Narrow Gauge in California

This website gives us a lot of good history about the railroad that the locomotive on the front of this post card is working for: https://www.abandonedrails.com/west-side-lumber-company The back of the post card says that it is the West Side Lumber Company, but it wasn't always known by that name. Take a read... Tuolumne to Stanislaus National Forest, CA Home | CA | HH&YV , WSLCRR Note: For more information on the WSLC and its railroad, check out Last of the Three Foot Loggers by Allan Krieg. A railroad that had many names over the years, this three-foot narrow gauge railroad first operated under the name of the Hetch Hetchy & Yosemite Valley Railroad, starting in 1898. As a wholly owned subsidiary of the West Side Flume & Lumber Company, its primary purpose was to haul fresh-cut logs from the vast sugar pine forests of eastern Tuolumne County to the expansive West Side Lumber Mill in Tuolumne City. Here, the logs would be cut into dimensional lumber and transferred to the Sierra Railway of California for shipping. As the years went past, the HH&YV was eventually reorganized and absorbed into its parent company, becoming the West Side Lumber Company Railroad, but all the while its Shays and Heislers continued to run into the rugged backcountry, winding through the multiple canyons and creeks that fed the north fork of the Tuolumne River. For 64 years they ran, until finally in 1962, technology and economic forces caught up with them. By that point, the West Side reigned supreme as the last narrow gauge logging railroad still operating in the American west. In later years, efforts were made to resurrect the mighty West Side as a tourist railroad, spearheaded primarily by Glenn Bell and his "West Side & Cherry Valley Railroad" operation. But the numbers simply didn’t add up, and the WS&CVRR was forced to close its doors in the early 1980s. Today, a portion of the former West Side right-of-way serves as a hiking and equestrian trail. Members of the public can hike from the former station of Friedenberg (approximately milepost one point five by the original railroad timetables), to the station of River (milepost seven), where the tracks crossed the north fork of the Tuolumne on a large wooden trestle. Much of the trackage through this area still remains undisturbed, more than 20 years after the last train rolled by.

Once again the mysterious publisher strikes the blog post. At least in this one he points out that the fireman is sitting on the back of the tender, so he titles the card "Love me tender".

A Big "Boo-Boo" on the back

The front of this post card contains a picture of a Ten-Wheeler (4-6-0)

that was built in the early 1900s. It ran on the Warren & Ouachita Valley Railroad line - a total of 16 mles. This great website gives us the most detail that I could find about the railroad company: https://www.american-rails.com/ark.html I suggest that you visit this website if you have any questions about the history of railroading in the United States. This is what Adam Burns has to say about it: The Warren & Ouachita Valley Railway was jointly owned by the Arkansas Lumber Company and the Southern Lumber Company. It was incorporated in 1899 and began operations around 1901 connecting Banks, Arkansas with Warren, Arkansas a distance of about 16 miles. At both locations the W&OV had connections with Class I lines, the Rock Island at Banks, Arkansas and the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway (StLIM&S) at Warren. The railroad was another of the "tap lines”, hauling the finished lumber products to the Rock Island and StLIM&S. However, it also operated direct logging trains to the mills as well. You can see this same locomtive on a different post card if you go to my blog entry from June 14, 2023.

Again, the post card is published by Railcards.com - the mysterious publisher. However, as I read the back of the post card and compared it to what Adam Burns says above, I think I found an error on the post card. It says that the Warren & Ouachita Valley Railway operated in Alabama. It was actually in Arkansas, as Adam says.

Thank you, Ephraim Shay

Designed by Ephraim Shay, and named after the inventor, the geared locomotive proved to be an invaluable tool in the logging industry. As early as 1872 he began development of a new locomotive that used gears rather than standard rods to propel the device forward. He built the design from the ground up using a flatcar as a base. Upon this he placed a boiler, vertical cylinders, and two-axle trucks on each end. The uniqueness of his design included that essentially the vertical cylinders drive a

horizontal crank shaft attached to drive shafts extending to each truck axle. These axles have gearboxes attached to them which propels the engine forward. Because geared steam locomotives have all of their trucks powered, they provided excellent adhesion enabling them to climb grades well over 5% (something all but unthinkable on main line railroads), although this high adhesion factor limited its top speed to just 18 mph. The flexibility of the design allowed each truck to negotiate the track independently of the other, thus keeping the locomotive on the rails and allowing it to operate over almost any type of track (which was usually nothing more than rails laid directly onto a hillside for most logging operations). The above information was condensed from the article "Shay Locomotives" Which was written (and last revised on May 12, 2023) by Adam Burns. It comes from the website: https://www.american-rails.com/shay.html This website provides the following statistics about Shay Locomotives https://www.shaylocomotives.com/ 2,767 Shays were built over 67 years under four company names. (116 survive) 350 were built by Lima Machine Works between 1878 and April 12, 1892; 1,557 were built by Lima Locomotive & Machine Co. between April 12, 1892 and 1912; 362 were built by Lima Locomotive Corporation between 1912 and March 1916; 498 were built by Lima Locomotive Works, Inc. between March 1916 and 1945; If you rank them by Class, MPH and Speed Range you get the following: 685 were 2-cylinders/2-trucks known as Class A that could travel between 7.7 - 17.5 MPH; 2 were 2-cylinders/3-trucks known as Special that could travel between 14.0 - 16.2 MPH; 1,481 were 3-cylinders/2-trucks known as Class B that could travel between 10.1 - 21.0 MPH; 580 were 3-cylinders/3-trucks known as Class C that could travel between 10.1 - 27.9 MPH; and 20 were 3-cylinders/4-trucks known as Class D that could travel between 18.8 - 26.7 MPH. Once again, I have an interesting post card from a publisher about which I know nothing.

Oh, So Popular!!!

The locomotive on the front of this post card is working for the Northern Pacific Railroad in the 1950s. It is a "Consolidation" model of locomotive. I have taken excerpts from this website https://www.american-rails.com/consolidation.html and from this article on the website:

2-8-0 "Consolidation" Locomotives

The article was written (and last revised September 20, 2023) by Adam Burns The first 2-8-0 is said to have appeared on the Pennsylvania Railroad around the end of the Civil War. The history of the Consolidation's origins is interesting; the first prototype actually constructed is said to have been built by the Lehigh & Mahanoy Railroad around 1865, which modified a standard 0-8-0 switcher by adding a front axle to the locomotive. The original designs were not very successful as they were mounted with a rigid front truck assembly instead of one that could freely move to more easily negotiate curves. However, a year later it was perfected by Matthias Baldwin's Baldwin Locomotive Works, which improved the 2-8-0 by making the lead truck/axle self-centering via its mount from the driving wheels. This not only greatly improved stability but also since the lead axle freely swiveled it vastly enhanced the locomotive's ability to negotiate curves. The first Consolidation purchased from a manufacturer was built by Baldwin and delivered to the Lehigh Valley in 1866 for use on the road's stiff grades of its Mount Carmel Branch in Pennsylvania. The 2-8-0 design was a significant technological leap from the 4-4-0 as its heavier frame and larger boiler greatly increased tractive effort and horsepower. In particular, mountain railroads found the design very useful for both of these reasons. The Consolidation, with its two extra driving axles and front pilot truck could not only pull trains that were twice as heavy but also run at speeds fast enough to be used in any type of passenger service. By the 1880s Consolidations had become universally accepted as main line power. The post card was published by the mysterious Railcards.com

To Russia with Love

This locomotive was intended to go to Russia in the early 1900s. The locomotive on the front of this post card was one of hundreds of “Decapods” built by ALCO and Baldwin, destined for but undelivered to Russia because of World War I. Many were auctioned off to US railroads and worked there

for many, many years. This locomotive is shown in use in the United States on the Gainesville Midland Railroad. Our good friends at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-10-0 tell us the following: The first Decapods were built for the Lehigh Valley Railroad in the late-1860s. They proved too rough on the track because of their long coupled wheelbase. No more followed for 19 years, until the Northern Pacific Railway bought two for use on the switchbacks over Stampede Pass, while the 2-mile (3.2 km) tunnel was being built. In low-speed service where high tractive effort was critical, these Decapods were successful. Small numbers of other Decapods were built over the next twenty years, mostly for service in steeply graded mountainous areas where power at low speeds was the requirement. The type did not prove as popular as the successful Consolidation (2-8-0) type. Among Decapod users was the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The engines were tandem compounds but their ongoing reversing limitations became the genesis of the 2-10-2 wheel arrangement. The first boost in the number of Decapods occurred when Imperial Russia ordered approximately 1,200 Decapods from American builders during World War I. When the Bolshevik revolution occurred in 1917, 857 had already been delivered, but more than 200 were either awaiting shipment or were in the process of construction. These stranded locomotives were adopted by the United States Railroad Administration (USRA), the body created by the Government to oversee and control the railroads during the War, converted to American standards, and put to use on American railroads. Small and light-footed, these Russian decapods proved popular with smaller railroads, and many of them remained in service long after the USRA's control of the railroads ceased. Many indeed lasted until the end of steam on those railroads.

The post card was published by Railcards.com. Someday I hope to find out information about the company - at least more than what is written on the back of their postcards.

Never Went Bankrupt...

...it only got absorbed into the, eventually, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. The locomotive on the front of this post card used to work on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. Here it is working for a Soo Line

special in 1962. It is a Pacific type of locomotive with the wheel classification of 4-6-2. I looked up the history of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad on my favourite website: https://www.american-rails.com/cbq.html The article by Adam Burns is absolutely amazing, partly because he did so much research and partly because the history of this railroad is actually amazing. This railroad company existed for well over 100 years and in all that time, it never had to file for bankruptcy – a rare condition of railroads. Here is the title and author of the article that I strongly recommend that you read, along with the opening two paragraphs. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy: "Everywhere West" Last revised: June 10, 2023 By: Adam Burns Some railroads were seemingly destined to become strong, profitable operations. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy was one such example. Its history traces back to the pre-Civil War period when trains near or west of the Mississippi River remained a relative novelty. During the mid-19th century, the "Q's" earliest predecessor had established through service to Chicago and then spent the next several decades rapidly expanding. Its slogan, "Everywhere West," was quite befitting for this classic Midwestern granger. Again, I strongly recommend reading this article. https://www.american-rails.com/cbq.html

The post card was published by the mysterious Railcards.com.

Would You Like Fries with That?

The locomotive on the front of this post card is sitting in the yard at Palmer, Massachusetts. The city was a crossroads of three railroads; this train is on the Boston & Albany Railroad tracks. 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. Local service was operated until April 24, 1960, after which only Palmer, Springfield, Pittsfield, and Albany remained stops west of Worcester. The New York Central merged into the Pennsylvania Central on February 1, 1968. A single round trip continued to serve Palmer under the NYC and Penn Central until April 30, 1971; Amtrak declined to continue the route when it took over operations the next day.[6] Amtrak's Bay State, Montrealer, Vermonter, and Lake Shore Limited service that have passed the station since then but have not stopped in Palmer. However, the train station in Palmer is still operating. This website gives us some insight into what it is like today. https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-things-to-do-in-palmer-ma/ If there’s one thing that brings people to Palmer from across the region, it’s this family restaurant housed in the beautiful Palmer Railroad Station (Union Station). At a major junction, this iconic building was designed by H. H. Richardson in his signature Romanesque Revival style, consolidating two stations. The station opened in 1884 and was originally set in grounds that were laid out by Richardson’s great collaborator, Frederick Law Olmsted, famous for New York’s Central Park. Everything about Steaming Tender is steeped in railroad heritage, from the trains clattering past along the active lines, to the rolling stock on display at the restaurant’s outdoor museum, and an interior harking back to the golden days of rail travel. The menu here is hearty New England fare, like a braised pot roast, Maine lobster roll, fried haddock, lobster mac & cheese, jumbo scallops, New York sirloin strip, and a comforting half-pound cheeseburger.

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.

Camels on the Railroad?

The National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri has one of a very few samples of what the railroad industry called "Camelbacks". The "Camelback" pictured on the front of this post card was built in 1873 at the Mt. Clare shops. It is a 4-6-0 "Davis Ten-Wheeler", which is a later edition of the famous Winans "Camelback" design. It was operated by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad as Number 173. This locomotive was retired in 1900 to become part of the Purdue University Collection. This website (https://www.american-rails.com/mikado.html) has wonderful details about railroad history, so I have taken the following information from it: By Adam Burns - - - Camelbacks, while not necessarily the safest such design ever conceived were certainly one of the most unique. The Camelback is not a named wheel arrangement like the 4-6-2 Pacific or 2-8-4 Berkshire but a term only meant to describe a distinctive design feature found on some steam locomotives. While Camelbacks were banned citing safety concerns in the early 20th century they proved quite successful to the anthracite carriers, who could use them to burn a cheap and plentiful anthracite coal waste known as culm. The Camelback received its name for the unique positioning of the locomotive cab which sat astride the boiler giving the design a center "humped" appearance. While the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad developed something similar to the later Camelback in the 1840s, given the interesting name of "Muddiggers," it was not until John Wootten (who worked for the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, a Reading Railroad predecessor) patented his Wootten firebox and boiler design in 1877 did the design really catch on. This particular designed allowed for the burning of the fuel the locomotive used by providing a very wide, large firebox that produced robust fires yet only utilized a consumed a small amount at a time with a low firing rate. Because the locomotive was developed to burn the very abundant anthracite coal waste, culm, Camelbacks became fantastically popular with the railroads which staked their livelihoods on the resource. While Wootten's design allowed railroads, particularly the anthracite carriers, to gain huge savings on fuel costs it also came at an increased safety risk. Because the firebox on Camelbacks was so large, as to gain the necessary and needed fire temperatures, it forced the cab to be placed astride the boiler and over the driving wheels (so the engineer could gain proper clearance). This not only made for an extremely uncomfortable and hot ride during warmer months for engineers it also made them more at risk to injury if any part of the driving wheel assembly failed while at speed. To make matters worse the fireman was left exposed to the elements back by the firebox, where of course he had to remain to feed fuel to the locomotive. Due to these safety issues the Interstate Commerce Commission began to seriously look at the hazards Camelback steam locomotives exposed to train crews and by 1927 the agency had completely banned new or rebuilt locomotives which featured the Camelback design. In total, nearly 3,000 Camelback steam locomotives were either rebuilt from conventional designs, custom-built by individual railroads, or purchased from manufacturers.

The post card was published by CharmCraft, also out of St. Louis, Missouri. The printing was done by Colourpicture Publishers in Boston Massachussets between 1943 and 1963. Postal Zones were introduced in 1943 and the Zip Code was introduced in 1963. This address has a postal zone.

Happy Birthday, Post Card!!!

Well, at least happy birthday from the day it was mailed. More about that below. The locomotive on the front of this post card is sitting at the Hartford and New Haven Railroad station in Meriden, Connecticut.

The post card was mailed on October 24, 1924. That means that it will be 100 years old tomorrow!! Here is a bit of information about the history of the Hartford and New Haven Railroad taken from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartford_and_New_Haven_Railroad The Hartford and New Haven Railroad of Connecticut was chartered in 1833 to build a railroad between Hartford and New Haven. It was one of the earliest railroads built in Connecticut and was intended both to improve New Haven's access to the interior of the state, and to provide an alternative to ship transport along the Connecticut River, which froze during the winter. Alexander Catlin Twining was commissioned to survey the railroad's route, originally intended to pass through Middletown, Connecticut. However, Twining decided during his survey that building through the hilly terrain around Middletown would be too difficult, and instead chose an alignment further west, via Meriden, Connecticut. The citizens of Middletown were unhappy about being bypassed, but they would have to wait for more than a decade before a branch line reached their city. The grandfather of J. P. Morgan was an original investor, laying the foundation for the long association between Morgan and the railroads of New England. Construction started from New Haven in 1836, with a temporary halt caused by the Panic of 1837. The first portion of the line, from New Haven to Meriden, saw its first trains in December 1838, while the rest of the line to Hartford opened in December of the following year. From the looks of it, this train station was built in 1882. It is that blue roof with the flagpole on it that tells me it is the 1882 station. Here is a different post card that shows it. Unfortunately, this post card is not part of my collection. Two other stations have followed in the footsteps of the 1882 station.

This picture is of the 1882, but not my post card.

This station is the 1942 version of the train station:

And this is the latest version of the Meriden train station. It is from 2007.

The post card was mailed on October 24, 1924. That means that tomorrow will be the 100th anniversary of the mailing. The card is actually older than that, but I can celebrate only what I know. The post card was published by The August Schmelzer Company from, of all places, Meriden, Connecticut. The company existed from 1906 to 1912. This post card was already about 12 years old when it was mailed. I did some research looking for August Schmelzer. This is what I found. It is part of his obituary. “President of August Schmelzer coal company and a director of Meriden Hospital. Came to the U.S. in 1870. In 1873 he opened a stationary store in Meriden and for several years he was in the trucking business. Served on the Meriden Common Council.” So, it looks like the company that published the post card was a temporary stop on the way to business success for Mr. Schmelzer.

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

Three More Exaggerated Cards

I am not going to comment much on these three post cards. They are from the Edward H. Mitchell production line of exaggerated scenes on post cards from 1909. The produce in the cars are grapes, pears and strawberries. I will point out that the grape pickers in the top post card are still using horses in the field in 1909. Enjoy the views:

Is that a Secret Code???

Last week's post card featured a very large child standing on a flat car with some Navel Oranges. This week the post card is specializing in large peaches and the price of peaches in 1910. This is a post card from the Edward H. Mitchell production line of exaggerated post card scenes. We can see on the top, front of the card that it came from Oakland.

The back of the post card verifies this; it is postmarked as being mailed from Oakland, California. The message on the back is not in a secret code; it is written upside-down. It is telling the reader that the peaches are just now coming into season (mailed July 8, 1910) and that they are selling for 7 to 10 cents per dozen. It also mentions that the grapes are just starting to come into the stores, too.

Let's Get the Kids Involved!

In our previous postings of Edward Mitchell's exaggerated themed post cards we only had railroad cars and very large fruit. On the picture on today's post card he included a very large child. If you know how big a flat car is, that child is humongous! Good thing those oranges are so big; that kid would eat us out of house and home. But, since the theme is "exaggerated" I guess we are not supposed to care.

One Hundred and Fourteen Years Old

The picture on the front of this post card belongs to a series of over 60 post cards that I call "Exaggerated Themes".

I posted some of them a few years ago, so I thought that I will fill in the blog with a few more in this next series of posts. The post cards were the brain child of Edward H. Mitchell. He was born April 27, 1867 in San Francisco and died from a heart attack in Palo Alto, California on October 24, 1932. Most of his postcards are about the West, he was very prolific, and his cards have great color for the time they were created. There are postcards being republished with other publishing companies that Mitchell owned or was a partner in, Pacific Novelty Co. and Souvenir Publishing Co. Mitchell rode the rails, which makes sense in his era. I am sure that he created many postcards about the railroads in exchange for discounted travel. I believe that is where the saying “The road of a thousand Wonders” which appears on many cards came from. Mitchell also was willing to have artists paint hats on people, he loved hats, and add other eye candy to sell postcards. At one point he was even putting sparkle on cards. All postcards printed after 1908 proudly proclaim 'Printed in the United States' on their backside. Edward H. Mitchell gave up postcard publishing around 1923.

The message on the back of this post card is almost 114 years old. It was mailed on July 20, 1910. It is a letter by Edith to her mother in San Francisco letting her know that Edith had spend some time at one of the baths in Alameda, California (that is east, across the bay from San Francisco).

I found this map from a time period of just after this post card message was written. It includes Sunny Cove Baths on the map; it is the bath that is the second one from the left.

Another Exaggerated Themed Post Card

This is another of Edward H. Mitchell's exaggerated themed post cards. I find it amazing that back in 1909 (the copyright on the post card - upper left-hand corner - is from that year) He could superimpose a picture of some Navel oranges onto a gondola of a Southern Pacific Railroad and have it look pretty realistic. This is already an incentive for someone to buy the post card to send it off to a friend. But, then Mr. Mitchell added the line across the top: "1881 - A CARLOAD OF NAVEL ORANGES FROM ___________". The purchaser could then inform the receiver that the sender was in a particular city. This would really work well if the receiver was not living in California. This particular sender is telling his sister that he is somehow suffering from a facial condition that is making his face fatter and bothersome. To quote him, "every day it bothers me and I look fierce." I wonder if he got stung by a bee or is alergic to Navel oranges???

Anyway, here is the back of the card. It turns 114 years old in three days; very similar to the Edmward H. Mitchell post card that I posted on July 17th.

Don't Let Them Be Forgotten

Here is everything that I know about this post card: It is a Real Photo post card that was published after March 1, 1907 and up to 1909 using AZO paper. Published after March 1, 1907 because there is room for correspondence on the back. One could not write a message on the back of a post card before that date in the United States. Up to 1909 because the stamp box has a diamond in each corner. This was only done on AZO paper from 1907 to 1909. So, basically, all that I know about this post card is what is printed on the back. Having said that, I love the picture on the front.

But, Look! There's a Train. No, Two of Them!!!

The front of this post card is advertising that the Kennedy Valve Manufacturing Company is a part of Elmira, New York. The company's buildings and grounds take up a good percent of the picture. But, there are two trains in the bottom left-hand side of the picture. That is what caught my eye and made me decide to add this to my collection. The Kennedy Valve Company still exists there today: https://www.kennedyvalve.com/ Now... about the trains. Here is a year by year history of the railroad in Elmira. It is taken from this website: https://www.chemunghistory.com/railroads-in-chemung-county A few facts about railroad service in Elmira, New York. ​ 1835 - Construction for the New York and Erie Railroad began in Deposit, NY. It would be 16 more years until the line was completed (all the way to Dunkirk, NY.) October 2, 1849 - the first NY&E train arrived in Elmira. Regular passenger service began 6 days later with two trains each way per day. Also, the Elmira Depot was built. 1850 - Canandaigua & Corning Railroad changed its name to Elmira, Canandaigua & Niagara Falls Railroad. 1854 - Elmira & Williamsport Railroad opened - moving lumber, coal, and iron between Pennsylvania and the Feeder Canal, the Junction Canal, and the railroad in Elmira. 1861 - NY&E changed its name to New York & Erie Railway, then in 1875 it became the New York, Lake Erie, and Western. In 1895 it became the Erie Railroad. 1863 - The Northern Central took over the Elmira & Williamsport line - later became the property of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 1867 - Fire damaged the original Elmira Depot and a new one was built (opened 1868). 1870 - Lehigh Valley Railroad opened an office in Elmira. 1872 - Utica, Horseheads, & Elmira (later the Utica, Ithaca, & Elmira.) Construction between Erin and Van Ettenville necessitated building two curved trestles - the Deep Gorge trestle and the Blockhouse Ravine trestle. 1882 - The New York, Lackawanna & Western was completed to Elmira, soon became the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. 1884 - Elmira, Cortland & Northern service to Syracuse 1913 - New Lackawanna station just west of the original. 1932 - Raising of the Lackawanna tracks through Elmira completed. 1934 - Raising of the Erie tracks through Elmira completed. 1956 - Pennsylvania Railroad ended passenger service. 1957 - Last steam locomotive through Elmira (Pennsylvania Railroad). 1960 - Erie and DL & W merged into the Erie-Lackawanna. 1961 - Last passenger train for the Lehigh Valley. 1970 - Erie-Lackawanna discontinued passenger service. 1976 - Erie-Lackawanna absorbed into Conrail. 1998 - Norfolk-Southern takes over Conrail.

The post card was published by the Baker Brothers, also out of Elmira, New York from 1915 to 1927. The Baker Brothers had been local news dealers since the 1890’s and began publishing postcards of regional views under their name in the early 20th century. Around 1915 they started up the Owen Card Publishing Company that specifically dealt with greeting and holiday cards. These cards were printed on a linen embossed paper and often contained large empty areas, a typical American design. The company later became involved with designing boxes for cards as well.