Even Bigger than a Mountain!!

Just like last week's feature locomotive, this locomotive was built for the Western Pacific Railway by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) out of Schenectady, New York in 1938. But, as you can see, it is much larger

than last week's. The tractive effort of last week's locomotive was 40; this one is rated at 200. It is also a Mallet locomotive. You can see that there are two sets of cylinders driving the two sets of driving wheels. What happens is that the steam that is exhausted from the front cylinder makes its way into the second set of cylinders and drives the second set of drivers. This method of using the steam twice was invented by a French person with the surname of Mallet. This week the feature locomotive moved up from last week's 4-8-4 to this week's 4-6-6-4. Wait until next week!! This post card, too, was published by the elusive, Bob Fremming.

The Beginning of a Trend and the Continuing of a Trend

This the beginning of a trend in my blog publishing. The next three post cards are going to show the continuing trend in the Western Pacific Railroad to purchase larger and larger locomotives.

This is a photo of the Western Pacific Locomotive No. 173, built by American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, N. Y. in 1924. Its cylinders are 26 by 28 inches; it has 73 inch drivers and a tractive effort of 44. Like in most railroads, the locomotives became larger and larger as the technology and the load demand increased. This post card and the next two show some of the growth in the Western Pacific Railway's locomotive roster. The steam engine reached its zenith on the Western Pacific in 1938 with the delivery of four 2-8-8-2’s from Baldwin and seven 4-6-6-4’s from Alco. Of the 208 steam locomotives that had been on the rolls of the Western Pacific, all but thirty-one of them were delivered new. Of these 208 the railroad started business with in 1909, just over half that many, not considering engines used in construction which did not become a part of the regular roster. There were sixty five 2-8-0’s, numbers 1-65; thirty six 4-6-0’s, numbers 71-106 and twelve 0-6-0’s, numbers 151-162, all new machines, plus two second hand 4-6-0's acquired with the Alameda & San Joaquin Railroad, a total of 115 engines. The succeeding years saw the acquisition of the only 2-6-0, three more 4-6-0’s, one more 2-8-0 and four more 0-6-0’s to round out the smaller power. The first big power arrived in 1917 in the form of five 2-6-6-2’s. See https://www.wplives.com/about-wp/motivepower/steam.php for more details. This post card was published by Bob Fremming from Dallas, Wisconsin.

Still Picking Up Passengers Today

If you look carefully, you will see a passenger train crossing the river.

From what I could find on line, the train tracks in the picture on the front of this post card are owned today by CSX. Today, the Amtrak station is just to the northeast of the falls and Amtrak runs on the lines owned by CSX. The following information about Rochester and the falls in the picture is from Wikipedia: At Rochester, New York the Genesee River cuts through the Niagara Escarpment exposing limestones and shales of Silurian age in the rock column. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides hydroelectric power for downtown Rochester. If "not for hydropower, the flour mills, clothing mills, and tool fabricators would not have located in Rochester", and the 1825 Erie Canal allowed the mills to ship products to New York City. Believe it or not, the best information that I could find on the internet about the Upper Falls of the Genesee River in Rochester, New York was on “Trip Advisor”. Here are a few excerpts from what I found: This is a striking waterfalls, most impressive perhaps because it is located in a downtown area rather than in a natural setting like a forest or a glen. It is easily viewable from a parking lot, or from a foot bridge that passes over the river. You can also eat at the Genesee Brewery and have a spot on the balcony where you can admire the falls. This is a nice waterfall right in the middle of Downtown Rochester. It’s a great place to take a walk or to stop for pictures. They have nice informational boards about the history of the falls and surrounding area. To be able to see a waterfall in the middle of a city is unusual and breathtaking. There is a long bridge, Ponte de Rennes, to walk on to get a perfect view of the falls. There are plenty of benches throughout so you don't need to feel like you have to walk to the center right away if you have issues with long distance walking.

The post card was printed by Miller Art Co. That little blue coffee cup at the bottom-middle is their trademark. They published view-cards of the Northeast in halftone lithography. Many of their cards suffer from very crude retouch work. They issued better quality holiday cards and a large set of New York World’s Fair cards in 1939, many with decorative borders. They existed from 1922 to 1941 in Brooklyn, New York. They printed the card for Scrantom’s Incorporated in Rochester, New York. That is the name printed on the left of the card. Henry Scrantom and Lansing Wetmore founded the company in 1868 with a store at 10 State St. The business originally carried both men's names. The store moved around downtown before landing in the Powers Building at Main and State streets in 1889. A second store, which proved to be Scrantom's longest-lasting, opened at 334 E. Main St. in 1924. Scrantom's was one of Rochester's oldest businesses and the place to go for office supplies, gifts, books and stationery for more than a century. At its peak, Scrantom's operated 11 stores in the area and ran a wholesale-supply business throughout New York and parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and other states. The end came in the early 1990s. Scrantom's Book and Stationery Co. — which opened its first store in downtown Rochester just a few years after the Civil War — declared bankruptcy and closed up shop. The demise was blamed in part on a recent flood of big-box competitors, as described by Cliff Smith in a Times Union story from August 1992.

Following the Theme of the Last Two Posts

Just sit back and enjoy the picture on the front of this post card. The train on the front is also from the Southern Railway and the picture is, no doubt, from the North Carolina mountains.

Queen of the Valley

Wikipedia tells us that “the Queen of the Valley,

the train pictured on the front of this post card, was a named train on the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ). Operating from 1911 to 1967 it was the longest continuing operating train of the CNJ. Also, its route was the longest in the system, operating on a 179.5 mile route. The train left the Jersey City CNJ Communipaw Terminal, traveled south to Bayonne (but not stopping, until the train's later years), traversed the harbor at Elizabethport, headed west along the CNJ's Main Line. It continued past Elizabeth's CNJ station, Plainfield Station, to High Point station and Hampton, the end point for the regular NJ Transit Raritan Valley Line commuter service. From there, the route continued to Phillipsburg's Union Station, Easton, Pennsylvania, Bethlehem's Bethlehem Station and Allentown's Allentown Station. From Allentown, the train traveled along the territory of the Reading Railroad, continuing west to Reading (Reading Outer station) and finally to Harrisburg. In the mid-1930s it ran six days a week. In the early 1960s it was daily in operation.” The message on the back of the post card caught my attention. First of all, because it is typed. Who puts a post card into a typewriter to write the message? Evidently, Tom Acheson does. His message refers to a railway strike so I did some research. Here is what I found: In Canada, on August 23, 1973 a national railway strike began in earnest after various work stoppages and disruptions in different regions of the country. The country’s economy was so dependent on the railroad that thousands of workers were laid off, materials were not moved to ports for export and tourists were stranded. On September 1, 1973, after a non-stop debate in Parliament, a back-to-work bill was passed, the Senate approved it and royal assent was given. The union spokespersons did express some doubt about the law, but they said the railroad would be up and running again in a couple of weeks, after the tracks and equipment had been thoroughly inspected. Soon, the uncertainty of the union spokespersons became real. Canadian National Railway workers walked off the job a week later. Two trains were abandoned, and the passengers were left to fend for themselves. Eventually, the labour dispute was settled and all was well with the world. The above information was taken from these two websites: https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/02/archives/a-bill-to-end-rail-strike-is-approved-in-canada-crippling-effects.html https://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/?a=d&d=CDS19730907.2.24&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------

The post card is one of 18 that I have from Bob Fremming. I know nothing about him, except that he lived in Dallas, Wisconsin..... and published at least 18 different post cards.