The Picture is OLD, but not the Post Card!

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43519828 provides us with this information about the locomotive on the front of this post card, called the “Catawissa”.

It belonged to the Little Schuylkill Navigation, Railroad and Coal Company (LSRR). It was ordered from Edward Bury of Liverpool, England for delivery in 1833. It was of the 0-4-0 type of wheel arrangement and weighed a little over eight tons. The purchase prose was $5,000 ($150,000 today with inflation factored in). The Catawissa was first used on February 27, 1833 for the trial trip. March 9th was the date for the second trial. The locomotive ran off a turnout and destroyed the 13 cars it was pulling. However, it did have a long career with the railroad. When this railroad was leased by the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad (see below) in April of 1863 the Catawissa went as part of the deal. It was not used after 1865. The Little Schuylkill Navigation, Railroad and Coal Company (LSRR) was a railway company in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The main line ran from Port Clinton to Tamaqua, for a total of 28 miles. The railroad received a charter from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on February 28, 1826. Construction began in 1830. The tracks were constructed with strap iron on wood rails. Beginning with horse-drawn cars in 1831, the LSRR operated between Tamaqua, located at the end of the coal-rich Panther Creek Valley and the Port Clinton terminus of the Schuylkill Canal. It later made a rail junction with the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company. In 1833, the railroad acquired two steam locomotives, built in Liverpool, but the wooden tracks did not support the engines, requiring a resumption of animal-powered operations. This over-extended investment nearly bankrupted the young company. Only in 1845 did iron "T" rails replace the wooden rails, allowing the costly English locomotives to return to regular service. In 1854, the LSRR completed a junction with the Catawissa Railroad at Tamanend (also called Little Schuylkill Junction). In 1857, it built a roundhouse in Tamaqua, housing 21 locomotives and a turntable. In 1863, the company was leased by the Reading Railroad for 93 years. It formally merged with the Reading in 1952.

The post card was published by the Tamaqua Historical Society in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania after 1963. There is a zip code in the address on the back and zip codes were introduced in 1963. However, there is a better indicator of the age of the post card. The caption on the back refers to the 160th Anniversary of founding of this railroad: from 1831 to 1991. That makes the post card 32 years old and they are celebrating the 192nd Anniversary this year. Here is a link to the historical society’s web page: https://www.tamaquahistoricalsociety.org/ Each year, the historical society sponsors and conducts train rides departing from the Tamaqua Station during the Summerfest and at Christmas time. The train rides are presented in cooperation with the Reading and Northern Railroad.