If it is a Mikado, shouldn't it be in Japan?

Th locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is of the type commonly called the "Mikado". The wheel arrangement is 2-8-2 in the Whyte classification system. This particular locomotive is shown in the 1940s working on the Northern Pacific Railroad. This website (https://www.american-rails.com/mikado.html) has wonderful details about railroad history, so I have taken the following information from it: Written by Adam Burns. The Mikado type was the workhorse steam locomotive for the railroad industry during the 20th century and prior to the switch to diesel-electric technology. The design is often regarded as the classic American steam locomotive for this very reason. The 2-8-2 design (a blend of the 2-8-0 and 2-6-2 wheel arrangements) offered just the right amount of power, pull, and speed to be used for about any type of service, from passenger trains to freights moving over stiff grades. Additionally, they were built to both standard as well as narrow-gauge applications. The very first locomotive ever operated as a 2-8-2 design is said to have been an experimental built by the Lehigh Valley. The railroad took one of its 2-10-0 Camelbacks and cut it down into a 2-8-2 with the belief that it would reduce flange wear on the rear set of drivers. While the LV went on to become one of the early pioneers of the 2-8-2 the wheel arrangement was mostly shelved within the U.S. railroad industry for the following two decades. Ten years after the LV's first experiment Baldwin Locomotive Works built a fleet of narrow-gauge (three-foot, six-inch) 2-8-2s for the Japan Railways in 1893. It is here where the term Mikado, which refers to a Japanese emperor, is said to have been applied to the 2-8-2 design. The first 2-8-2s employed in standard road service that featured the larger fireboxes and boilers (for increased steam pressure, and thus, more power) is often credited to the Virginian Railway; in 1909 the coal-hauler acquired a fleet of 42 units from Baldwin (#420-461) listed as Class MB that provided tractive efforts greater than 53,000 pounds. Other railroads to use early examples of the 2-8-2 include the Bismark, Washburn & Great Falls Railway which used a few starting in 1903 and the Northern Pacific's initial batch of 1905 (often credited with kicking off interest in 2-8-2s as main line road power).

This post card was published by the company I only know as Railcards.com I have not been able to find any information about them on line at all.

Life after Retirement

The locomotive on the front of this post card belonged to the Northern Pacific Railway. It is seen here at Spokane, Washington waiting to have some maintenance done. It is a 4-4-0 ("American type”) locomotive.

Washington railroads date back to 1851 when the Cascade Portage Railway opened six miles of railroad between Hamilton Island and Stevenson, Washington (the railroad operated until 1907). By 1883 the first of the “Hill” lines reached the Puget Sound with the Northern Pacific Railway opening its main line between Minneapolis and Seattle that year. By: Adam Burns from the website www.american-rails.com The Northern Pacific Railway (NP) is often overshadowed by the Transcontinental Railroad. The latter was completed by the Union Pacific (UP) and Central Pacific (CP) in 1869, running the 42nd parallel between Omaha, Nebraska Territory and Sacramento, California. It offered the West its first efficient means of transportation for greater economic opportunities. For all the Transcontinental Railroad's accolades, the NP carried its own great story. It undertook a similar endeavor to reach the Pacific Northwest but did so without the aid of federal loans. At first, it appeared the railroad would be built without difficulty as noted banker Jay Cooke secured several million dollars in financing. However, fortunes soon turned and the NP slipped into bankruptcy. As Northern Pacific languished it seemed unlikely the project would ever be finished. In time, several individuals stepped forward and oversaw its completion, thus establishing the first through route to the Puget Sound. After 1900, fabled tycoon James J. Hill gained control and the NP joined his so-called "Hill Lines" which included the Great Northern; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; and subsidiary Spokane, Portland & Seattle. After numerous attempts the four became one in 1970 when Burlington Northern, Inc. (BNI) was formed.

The post card was published by Railcards.com. I know nothing about the publisher.

Peek - A - Boo !!!

The caption on this post card tells us that the locomotive is on the north bank of the Columbia River. That puts it in the state of Washington. "The Great Northern Railway and Northern Pacific Railroad, competitors in the transcontinental business, launched the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway in 1905 and built a line along the north side of the Columbia River. This line was known as "The North Bank Road", "The North Bank Railroad", "Columbia River Scenic Route", and "The Northwests Own Railway". The tracks were started in October 1905 and completed in February 1908, with a celebration being held on March 11th at Sheridan Point upstream of the Fort Rains Blockhouse location. On March 19th, regular passenger service between Vancouver and Pasco was begun. The journey took eight hours." This website tells us a bit about both the origin of the train line we see on the post card (information quoted above) and the outcropping of rock, known as Cape Horn. http://columbiariverimages.com/ Cape Horn is a massive basalt cliff outcrop located on the Washington side of the Columbia River at River Mile (RM) 132, approximately 10 miles upriver from Washougal, Washington. The website notes that Lewis and Clark passed by Cape Horn on November 2, 1805. Here is a quote from Clark's notebook: "... S. 47° W. 12 miles to a Stard. point of rocks of a high clift of black rocks ..." [Clark, November 2, 1805, first draft] Today there is a six-mile long hiking trail in the area that is not for the casual hiker. I noticed that there is a seasonal closure on the lower loop of the trail from February 1st to July 15th to protect the local peregrine falcon nesting habitat.

The post card was published by Lipschuetz & Katz of Portland, Oregon. It was printed by the American Art Post Card Company. Oregon’s biggest event happened just as Post Cards began to boom in popularity. The Lewis & Clark Exposition opened in 1905 as Portland took center stage in its own World’s Fair. This event was single-handedly responsible for the production of 450 different post cards. Beautiful European-produced lithographs made up the bulk of these post cards. Also produced at the fair were leather, wood, copper and aluminum post cards. Several Portland post card publishers got their start at the Lewis & Clark Expo: B.B. Rich and D.M. Averill, as well as E.P. Charlton. Lipschuetz & Katz started publishing post cards in the years after the Expo.

Traveling through an Orange Grove, Florida

The title of this blog post is the title on the post card. It is one of several post cards that I have in my collection that focus on the orange groves of Florida and California (see May 6, 2012, January 17, 2015 and February 2, 2018). In fact, the January 17th post has the same picture on two post cards. One says it is in Florida; the other says it is in California. This one, though, probably is in Florida. It is published by the Asheville Post Card Company from Asheville, North Carolina. Sound familiar? Two weeks ago (September 11th) I published a blog with a post card from this publisher. Just as I scanned the back of that post card for the handwritten message, I am scanning this one for the same reason.

As far as I can make out, Jack is writing to Mary to tell her that it is cold where he is - Lake Mary, Florida - and he is sending the post card to Mary in Lynn, Massachussets. He has obviously not been in Lynn, Massachussets in November; the post card was mailed on November 30, 1933. The rest of this message is that he has a two-wheeled bicycle and that he is going to give some Christmas presents away.

Is that the Engineer?

No. That isn't the engineer standing on the front of the locomotive. That is Buster Keaton staring in the film "The Great Locomotive Chase" This must be a promotional shot that was then made into a post card by the National Railroad Historical Society. On January 12, 2022, I wrote a post about the locomotive pictured on the front of this post card – with out Buster Keaton standing on the pilot/cow catcher. The General was used to in Andrew’s Raild during the American Civil War. The next week, January 19, 2022, I wrote the blog about the locomotive that was used to chase (and eventually catch) the raiding party of Union Soldiers. The picture on the front of this post card is promoting the Walt Disney movie “The Great Locomotive Chase”, which was filmed at Clayton, Georgia on the Talullah Falls Railroad. Today I will write about the publisher of this post card: The National Railroad Historical Society chapter in Georgia. The Atlanta Chapter, NRHS, owns the Southeastern Railway Museum Located at 3595 Buford Highway in Duluth Depot. This 35 acre, mostly volunteer operated Museum, houses about 90 items of rolling stock, the restored circa 1871 Duluth Depot, a park train and many small artifacts.

A demonstration train ride featuring vintage diesels and cabooses is offered. Programs at monthly meetings include speakers, A/V presentations and occasional field trips. The Atlanta Chapter is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization which celebrated its 50th anniversary in March 2009. And a bit about the parent organization. The information is taken from this part of their website: https://nrhs.com/about-us/ The NRHS was founded in 1935 by a group of rail historians. It has since grown from 40 founding members to include over 13,000 men and women of all ages and professions in every state and many foreign countries, making it the nation’s largest rail preservation and historical society. The original society was formed as a consolidation of two of the earliest railfan clubs in the US, the Lancaster (PA) Railway & Locomotive Historical Society and the Interstate Trolley Club of Trenton NJ. The official goal of the new society: “to preserve steam and electric railway historical material; to encourage the building of model railways; to secure data on the history of transportation; and to encourage rail transportation.”

Going to Florida...

...Key West, to be exact. This post card is number 82 in a series of Florida scenes published by the Asheville Post Card Company in Asheville, North

Carolina. It is a depiction of The Overseas Railroad. This railroad was an extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West, located 128 miles beyond the end of the Florida peninsula. Work on the line started in 1905 and was completed in 1912; the line was in daily passenger and freight service until its destruction by a hurricane in 1935. It was not an easy task building the railroad from one island to the other. Hurricanes in 1909 and 1910 destroyed much of the completed railroad. This was the dream of Henry Flagler. On January 22, 1912, Henry, by then blind, arrived in Key West aboard his private rail car "Rambler". His dream had become a reality. Nine years before the system was destroyed by the hurricane, Frank Etzcorn went from Flint, Michigan to the most southern tip of Florida - sort of following in Henry Flagler's footsteps. It is because of Frank that I have this card in my collection. He sent the message below

to his wife. I know it was his wife because he begins the message with "Dear Wife". He sent the post card on January 3, 1926 - not usually hurricane season in Florida; but, not the best of weather in Michigan. As you can see at the top of the scan here to our right, the post card was published by the Asheville Post Card Company. It was a major publisher of linen postcards that went on to produce photochromes. Their cards were manufactured by many different printers. This firm seems to have been founded by Lamar Campbell LeCompte and J.L. Widman though Widman soon left the company. LeCompte may have been publishing postcards in Ashville going back to 1910, the year he moved there. After LeComte’s death in 1977 the company continued to publish postcards as well as sell novelties, but they were eventually taken over by Aerial Photography Services. They could be found at 31 Carolina Avenue in Asheville, North Carolina from 1921 to 1982.

Riding into History

The White Mountain Railroad was the only steam powered passenger tourist train in the state of Arizona. It traveled over some of the most beautiful country of the Southwest U.S. The railroad used two engines. Engine number 36, formerly ran on the Sierra Railroad in California. It was built in 1930 as a Mikado (2-8-2). Engine number 100, seen here on the front of this post

card, was also a Mikado. It was built by Baldwin in June of 1926 and was used on the Santa Maria Valley Railroad, also in California. Here is a little bit of history about the White Mountain Scenic Railroad as taken from this website: www.islandpondrailroad.com/wmsrr/wmsrr.htm The White Mountain Scenic Railroad August 14, 1974. In the last days of the White Mountain Scenic Railroad. The train began operating north from Pinetop Lakes, Arizona, to Bell. This is a much less scenic section of track compared to the former stretch from McNary to a picnic spot the crews called "Apache Hilton". In the very early days, trains actually went as far as an old logging camp called Maverick. All of those days are long gone. The railroad was pulled up on the Fort Apache reservation and both Mikados #36 (ex-Sierra Railroad) and #100 (ex-Santa Maria Valley) were trucked to Heber City, Utah to pull the "Heber Creepers". Both locomotives are now stored, allegedly on display, in poor condition on the Kepner estate in Merrill, Oregon.

The post card was published by Arizona Pictures, Box 635, Sedona, Arizona. With generic words like these in the name, I could not find anything about the history of the publisher. The photo was taken by Merle Porter. Porter, Merle (1907-1988) Merle was known as “the postcard king of the west.” He produced and distributed his “photo-color” postcards under the name Royal Pictures of Colton, California. Porter traveled nine months out of the year for over fifty years – putting as many as one thousand miles a week on his Ford Econoline van – photographing the historic sites, monuments, architecture, highways, infrastructure, oil fields, and landscapes of the western United States in color using his Speed Graphic view camera. While traveling he distributed his postcards to motels, souvenir shops, and gas stations, circulating one million postcards per year at the height of his career. Porter wrote lengthy and descriptive captions full of historical facts and local lore to be printed on the back of each postcard. This information was taken from this website: https://www.mocp.org/detail.php?type=related&kv=8486&t=people