing their own railroad. On September 29, 1883, the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Railway was incorporated. The railroad's target was Sault Ste. Marie within Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This town was based along the south bank of the St. Mary’s River, which allowed for interchange with Canadian lines through Ontario and southern Quebec. On June 11, 1888 the Minneapolis & Pacific, Minneapolis & St. Croix, and Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic merged to form the new, 737-mile Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway. It officially became the "Soo Line Railroad" in 1961. The picture was taken by A. Robert Johnson. I could find no information about him on the internet.

The post card was published by Mary Jayne's Railroad Specialties, Inc. She was a very nice lady. I have 243 of her post cards in my collection. Her company is my second largest supplier. Here is a snippet from one of her obituaries: Mary Jayne Rowe of Covington, Va., — who disseminated railroad history bit-by-bit through the U.S. Mail via her railroad postcards — died on Oct. 9 at the age of 82. She leaves behind her husband of 59 years, John Z. Rowe. Rowe’s company, Mary Jayne’s Railroad Specialties was incorporated back in May 1973. At the time, the Rowes owned a land surveying company in South Florida, but the postcard sideline soon blossomed into a business in its own right. Mary Jayne’s became a publisher and reseller of thousands of railroad cards. By the time the St. Petersburg Times ran a picture of Rowe’s table at a local postcard show on the front of its features page in 1978, it ran with the caption, “Mary Jayne Rowe’s specialty is train cards—7,500 of them!” This was taken from this website: https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/14-mary-jayne-rowe/

It has been moved!!!

The locomotive on the front of this post card, at the time of this picture, is sitting in quiet retirement in the State Fair Grounds of Douglas, Wyoming. The overall length of the locomotive is 106 feet; it is 12 feet wide and 17 feet tall. The engine and tender combined weigh 317 tons.

This website tells us that it was moved since this picture was taken and is now in the Railroad Interpretative Centre in Douglas. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=92162 It used to pull for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. Built in the CB&Q shops at West Burlington, IA in September 1940 as one of the last class of steam locomotives on the Burlington. Part of an order for twenty-eight 317 ton units that were identical when built and were assigned Class 0-5A. They were designed for fast freight and heavy passenger service. Baldwin Locomotive works supplied the boiler and General Steel Casting of Chicago supplied the one piece engine beds (frames). Locomotive has roller bearings and Baker Valve Gear. Locomotive saw service system wide on the CB&Q but evidence indicates that #5633 was not operated on the Colorado & Southern through Douglas. Locomotive was in service until 1956, then stored at Lincoln, NE. State Senator Charles G. Irwin and William Lindmier, Jr. were keys to getting locomotive donated to State. This website tells us about the railroad for which this locomotive worked. https://www.american-rails.com/cbq.html Some railroads were seemingly destined to become strong, profitable operations. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy was one such example. Its history traces back to the pre-Civil War period when trains near or west of the Mississippi River remained a relative novelty. The city of Aurora, Illinois secured chartering rights through the Illinois state legislature for the Aurora Branch Railroad (ABRR) on February 12, 1849. On February 22nd the company was formally organized. This little system was the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy's genesis. It was intended to run north out of Aurora, along the Fox River, reach Batavia and then turn slightly northeastward to Turner Junction (now West Chicago) where an interchange would be established with the G&CU for direct service into Chicago. During the mid-19th century the "Q's" earliest predecessor had established through service to Chicago and then spent the next several decades rapidly expanding. Its slogan, "Everywhere West," was quite befitting for this classic Midwestern granger. The 1850's were a whirlwind decade that witnessed a great deal of expansion and the official creation of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. The Galena & Chicago Union Railroad was renamed to the Chicago & Aurora Railroad on June 22, 1852. On February 14, 1855 the state legislature authorized the C&A to adopt this new name and what followed included the merger of many railroads.

The post card was published by Noble Post Cards out of Colorado Springs, Colorado. There is nothing on the internet that tells me the history of the company.

Trapped... and Rescued!!

The train on the front of this post card is a relief train headed to another train trapped in the Columbia River Gorge. The story follows below as supplied by this website: https://www.ohs.org/blog/trapped-in-the-columbia-gorge.cfm On Wednesday, December 17, 1884, Colonel L.S. Howlett left the warmth of the dining room at the Umatilla House in The Dalles, Oregon, to join a weary group of 148 passengers and crew as they bundled against the bracing cold of a heavy winter storm to board a Portland-bound Pacific Express passenger train. Led by a snowplow and three locomotives, the train began its slow 85-mile journey through the Columbia River Gorge. They would not arrive at their destination for another 21 days. Wind and heavy snow brought avalanches down on the tracks, trapping the train and its passengers with little food or fuel onboard. As the weeks wore on and the winter storm maintained its icy grip on the Gorge, four snowplows and over 1,000 people worked to clear the tracks and deliver food to the trapped train. Trains leaving from Portland and The Dalles brought workers to shovel snow and restore damaged tracks from both directions. They made little progress, and many of the relief trains also became trapped due to the intensity of the storm. Photographer Carleton Watkins, his own travels delayed by the storm, was on one of the relief trains from Portland. He brought his camera along and documented both the relief efforts and the Gorge encased in ice. On January 6, 1885, the workers cleared the final section of the tracks and the beleaguered passengers of the Pacific Express at last made their way into Portland. During his time trapped on the train, Colonel Howlett maintained a daily journal of events, which he published in the Oregonian and other regional newspapers following his ordeal. It was his hope that by sharing his experience he could: teach others how much can be endured when a cracker is a blessing and a potato a luxury; when the snow in the Cascade mountains is forty-five feet deep; when there is nothing warm among a hundred passengers excepting human sympathy, and nothing light but hope and a tallow candle (Oregon Sentinel, January 17, 1885). Miraculously, despite facing starvation, frigid temperatures, illness, avalanches, and navigating steep, icy terrain to replenish supplies, all of the passengers on the train survived. The creek near where the train was trapped became known as Starveout Creek and is, today, Starvation Creek State Park.

The post card was published by "The Way It Was" of 1699 Fifth Avenue West, Eugene, Oregon 97402. That, and it was published after January of 1963 (it has a zip code), is everything that I know. But I learned the address from this great graphic of the eagle on the back of the post card:

This One is Standing Upright!

In December of 2022 I posted about a train that had been on the tracks when the great San Francisco earthquake hit. That train and this one are related. They both were owned by the Northwestern Pacific railroad.

The train in the picture on the front of this post card is stopping at the station at Point Reyes in California. The back of the post card tells us that this picture was taken around 1910. This website tells us about Point Reyes. https://marinmagazine.com/community/history/point-reyes-stations-railroad-days/

In 1875, when the North Pacific Coast Railroad reached from Sausalito to the eastern shore of Tomales Bay—with a ferry connection to San Francisco and stops en route in San Anselmo and San Geronimo Valley—the stop for the Point Reyes Peninsula was called Olema Station. Then, in 1882, when a U.S. Post Office was opened, the town’s official name was changed to Point Reyes Station. In 1933, the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, as it was then called, pulled out of Point Reyes Station and it became a slower-paced agricultural community. The train in the picture belonged to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. This website tells us more about the railroad history – right up to today! http://www.nwprrhs.org/history.html The Northwestern Pacific Railroad, the 'Redwood Empire Route', played a major role in the growth of Northern California. The line was created in 1907 through the consolidation of six separate picturesque railroad companies held by the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads. At its height, the Northwestern Pacific Railroad was an amalgamation of some sixty different companies. Some of the forerunners built extensive and substantial operating lines. Others, were short lines such as the many logging lines in the Humboldt Bay region. Nearly a third consisted of companies which incorporated but never laid a foot of track. All of them contributed, in some fashion, to the rich heritage of the NWP. Diversity was a key word in the history of Redwood Empire railroading. Gauges varied from the Sonoma Prismoidal, an early wooden monorail, to the odd-gauged logging lines, many built to accommodate their four-legged motive power. In between lay the two foot Sonoma Magnesite RR, the first-class narrow gauge North Pacific Coast and, of course, the more common standard gauge lines. Power was supplied by horse, mules, oxen, steam, electricity, and internal combustion engines, both gas and diesel. The NWP, with its affectionate 'Nowhere in Particular' nickname, operated standard gauge, narrow gauge, ferry steamboats and car floats, electric 3rd rail and overhead trolley interurbans, a streamlined 'name' train along with unusual connectors such as funiculars and scenic tourist railways. This transportation network in the pre-World War II years many claimed was too far ahead of its time. Rarely is so much fascinating diversity found in the origins of one company. Since 1929, when Southern Pacific bought the Santa Fe's equal interest in the line, the NWP has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of SP. In 1984, the trackage for Outlet, near Willits, north to Korblex was sold to a new company, the Eureka Southern RR, later named the North Coast RR. In 1996, the North Coast RR and the former "south end" of the Southern Pacific-owned NWP became the "new" Northwestern Pacific Railroad under public ownership. The new NWP's goals include handling more freight by rail along the Highway 101 corridor, establishing passenger excursion trains, and eventually providing regular passenger commute service.

The post card was published by The Jack Mason Museum of West Marin History, which is named after its founder, a U.C. Berkeley graduate in history who enjoyed a long career at the Oakland Tribune. In the mid-1960s, Jack Mason, along with his wife Jean, retired to his lifelong summer community of Inverness in West Marin County and began to document the history of the area, eventually writing eight books and publishing a delightful quarterly journal, Point Reyes Historian. The Jack Mason Museum of West Marin History is primarily an archive with some museum collections created to build upon local historian Jack Mason's extensive history collection. The Museum collects and preserves materials pertaining to the history of the Point Reyes Peninsula and Tomales Bay regions. Our mission is to enrich the community through exhibits, publications, outreach programs, and research opportunities. We seek to inspire public interest in West Marin history and to highlight its connection to contemporary life. This information was taken from: https://jackmasonmuseum.org/about/

They Are Almost All Gone!!!

Everything on this post card is gone, except for the publisher of the post card. Norfolk & Western ended in 1982, The Powhatan Arrow made its last run in 1969, and David Sweetland, the photographer died in 2008.

The Norfolk and Western (N&W) Class J locomotives were 4-8-4 "Northern" streamlined engines. Having been built at the railroad's shops located in Roanoke, Virginia from 1941 to 1950, they were operated in revenue service until the late 1950s. They were built to run on the N&W main line between Norfolk, Virginia and Cincinnati, Ohio, pulling the Powhatan Arrow as well as other passenger trains. The train pictured on the front of this post card is pulling the Powhatan Arrow, train Number 26, the day train from Cincinnati, Ohio to Norfolk, Virginia. This picture was taken in September of 1957, toward the end of the locomotive’s life of service. This website (one of my favourites) tells us about the Powhatan Arrow. https://www.american-rails.com/powhatan.html The Norfolk & Western was in a hurry to enter the streamliner ranks after World War II, so once wartime restrictions had been lifted they rushed a collection of refurbished prewar equipment into service as the new Powhatan Arrow on April 26, 1946. The trains were pulled by N. & W.'s own streamlined Class J 4-8-4 steam locomotives. In 1949, however, the makeshift equipment was replaced by new smooth-sided lightweight coaches, diner, and tavern-lounge-observation from Pullman-Standard—still being pulled behind the Class Js. Also unique to the train was its motive power. In classic N&W fashion the train was powered by steam, not diesels. The locomotives that made it unique were the ones discussed earlier in this blog. The train itself was adorned in a beautiful livery of Tuscan red and black with gold trim and carried a local Native American theme. According to the N&W's 1950 timetable the westbound Powhatan Arrow (train #25), left Norfolk at 7:25 a.m. and arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio later that night just after 11 pm. Train #26 was the eastbound that left Cincinnati and arrived at Norfolk. Overall, it took the trains between 15 1/2 and 16 hours to complete the trip across the southern Appalachians carrying an average train speed of nearly 44 mph (quite fast, especially considering the terrain the Arrow was traveling). The Arrow continued to run the J Class steam locomotives until the late 1950s when Electro-Motive GP9 diesel locomotives, equipped with steam generators, replaced the Js. The switch to diesels is perhaps most surprising in the fact that the Geeps were non-streamlined locomotives.

The post card was published by Audio-Visual Designs out of Earlton, NY after 1983. There is a five-digit zip code followed by the 4-digit extension. The picture was taken by David R. Sweetland. I could find 29 railroad-related books authored by him. I found his death announcement from September 17, 2008 at this website: https://railroad.net/viewtopic.php?t=54992 David Ross Sweetland, 71, of Exton, a retired Conrail manager and a lifelong railroad buff, died of cancer Saturday at Neighborhood Hospice in West Chester. A native of Rhode Island, Mr. Sweetland earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Maine, where he met his future wife, J. Susan Heath. He served in the Army Reserve with a railroad transportation group. In 1959, he joined the Pennsylvania Railroad's mechanical department in Altoona. In 1976, when Conrail was created, Mr. Sweetland was in charge of re-numbering the locomotive fleet for the new company. He was transferred to Philadelphia in 1985 by Conrail and became manager of mechanical training, educating the next generations of railroaders. After his retirement in 1996, he was a consultant at the Academy of Industrial Training in Essington. Mr. Sweetland wrote 72 railroad books and many articles. He was a member of several railroad historical organizations. He was especially proud to be involved in the preservation and restoration of a Class E7 diesel locomotive, which he rescued from the scrapyard, his wife said. The train, one of the first passenger diesel locomotives acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad, has been on display for 10 years at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. In addition to his wife, Mr. Sweetland is survived by sons Ross and Christopher; daughters Elizabeth and Joyann; and two grandchildren. A memorial service will be 11 a.m. tomorrow at Central Presbyterian Church, where Mr. Sweetland was an elder, 100 W. Uwchlan Ave., Downingtown. Friends may call from 10.