Still Going Strong After All These Years!

The locomotive shown on the front of this post card is a “Consolidation” 2-8-0 built by Baldwin in 1925, that once belonged to the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway. You can see that by looking at the number board

on the front of the engine. It is shown, in the picture, during its working days with the Mississippian Railroad. When this post card was published, long after this picture was taken, this locomotive was then doing tourist excursions on the Gettysburg Railroad in Pennsylvania. If the locomotive is still working at the time of this posting, it is 98 years old!!! This website gives some history of the Mississippian Railroad http://www.msrailroads.com/Mississippian.htm The Mississippian was incorporated in 1923 and built a railroad from Amory to Fulton, MS. John T Cochrane, who had just finished completing the Alabama Tennessee & Northern RR, was the major promoter and builder of the railroad. The discovery of large deposits of Bentonite clay in the 1950's bolstered the Mississippian's carloadings and ensured the survival of the railroad for many more years. It continues to operate in 2009 serving an industrial park in the south part of Fulton. Wikipedia tells us this about the Gettysburg Railroad: On March 4, 1851, Robert McCurdy, Josiah Benner, and Henry Myers secured a charter for the Gettysburg Railroad Company. The ground breaking was on February 22, 1856 and the railroad opened with the first passenger train entering Adams County on September 14, 1857. A locomotive first entered the Gettysburg borough on November 29. The line was "completed" at Gettysburg on December 1, 1858, with operations over the Gettysburg Railroad Company tracks managed from that date by the Hanover Branch RR until June 12, 1859. The last spike was driven at Gettysburg on December 16, 1858 (12:30 a.m.); and that day at Hanover, company representatives met an official "party of Baltimoreans" with the Blues Band from Calvert railway station. Civil War: On June 27 prior to the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, the line at Gettysburg was disabled when the nearby Rock Creek bridge was demolished by Confederate forces. On November 18, 1863, President Lincoln used the line to attend the consecration of the Soldiers' National Cemetery where he delivered the Gettysburg Address. Successor Lines: In December 1870, the Susquehanna, Gettysburg & Potomac Railway company purchased the Gettysburg Railway Company's trackage to Hanover Junction, 2 steam locomotives, 1 passenger car, and 2 freight cars. The railway line between Gettysburg and Hanover Junction became part of the Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad in 1874, the Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway in 1886, and the Western Maryland Railway in 1917. In 1973, the Western Maryland became a part of the Chessie System, which later became CSX Transportation on November 1, 1980. Today: Pioneer Lines, operates approximately 27 miles of track from Gettysburg to Mount Holly Springs, Pennsylvania called THE GETTYSBURG AND NORTHERN RAILWAY (GET). It is located 200 miles East of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pioneer Lines Scenic Railway Pioneer Lines Scenic Railway operates scenic train rides through portions of the Civil War battlefield and the Pennsylvania countryside. Other excursions include the Gettysburg Ghost Train, a Murder Mystery Train, an Evening Paradise Dinner Train and a Santa Train ride.

The post card was published by Audio-Visual Designs in Earlton, New York after 1963. The photo credit is given to Mac Owen. He was a prolific railroad photographer and a videographer.