Going to Chicago, Anyone?

The locomotive on

the front of this post card is a Pacific-type (4-6-2) built by Baldwin in 1919. It is at the head of the “Capitol Limited” and ready to depart Washington, D.C. The information below was taken from this website: https://www.american-rails.com/capitol.html The Baltimore & Ohio’s (B&O) premier New York-Chicago passenger train, the Capitol Limited, was born as much out of necessity as anything else. Ever the underdog in the New York-Chicago market, the B&O knew it needed to keep pace against its two stronger competitors and introduce a train that would strongly rival both the 20th Century Limited and Broadway Limited. The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and New York Central (NYC) had inaugurated their trains in 1902; the B&O did not enter the market until 1923 when that year on May 12 it introduced the Capitol Limited. For the first three years of its existence the Capitol Limited was somewhat successful in the New York market as the B&O was under contract with the PRR to terminate its trains directly into the city at Pennsylvania Station. However, this changed in the late summer of 1926 when the PRR ended the contract and the B&O was once again forced back into Jersey City (despite this the railroad made the ferry service as pleasant as possible, promoting friendly and prompt bus service into Manhattan, a move that for a time was actually quite successful). In 1938 the Capitol Limited got a big boost when the B&O equipped the train with the Electo-Motive Corporation’s brand new, self contained and streamlined diesel-electric locomotive, the EA. While the B&O won over the hearts of many with its splendid services and on-board offerings (later amenities included air-conditioning and strata-dome car service, giving passengers a 360-degree view of the surrounding landscape) it simply could not compete with the PRR and NYC to New York. As a result, on April 26, 1958 the B&O gave up all service to New York and began terminating its trains only as far east as Baltimore. For the next thirteen years the B&O continued running its premier flagship train between Washington, D.C./Baltimore. As ridership declined the railroad began merging other trains into the Cap such as the Ambassador, which operated to Detroit, and the all-coach Columbian to Chicago. However, unlike many other railroads the B&O did not let its passenger service slide away and die a slow death. Right until the end the railroad offered premier service on the Cap and the train’s last journey under the B&O banner was fit for kings. On April 29, 1971, two days before Amtrak took over most intercity passenger operations around the country, the Capitol pulled out of Baltimore’s Camden Station replete with coaches, diners, lounges, strata-dome, and all for its final trip to Chicago.

The post card was published by Audio Visual Design before 1963; there is not zip code in the address. The description on the back says that this picture was taken from an original early lantern slide that the B&O used for publicity purposes. I have 333 post cards in my collection from this publisher.

More Boston & Albany Railroad

Today, I am carrying on the connection, through these post cards, to the Boston & Albany Railroad – begun last week.

The locomotive (Number 400) on the front of this post card belongs to the Boston & Albany Railroad. It is a 2-6-6T tank locomotive that was built to carry up to twenty suburban coaches. You can see that it is only carrying three, so it must be able to zoom down the straightaways. The picture was taken in June of 1948. http://www.lionel.com/products/boston-albany-legacy-4-6-6t-400-2031010/provides the following information: In need of specialized locomotives for its Boston commuter service, the Boston & Albany purchased five 4-6-6T locomotives from Alco in 1928. The locomotives were designed for rapid acceleration, adequate power for heavy trains of up to 20 cars and perhaps most uniquely – to be operated equally well in either forward or reverse. Not having to turn the locomotives at the end of the line saved space and cost and also a lot of time. The locomotives bore a strong resemblance to the New York Central's Hudson in the front, with a small attached "tender" behind the cab riding on a shared 6-wheel trailing truck. Coal and water capacity was adequate for the commuter runs. The D1-A class served the railroad and Boston's workers well for two decades before being replaced by diesels. This part, below, was taken from Wikipedia: The Highland branch, also known as the Newton Highlands branch, was a suburban railway line in Boston, Massachusetts. It was opened by the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1886 to serve the growing community of Newton, Massachusetts. The line was closed in 1958 and sold to the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), which reopened it in 1959 as a light rail line, now known as the D branch of the Green Line. What became the Highland branch was built in stages. The initial segment was the Boston and Worcester Railroad's Brookline branch, which opened on April 10, 1848. This line stretched 1.55 miles (2.49 km) from a junction with the Boston and Worcester main line south of Governor Square southwest to the current location of the Brookline Village station in Brookline, with an intermediate station at Longwood Avenue. Construction costs were roughly $42,000. Brookline had previously only been reachable by road (horsecar service on what is now Huntington Avenue did not begin until 1859), and the branch was quickly a success. Based on this success, the Charles River Branch Railroad was founded in 1849 to extend service west from Brookline. Beginning in 1851, the railroad built 6.1 miles (9.8 km) from Brookline to Newton Upper Falls. This extension opened in November 1852, at a cost not exceeding $253,000. The line was further extended to Great Plains (later part of Needham) the next year, and to Woonsocket, Rhode Island in 1863. The Charles River Branch Railroad also constructed its own track parallel to the Brookline branch. From 1858, freight trains carrying gravel from Needham quarries to fill the Back Bay for development made up most of the traffic on the line. By the early 1870s the Boston and Worcester had become the Boston and Albany Railroad, itself destined to become part of the New York Central Railroad system.

The post card was published by Audio Visual Designs some time after 1963; there is a zip code in the address on the back of the card. This is taken from their website: Established in 1964, A-VD originally focused on providing quality printed material for railroads, railfans and related custom publishing services. Since then, we have expanded our reach to include custom postcards, holiday and birthday greeting cards and color or B&W calendars for many businesses in a variety of industries.

From New England to Liverpool to Edmonton

The train on the front of this post card is making a freight run in Chester, Massachusetts.

May 24, 1841 saw the opening of the railroad through the town. The locomotive is a "Santa Fe"-type of engine because the Santa Fe railroad was the first one to use this wheel arrangement. The Whyte wheel classification makes it a 2-10-0. It is running on the tracks of the Boston & Albany Railroad (B&ARR) The information below about the railroad is taken from this website: https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/capobject/?gusn=171267 The Boston & Albany Railroad Company was formed in 1868 by the consolidation of the Western Rail-Road Corporation and the Boston and Worcester Railroad Corporation. In 1883, the Boston & Albany acquired track then owned by the New York and New England Railroad as far as Newton Highlands, and in 1884, began the construction of a line northwest to its mainline creating a commuter loop. "The Circuit," as this route was called, officially opened in May 1886 providing double-track operation from downtown Boston through Brookline to Newton Highlands, then north into Riverside and four tracks on the mainline from Riverside back to downtown so that commuter and mainline operations did not conflict. By 1889 as many as 35 trains traveled the Circuit daily, providing superior commuter service. The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad leased the Boston & Albany for 99 years from July 1, 1900. This lease passed to the New York Central Railroad in 1914. Throughout this era, the Boston & Albany kept its own branding in the public eye. The New York Central merged into the Pennsylvania Central on February 1, 1968.

The post card seems to have been part of someone's collection of train post cards. I have several in my collection, now, that used to be part of this collection. The picture is copyrighted and published by Railway Photograph out of Liverpool, England. They must have been in a hurry when they printed this one. On the back, the words POST CARD are cut off at the top and you can see the missing parts of the letters down at the bottom.

The Brothers loved steam.

The information below was taken 100% from this website: https://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr1104.htm

The Moscow, Camden and San Augustine Railroad Company was chartered on May 18, 1898, by William Thomas and Ernest A. Carter, who owned the W. T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company. The railroad was planned to connect Moscow in Polk County with San Augustine fifty miles to the east. The capital was $250,000, and the principal place of business was Camden. The line from Moscow to Camden, a distance of seven miles, was built for the railroad by the lumber company in 1899. W. T. Carter moved his operations to Camden where he had extensive timber holdings after a fire destroyed his sawmill at Barnum in 1897. The railroad connected the mill with the Houston East and West Texas Railway Company at Moscow. Although chartered to run as far east as San Augustine, the company only extended a short distance east of Camden where it intersected a tram line that brought logs from Camp Ruby. This connection formed a Y, which allowed the locomotives to be turned. The Moscow, Camden and San Augustine quickly paid for itself as it returned $56,500 in dividends during the first twenty years. Only $9,000 was paid out as cash dividends, the balance was a transfer from surplus in the profit and loss account to the credit of the open account with the various stockholders. This discharged their indebtedness for unpaid subscriptions. Due to the close relation of the railroad to the W. T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company, locals suggested that the initials on the side of the locomotive tender stood for "Mr. Carter and Sid Adams," the owner and long-time superintendent, respectively, of the sawmill. The Moscow, Camden and San Augustine never owned much rolling stock; for much of its history it only had one or two locomotives and a combination baggage-coach with space for express, passengers, and a desk for the conductor. Freight traffic, originally lumber from the sawmill, and later supplemented by pulp wood or wood chips, was carried in cars provided by its connecting railroad. In 1903 the railroad reported passenger earnings of $500 and freight earnings of $15,000. By 1952 the amounts were $100 and $50,000, respectively. The railroad had an interesting operation at Moscow. The train was left on a hill outside of town while the locomotive was uncoupled and turned on a turntable for the return trip. Once this was done, the brakes were released on the cars which then coasted into a siding at the depot. This practice ended in April 1959 when the railroad leased a locomotive that was too large for the turntable. Instead of being turned at Moscow, it ran forward from Camden to Moscow and backed up on the return trip. Passenger service on the Moscow, Camden and San Augustine increased in the late 1950s, when a ride on the railroad's mixed freight and passenger train became somewhat of a tourist attraction. The railroad was also the last common carrier in Texas to use steam locomotives in regular service, but after 1965 only diesel engines were in use. Passenger revenues peaked in the early 1970s and were nearly $2,800 in 1972. However, passenger service was discontinued in July 1973 due to the age of the combine used to carry passengers, which dated from 1898, and the fear of potential accidents at the busy Highway 59 crossing near Moscow. In 1968 the Carter family sold the sawmill, the timber lands, and railroad to what was then United States Plywood-Champions Paper, Incorporated. The railroad remains an active subsidiary of that company now known as Champion International, Incorporated.

The post card was published by the same company as last week's post card.