Focus on the Train!!

The train you are looking at on the front of this post card (bottom right-hand corner) is a New York Central train running on the River Subdivision. Today it is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York. The line runs from the North Bergen Yard in Hudson County, New Jersey, north to Ravena, New York, along the alignment of the West Shore Railroad, a former New York Central Railroad line. This information is from Wikipedia. The post card is not focused on the train, however. It is focused on the Storm King Highway - I know, What is wrong with them? This website gives us information about the highway: https://www.bing.com/maps?q=Storm+King+highway&form=ANNTH1&refig=e722dc6ff90e4ea4acb6441c88a628c0 The Storm King Highway is a three-mile segment of New York State Route 218 between Lee Road in the Town of Highlands at the south end and the Cornwall-on-Hudson village line in Orange County, New York, in the United States. It was built in 1916 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 in recognition of its accomplishment in civil engineering.

The post card was published by Ruben Publishing Company out of Newburgh, New York. This website catches us up on the information about Mr. Ruben and his publishing company: https://www.doaks.org/research/library-archives/dumbarton-oaks-archives/collections/ephemera/names/ruben-publishing-co The Ruben Publishing Co. (also Ruben's, Newburgh, N.Y. and J. Ruben, Newburgh, N.Y.) was founded by Jacob Ruben (1882–1974) in Newburgh, New York. Ruben opened a stationery business there in 1906, although his publishing business is listed at various Newburgh addresses, including 13-15 South Johnson Street, 39 Johnston Street, 95-97 Ann Street, and 76 Broadway. Ruben was a Russian-American émigré who became a well-known commercial photographer in the Hudson River Valley area near Newburgh for over four decades until after the Second World War. He was especially well-known for his tourist photographic postcard sets, which he published under his company name. He also photographed new real estate developments, bridge and road building projects, and other civic projects.

A Tragedy with a Happy Ending!

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is a Pacific type (2-6-2 wheel arrangement) #1278. This website tells us about the history of the locomotive: https://www.ageofsteamroundhouse.org/canadian-pacific-1278-4-6-2-the-unheralded-hero-of-modern-day-steam/ It was one of thirty, G-5d class engines built for Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) during 1948 at Canadian Locomotive Company in Kingston, Ontario (serial #2435). Their low-weight, 117-ton construction was perfect for light-rail and branch line duty on CP passenger and freight trains. These 4-6-2s had a perfect power-to-weight ratio and were known as “diggers” that dug in and ran as fast as engineers dared. The more you beat them, the hotter they got—800 degrees F steam heat going into the cylinders, so hot that sometimes their shiny piston rods turned blue! The balanced design of the G-5d had the advantage of a perfect ratio of crank position to small-ish, 70-inch driving wheels. That is important because of the increased number of power strokes per mile, compared with locos having larger drivers but less power. This G-5d steamer loved screaming uphill with 17-20 coaches and 1% grades. The #1278 was equipped with all modern devices of the day, including an Elesco 5-poppet front-end throttle, an Elesco feedwater heater and a mechanical stoker. Inside the firebox, new style button-head staybolts were used to affix the steel crown sheet. A big advantage was #1278’s small firebox with no large, expansive sheets, thus reducing thermal stresses because of limited strain due to less expansion and contraction. The G-5d locos had very strong fireboxes, but with generous grate areas and big ash pans. Like all of CP’s G-5d locos, #1278 had a slotted dry pipe and, therefore, needed no steam dome. They were easy to fire, easy to maintain, and strong as an ox! All G-5d Pacifics have all-weather aluminum cabs, but climb onto the engineer’s seat on a hot July day and you will soon learn that the poorly ventilated, hot, enclosed space is better suited to Canada’s cold winter weather. Along with CP 4-6-2 sisters #1246 and #1293, #1278 was purchased (in 1965) by F. Nelson Blount for use at his expanding Steamtown USA museum and Green Mountain tourist train operation in Bellows Falls, Vermont. This website tells us the history of Steamtown USA in Bellows Falls and its move to Pennsylvania. https://www.steamlocomotive.com/places/steamtownUSA/ Before there was Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA, there was Steamtown U.S.A. in Bellows Falls, VT. Steamtown U.S.A. was owned and operated by Nelson Blount and the Bellows Falls location was not the first. Mr. Blount bought the narrow gauge Edaville Railroad in South Carver, MA in 1955. His first standard gauge locomotive was the Boston & Maine 1455. As he began to collect other standard gauge steam locomotives, it became apparent that he would need a location serviced by standard gauge tracks. So, in 1960 Mr. Blount purchased a Boston & Maine rail yard in North Walpole, NH and moved all of his equipment there. In 1964 Nelson Blount obtained Rutland trackage rights between North Walpole, NH and Westmoreland, NH. Once again, Mr. Blount moved his steam collection from the Boston and Maine rail yard in North Walpole, NH to a new site roughly two miles north in Bellows Falls, VT. This latest location was at the former site of a proposed Rutland yard in Riverside, just north of North Walpole and Bellows Falls, VT. Tracks fanning out from a turntable provided an excellent place to display his collection of steam locomotives. Over the years, excursion trains were run out of four different locations: Sunapee, NH, Keene, NH, North Walpole, NH, and Bellows Valls, VT. Tragedy struck in 1967 when Nelson Blount was killed when his private plane crashed into a tree in Marlborough, NH. Nelson was only 49. This event took a lot of momentum out of Steamtown U.S.A. Most of the operational steam locomotives were either sold or fell into disrepair. Then, in 1970, Vermont passed air quality regulations which prohibited steam operations. Diesel locomotives were then used on Steamtown U.S.A. excursions and ridership fell dramatically. Despite the air quality regulations, the Steamtown Foundation again began operating with a steam locomotive. By 1983, Steamtown U.S.A. again had six operating steam locomotives. Despite the resurrection of steam locomotives, Steamtown U.S.A. was in financial trouble. It was determined that the main problem was its location -- isolated from any major population center. In 1984, Steamtown U.S.A. was moved to Scranton, PA. Still losing money, the Steamtown Foundation went bankrupt in 1986. Congress created the Steamtown National Historic Site and the National Park Service acquired the collection. If it were not for Mr. Nelson Blount amassing the incredible collection of steam locomotives he did, we would not have many of the operating locomotives and museums we do have today.

The post card was published by Forward's Color Productions out of Manchester, Vermont. The picture on the front of the post card was taken by Frank L. Forward, the president of this company. It was started in 1964. The internet search showed that in 2002 the registry was still open, but the company is no longer active.

Continuing with the Soo Theme

Last week we saw a Pacific (4-6-2) locomotive owned by Soo Line Railroad.

This week we are looking at a Northern (4-8-4) locomotive owned by the same railroad. This one is viewed at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin in July of 1951. Both post cars were published by Mary Jayne's Railroad Specialties, Inc. This photo was also taken by A. Robert Johnson.

So, Is It Soo or Saulte?

The locomotive on the front of this post card belongs to the Soo Line

Railroad. It is a Pacific type engine which means its wheel configuration is 4-6-2. Here it is viewed in Bruce, Wisconsin on June 21, 1959. It is a ten car special passenger train and it was a special train, because it was this locomotive's final run. This website gives some very detailed history of the Soo Railroad. I have shortened it very much. https://www.american-rails.com/soo.html Despite maintaining a respectable 4,700-mile network linking the Twin Cities with Chicago/Milwaukee the Soo Line was dwarfed by Midwestern giants Chicago & North Western, Milwaukee Road, and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. The Soo Line was created for a singular purpose, to improve the Twin Cities' transportation choices. All railroads reaching the Twin Cities did so via Chicago. As the lone eastern gateway this meant freight rates were controlled by that city. To correct this problem several businessmen came together for the purpose of constructing their own railroad. On September 29, 1883, the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Railway was incorporated. The railroad's target was Sault Ste. Marie within Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This town was based along the south bank of the St. Mary’s River, which allowed for interchange with Canadian lines through Ontario and southern Quebec. On June 11, 1888 the Minneapolis & Pacific, Minneapolis & St. Croix, and Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic merged to form the new, 737-mile Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway. It officially became the "Soo Line Railroad" in 1961. The picture was taken by A. Robert Johnson. I could find no information about him on the internet.

The post card was published by Mary Jayne's Railroad Specialties, Inc. She was a very nice lady. I have 243 of her post cards in my collection. Her company is my second largest supplier. Here is a snippet from one of her obituaries: Mary Jayne Rowe of Covington, Va., — who disseminated railroad history bit-by-bit through the U.S. Mail via her railroad postcards — died on Oct. 9 at the age of 82. She leaves behind her husband of 59 years, John Z. Rowe. Rowe’s company, Mary Jayne’s Railroad Specialties was incorporated back in May 1973. At the time, the Rowes owned a land surveying company in South Florida, but the postcard sideline soon blossomed into a business in its own right. Mary Jayne’s became a publisher and reseller of thousands of railroad cards. By the time the St. Petersburg Times ran a picture of Rowe’s table at a local postcard show on the front of its features page in 1978, it ran with the caption, “Mary Jayne Rowe’s specialty is train cards—7,500 of them!” This was taken from this website: https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/14-mary-jayne-rowe/

It has been moved!!!

The locomotive on the front of this post card, at the time of this picture, is sitting in quiet retirement in the State Fair Grounds of Douglas, Wyoming. The overall length of the locomotive is 106 feet; it is 12 feet wide and 17 feet tall. The engine and tender combined weigh 317 tons.

This website tells us that it was moved since this picture was taken and is now in the Railroad Interpretative Centre in Douglas. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=92162 It used to pull for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. Built in the CB&Q shops at West Burlington, IA in September 1940 as one of the last class of steam locomotives on the Burlington. Part of an order for twenty-eight 317 ton units that were identical when built and were assigned Class 0-5A. They were designed for fast freight and heavy passenger service. Baldwin Locomotive works supplied the boiler and General Steel Casting of Chicago supplied the one piece engine beds (frames). Locomotive has roller bearings and Baker Valve Gear. Locomotive saw service system wide on the CB&Q but evidence indicates that #5633 was not operated on the Colorado & Southern through Douglas. Locomotive was in service until 1956, then stored at Lincoln, NE. State Senator Charles G. Irwin and William Lindmier, Jr. were keys to getting locomotive donated to State. This website tells us about the railroad for which this locomotive worked. https://www.american-rails.com/cbq.html 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. The city of Aurora, Illinois secured chartering rights through the Illinois state legislature for the Aurora Branch Railroad (ABRR) on February 12, 1849. On February 22nd the company was formally organized. This little system was the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy's genesis. It was intended to run north out of Aurora, along the Fox River, reach Batavia and then turn slightly northeastward to Turner Junction (now West Chicago) where an interchange would be established with the G&CU for direct service into Chicago. 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. The 1850's were a whirlwind decade that witnessed a great deal of expansion and the official creation of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. The Galena & Chicago Union Railroad was renamed to the Chicago & Aurora Railroad on June 22, 1852. On February 14, 1855 the state legislature authorized the C&A to adopt this new name and what followed included the merger of many railroads.

The post card was published by Noble Post Cards out of Colorado Springs, Colorado. There is nothing on the internet that tells me the history of the company.

Trapped... and Rescued!!

The train on the front of this post card is a relief train headed to another train trapped in the Columbia River Gorge. The story follows below as supplied by this website: https://www.ohs.org/blog/trapped-in-the-columbia-gorge.cfm On Wednesday, December 17, 1884, Colonel L.S. Howlett left the warmth of the dining room at the Umatilla House in The Dalles, Oregon, to join a weary group of 148 passengers and crew as they bundled against the bracing cold of a heavy winter storm to board a Portland-bound Pacific Express passenger train. Led by a snowplow and three locomotives, the train began its slow 85-mile journey through the Columbia River Gorge. They would not arrive at their destination for another 21 days. Wind and heavy snow brought avalanches down on the tracks, trapping the train and its passengers with little food or fuel onboard. As the weeks wore on and the winter storm maintained its icy grip on the Gorge, four snowplows and over 1,000 people worked to clear the tracks and deliver food to the trapped train. Trains leaving from Portland and The Dalles brought workers to shovel snow and restore damaged tracks from both directions. They made little progress, and many of the relief trains also became trapped due to the intensity of the storm. Photographer Carleton Watkins, his own travels delayed by the storm, was on one of the relief trains from Portland. He brought his camera along and documented both the relief efforts and the Gorge encased in ice. On January 6, 1885, the workers cleared the final section of the tracks and the beleaguered passengers of the Pacific Express at last made their way into Portland. During his time trapped on the train, Colonel Howlett maintained a daily journal of events, which he published in the Oregonian and other regional newspapers following his ordeal. It was his hope that by sharing his experience he could: teach others how much can be endured when a cracker is a blessing and a potato a luxury; when the snow in the Cascade mountains is forty-five feet deep; when there is nothing warm among a hundred passengers excepting human sympathy, and nothing light but hope and a tallow candle (Oregon Sentinel, January 17, 1885). Miraculously, despite facing starvation, frigid temperatures, illness, avalanches, and navigating steep, icy terrain to replenish supplies, all of the passengers on the train survived. The creek near where the train was trapped became known as Starveout Creek and is, today, Starvation Creek State Park.

The post card was published by "The Way It Was" of 1699 Fifth Avenue West, Eugene, Oregon 97402. That, and it was published after January of 1963 (it has a zip code), is everything that I know. But I learned the address from this great graphic of the eagle on the back of the post card:

This One is Standing Upright!

In December of 2022 I posted about a train that had been on the tracks when the great San Francisco earthquake hit. That train and this one are related. They both were owned by the Northwestern Pacific railroad.

The train in the picture on the front of this post card is stopping at the station at Point Reyes in California. The back of the post card tells us that this picture was taken around 1910. This website tells us about Point Reyes. https://marinmagazine.com/community/history/point-reyes-stations-railroad-days/

In 1875, when the North Pacific Coast Railroad reached from Sausalito to the eastern shore of Tomales Bay—with a ferry connection to San Francisco and stops en route in San Anselmo and San Geronimo Valley—the stop for the Point Reyes Peninsula was called Olema Station. Then, in 1882, when a U.S. Post Office was opened, the town’s official name was changed to Point Reyes Station. In 1933, the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, as it was then called, pulled out of Point Reyes Station and it became a slower-paced agricultural community. The train in the picture belonged to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. This website tells us more about the railroad history – right up to today! http://www.nwprrhs.org/history.html The Northwestern Pacific Railroad, the 'Redwood Empire Route', played a major role in the growth of Northern California. The line was created in 1907 through the consolidation of six separate picturesque railroad companies held by the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads. At its height, the Northwestern Pacific Railroad was an amalgamation of some sixty different companies. Some of the forerunners built extensive and substantial operating lines. Others, were short lines such as the many logging lines in the Humboldt Bay region. Nearly a third consisted of companies which incorporated but never laid a foot of track. All of them contributed, in some fashion, to the rich heritage of the NWP. Diversity was a key word in the history of Redwood Empire railroading. Gauges varied from the Sonoma Prismoidal, an early wooden monorail, to the odd-gauged logging lines, many built to accommodate their four-legged motive power. In between lay the two foot Sonoma Magnesite RR, the first-class narrow gauge North Pacific Coast and, of course, the more common standard gauge lines. Power was supplied by horse, mules, oxen, steam, electricity, and internal combustion engines, both gas and diesel. The NWP, with its affectionate 'Nowhere in Particular' nickname, operated standard gauge, narrow gauge, ferry steamboats and car floats, electric 3rd rail and overhead trolley interurbans, a streamlined 'name' train along with unusual connectors such as funiculars and scenic tourist railways. This transportation network in the pre-World War II years many claimed was too far ahead of its time. Rarely is so much fascinating diversity found in the origins of one company. Since 1929, when Southern Pacific bought the Santa Fe's equal interest in the line, the NWP has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of SP. In 1984, the trackage for Outlet, near Willits, north to Korblex was sold to a new company, the Eureka Southern RR, later named the North Coast RR. In 1996, the North Coast RR and the former "south end" of the Southern Pacific-owned NWP became the "new" Northwestern Pacific Railroad under public ownership. The new NWP's goals include handling more freight by rail along the Highway 101 corridor, establishing passenger excursion trains, and eventually providing regular passenger commute service.

The post card was published by The Jack Mason Museum of West Marin History, which is named after its founder, a U.C. Berkeley graduate in history who enjoyed a long career at the Oakland Tribune. In the mid-1960s, Jack Mason, along with his wife Jean, retired to his lifelong summer community of Inverness in West Marin County and began to document the history of the area, eventually writing eight books and publishing a delightful quarterly journal, Point Reyes Historian. The Jack Mason Museum of West Marin History is primarily an archive with some museum collections created to build upon local historian Jack Mason's extensive history collection. The Museum collects and preserves materials pertaining to the history of the Point Reyes Peninsula and Tomales Bay regions. Our mission is to enrich the community through exhibits, publications, outreach programs, and research opportunities. We seek to inspire public interest in West Marin history and to highlight its connection to contemporary life. This information was taken from: https://jackmasonmuseum.org/about/

They Are Almost All Gone!!!

Everything on this post card is gone, except for the publisher of the post card. Norfolk & Western ended in 1982, The Powhatan Arrow made its last run in 1969, and David Sweetland, the photographer died in 2008.

The Norfolk and Western (N&W) Class J locomotives were 4-8-4 "Northern" streamlined engines. Having been built at the railroad's shops located in Roanoke, Virginia from 1941 to 1950, they were operated in revenue service until the late 1950s. They were built to run on the N&W main line between Norfolk, Virginia and Cincinnati, Ohio, pulling the Powhatan Arrow as well as other passenger trains. The train pictured on the front of this post card is pulling the Powhatan Arrow, train Number 26, the day train from Cincinnati, Ohio to Norfolk, Virginia. This picture was taken in September of 1957, toward the end of the locomotive’s life of service. This website (one of my favourites) tells us about the Powhatan Arrow. https://www.american-rails.com/powhatan.html The Norfolk & Western was in a hurry to enter the streamliner ranks after World War II, so once wartime restrictions had been lifted they rushed a collection of refurbished prewar equipment into service as the new Powhatan Arrow on April 26, 1946. The trains were pulled by N. & W.'s own streamlined Class J 4-8-4 steam locomotives. In 1949, however, the makeshift equipment was replaced by new smooth-sided lightweight coaches, diner, and tavern-lounge-observation from Pullman-Standard—still being pulled behind the Class Js. Also unique to the train was its motive power. In classic N&W fashion the train was powered by steam, not diesels. The locomotives that made it unique were the ones discussed earlier in this blog. The train itself was adorned in a beautiful livery of Tuscan red and black with gold trim and carried a local Native American theme. According to the N&W's 1950 timetable the westbound Powhatan Arrow (train #25), left Norfolk at 7:25 a.m. and arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio later that night just after 11 pm. Train #26 was the eastbound that left Cincinnati and arrived at Norfolk. Overall, it took the trains between 15 1/2 and 16 hours to complete the trip across the southern Appalachians carrying an average train speed of nearly 44 mph (quite fast, especially considering the terrain the Arrow was traveling). The Arrow continued to run the J Class steam locomotives until the late 1950s when Electro-Motive GP9 diesel locomotives, equipped with steam generators, replaced the Js. The switch to diesels is perhaps most surprising in the fact that the Geeps were non-streamlined locomotives.

The post card was published by Audio-Visual Designs out of Earlton, NY after 1983. There is a five-digit zip code followed by the 4-digit extension. The picture was taken by David R. Sweetland. I could find 29 railroad-related books authored by him. I found his death announcement from September 17, 2008 at this website: https://railroad.net/viewtopic.php?t=54992 David Ross Sweetland, 71, of Exton, a retired Conrail manager and a lifelong railroad buff, died of cancer Saturday at Neighborhood Hospice in West Chester. A native of Rhode Island, Mr. Sweetland earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Maine, where he met his future wife, J. Susan Heath. He served in the Army Reserve with a railroad transportation group. In 1959, he joined the Pennsylvania Railroad's mechanical department in Altoona. In 1976, when Conrail was created, Mr. Sweetland was in charge of re-numbering the locomotive fleet for the new company. He was transferred to Philadelphia in 1985 by Conrail and became manager of mechanical training, educating the next generations of railroaders. After his retirement in 1996, he was a consultant at the Academy of Industrial Training in Essington. Mr. Sweetland wrote 72 railroad books and many articles. He was a member of several railroad historical organizations. He was especially proud to be involved in the preservation and restoration of a Class E7 diesel locomotive, which he rescued from the scrapyard, his wife said. The train, one of the first passenger diesel locomotives acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad, has been on display for 10 years at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. In addition to his wife, Mr. Sweetland is survived by sons Ross and Christopher; daughters Elizabeth and Joyann; and two grandchildren. A memorial service will be 11 a.m. tomorrow at Central Presbyterian Church, where Mr. Sweetland was an elder, 100 W. Uwchlan Ave., Downingtown. Friends may call from 10.

Really Not Sure About this One

The train on the front of this post card is traveling on what is called the "Pan Bowl". There is a spot on the North Fork of the Kentucky River near Jackson, Kentucky where the river made a very large "Oxbow". (An oxbow is a u-shaped bend in the course of a river.) You can see the same river (North Fork of the Kentucky River) on each side of the locomotive in this picture. For the water to travel from one side of the locomotive to the other, it will have to travel a loop that is 7 miles long. I guess that the people living in the area call this a "Pan Bowl" rather than an oxbow. This scene does not exist like this any more.

The river's course was shortened by that 7 mile loop when the state built State Highway Number 15 (on the map it is called Park Road). They dammed the river and formed a lake that they appropriately called "Panbowl Lake". It is advertised as a beautiful lake with lots of game fishing because of its depth. All this happens near Jackson, Kentucky. Here is a map to show where it is in relation to Jackson. But, you can also see the oxbow that was dammed to form the lake.

The post card was published by the Kyle Company (1915 - 1920) out of Louisville, Kentucky. It was printed by Curt Otto Teich's company.

Getting Ready to Retire

The front of this post card shows a locomotive with only three more years left in its life. The words on the back of the post card say, “Pennsylvania 713. 0-4-0 No. 713, Pennsylvania RR Class A5s, travels down the street in Atlantic City, NJ, April 25, 1954. Forty-seven locomotives of this class were turned out by the Pennsy’s Juniata Shops.” I researched both the A5s locomotives and the Juniata Shops. Here are the results. The Pennsylvania Railroad's class A5s was the largest class of 0-4-0 steam locomotives. The Pennsylvania Railroad built 47 in its Juniata Shops between 1916–1924. They were all retired by 1957. One is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania The information below is a combination materials gleaned from Wikipedia and this website: https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/railroad/shs1c.htm#:~:text=The%20Pennsylvania%20Railroad%20began%20the%20construction%20of%20a,1952%2C%20this%20structure%20became%20the%20diesel%20engine%20shop. In the 1920s many railroads in the United States of America had retired 0-4-0 steam locomotives, because they were too small for switching duties. This was not the case on the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Pennsylvania Railroad was keen on this wheel arrangement due to complex street and tight industrial trackage across its broad network. For some of these lines, the Pennsylvania Railroad needed a large 0-4-0 to handle the larger switching activities the railroad had. Although the class B was designated for steam locomotives with the 0-6-0 wheel arrangement, these steam locomotives could not fit the tight and complex street, dockyard and industrial trackage the Pennsylvania Railroad had in its possession. As early as 1948, the A5s steam locomotives started to be replaced by higher horse powered and heavy-duty diesel switchers. Over the next year, these switchers were gradually replaced by diesel locomotives. Finally in 1957, the Pennsylvania Railroad converted from steam to diesel power and the end of an era was finished. The Pennsylvania Railroad began the construction of a second machine shop at Juniata in 1917. This structure, completed in 1918, served as a tank shop to repair and construct locomotive tenders. The Juniata shops contained two blacksmith shops, boiler shop, two machine shops, tank shop, two welfare buildings, and an erecting and machine shop. These shops constructed and repaired locomotives with more than 4,200 people working there. These shops could repair four locomotives a day and build twelve locomotives a month. By 1922, various railroad shops and departments occupied fifty acres and were housed in hundreds of buildings. The work force, during this time, varied from between 15,000 to 16,000 people. The Pennsylvania Railroad expanded the Juniata Works in 1924 and 1925 by construction of a fifty-stall erecting and machine shop at the east end of the existing shops along with a three-story storehouse and a small flue shop. This all was part of an effort to move the locomotive works away from the area of the Altoona machine shops around Twelfth Street. This is another of the 333 Audio-Visual Designs Publishing Company post cards that are in my collection.

A Man of Determination Did This!

The bridge featured on the front of this post card is located 85 kilometers south of St. Augustine. It is on the Florida East Coast Railway line.

It is part of a rail empire built by a man who had no interest in railroads per se. Henry Flagler just wanted to improve the transportation system along “The American Riviera”, as he called it. He had retired (he was a founding member of Standard Oil) and wanted to get to St. Augustine to enjoy the sunshine. This website has a great, detailed description of the history of the Florida East Coast Railway.https://www.american-rails.com/fecry.html The modern Florida East Coast began with Flagler's acquisition of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Halifax River Railway. This narrow-gauge property started it all for the oil mogul. During the winter of 1883-1884, a 53 year-old retired Flagler spent vacation in historic St. Augustine, Florida. Flagler was appalled at the lack of transportation services into the region. Jacksonville was the furthest one could travel directly by rail; there was another 65 kilometers to go to get to St. Augustine. To reach St. Augustine, a hamlet of only 2,500 residents, one must board a steamboat to cross the St. Johns River and then catch a train on the narrow-gauge Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Halifax River Railway. Flagler purchased this railway on December 31, 1885. He purchased several other railroads to help to connect the two dots. On January 20, 1890 a bridge was completed across the St. Johns River establishing direct service into Jacksonville. On September 9, 1895 Flagler's railroads became collectively known as the Florida East Coast Railway. Following the Florida East Coast Railway's creation, Flagler continued his southward push reaching New Smyrna Beach in 1892, Cocoa in 1893, West Palm Beach in 1894, and finally Miami on April 15, 1896. The main line from Jacksonville now extended 366 miles. This was in order to send tourists to the hotels and resorts he also now owed in southern Florida.

The post card was published by the Hugh C. Leighton Company. Adam Philips Leighton went to work at Chisholm Brothers, a book store on Congress Street in Portland, Maine on November 19, 1867 for $5 a week. In 1868 he was sent to the Grand Trunk railway station to take charge of the newsboys at the Chisholm railroad office. The Chisholms began to enlarge their book and news business on the railroad until they held a monopoly in the business on several railroad lines. Adam’s son, Hugh Chisholm Leighton later managed the company and began printing postcards in the United States instead of farming them out to printers in Europe. The Chisholm company had long specialized in view books illustrated first with lithographs and then with black-and-white photographs. Familiar with pictorial postcards used in Europe, Leighton purchased sheets of one-cent postals from the government and had single-colored pictures put on the side not reserved for an address. The first were in 1888. He later had others printed in Germany. This post card you are looking at was printed in Germany. It was printed and published before March 1, 1907, when the US Postal Service finally allowed addresses and messages on the backs of post cards. The early post cards bore the Chisholm company name. Adam eventually began to publish postcards under his own name and built the new enterprise into a substantial business. Adam Philips Leighton (1851-1922) Hugh Chisholm Leighton (1878-1943).

I Got Nuthin'

The picture on the front of this post card clearly demonstrates that a train used to bring visitors to the Ontario Beach Park in Rochester, New York. I have spent many hours on the internet searching for information about which railroad is shown on the front of this post card. I have come up completely empty handed. I did find a modern map that includes a rail line that travels east toward the southern part of the park, then turns south to follow the Genessee River into the city. There is no label on the map to tell us which railroad that is today.What makes matters worse for me is that there is no indication as to who the printer or publisher of the post card is.

There seems to be a hint nestled in the letter "C" in Post Card. It is either a bee or a wasp. This could be the logo of a company. But, I don't know. I am frustrated, but not enough to not share the picture on this post card and the back of it with you.

Operation Lifesaver Would NOT Be Happy

Operation Lifesaver, Inc. (OLI) [websites: https://oli.org/ in the USA and https://www.operationlifesaver.ca/ in Canada] is a non-profit organization and recognized leader of rail safety education. Since 1972, OLI remains committed to preventing collisions, injuries and fatalities on and around railroad tracks and highway-rail grade crossings, with the support of public education programs in states across the U.S. In 1981 this organization started “a sister” organization in Canada. As you can understand from the description above, Operation Lifesaver would not be happy with the people pictured on the front of this post card.

The people are sitting on the right of way of the Erie Railroad across Kinzua Creek in McKean County in Pennsylvania. The railroad decided to build the bridge rather than construct an additional eight miles of track. The trains that crossed the bridge carried coal and timber. The original bridge took forty workers took a mere 94 days to build the 2,053 foot long bridge. It was opened for traffic in 1882 and was hailed by the railroad and the construction crew as the Eighth Wonder of the World. However, the Eighth Wonder soon (12 years later) had to be rebuilt due to the heavier and heavier loads the steam locomotives were carrying across it. The bridge was rebuilt using steel, and reopened for use on September 25, 1900. During the bridge’s reconstruction many changes and adaptations were made; the bridge’s reconstruction took approximately 120 men about four months to complete. The commercial trains continued to use the bridge until the late 1950s. The bridge became the show piece of a State Park when Pennsylvania bought the bridge. Then, in 1987 the Knox and Kane Railroad began running tourist excursion trains across the bridge. In late June 2002, the bridge was closed to tourist trains. Two months later, pedestrians were no longer allowed to walk across the viaduct. It was decided to rehabilitate the bridge. In 2003, the bridge, while in the midst of the rehabilitation, was struck by a tornado. A large portion of it collapsed, rendering the bridge impassible. Today part of the bridge remains and tourists can use that part as a lookout while in the state park. This post card was published by the C.S. Woolworth & Co. out of Bradford, Pennsylvania. This information was found in Wikipedia: Its founder, Charles Sumner Woolworth (August 1, 1856 – January 7, 1947), was an American entrepreneur who went by the nickname of "Sum", opened and managed the world's first five-and-dime store in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and was founder of the "C. S. Woolworth & Co" chain of 5¢ & 10¢ stores. Sum's brother, Frank Winfield Woolworth was first to venture into the retail business with his own store, and soon after, he asked Sum to join him. Frank founded "F. W. Woolworth & Co", which later merged with other Woolworth affiliate stores to be the F. W. Woolworth Company. After the death of his brother, Sum became the longest serving Chairman of the F. W. Woolworth Company. In 1904, Sum and Frank Woolworth were affiliated with six (6) chains. Frank developed the back office side of the business. Sum developed the front of the business, pioneering self-service methods, customer service, training new managers, brightly lit stores, and frequently-changed window displays to lure customers inside. In 1912 C. S. Woolworth & Co, with the other affiliated chains, merged 596 stores under the corporate name "F. W. Woolworth Company". After the death of his brother, Charles became the reluctant Chairman of the Board of F. W. Woolworth Company (now Foot Locker), for 25 years.

This post card was published by the C.S. Woolworth & Co. out of Bradford, Pennsylvania. This information was found in Wikipedia: Its founder, Charles Sumner Woolworth (August 1, 1856 – January 7, 1947), was an American entrepreneur who went by the nickname of "Sum", opened and managed the world's first five-and-dime store in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and was founder of the "C. S. Woolworth & Co" chain of 5¢ & 10¢ stores. Sum's brother, Frank Winfield Woolworth was first to venture into the retail business with his own store, and soon after, he asked Sum to join him. Frank founded "F. W. Woolworth & Co", which later merged with other Woolworth affiliate stores to be the F. W. Woolworth Company. After the death of his brother, Sum became the longest serving Chairman of the F. W. Woolworth Company. In 1904, Sum and Frank Woolworth were affiliated with six (6) chains. Frank developed the back office side of the business. Sum developed the front of the business, pioneering self-service methods, customer service, training new managers, brightly lit stores, and frequently-changed window displays to lure customers inside. In 1912 C. S. Woolworth & Co, with the other affiliated chains, merged 596 stores under the corporate name "F. W. Woolworth Company". After the death of his brother, Charles became the reluctant Chairman of the Board of F. W. Woolworth Company (now Foot Locker), for 25 years.

In the bottom left-hand corner of the post card there is a symbol that tells us that another company had a hand in the printing and publishing of this card. The Samuel Langdorf & Co. has their logo there. Although the post card was printed in Germany, it was this company that made the connections that allowed the C.S. Woolworth & Co. to sell this post card in their store. The Samuel Langdorf & Co. published black & white and elaborately tinted halftone postcards. They are most noted for their cards with highly decorative borders incorporating motifs such as alligators. They existed from 1906 to 1918 in New York City.

The Northern Pacific Railway through the Years

The locomotive in the picture on the front of the top post card is that of the very first locomotive of the Northern Pacific Railway. It is the “famous” Minnetonka. It was built in 1870 and used in construction work in Minnesota in 1870 and 1871. It was then shipped to San Francisco by rail and by steamer to the Columbia River for construction service on the west end of the Northern Pacific’s rail line from Kalama to Tacoma, Washington. It weighed 12 tons and cost $6,700 (about $150,000 in today’s dollars).

The front of the middle post card contains a picture of Northern Pacific’s Locomotive Number 13. It was a 4-4-0 “American”-type locomotive. It was built by Schenectady Locomotive Works (long before it was merged into the American Locomotive Company [Alco] in 1901). Four of them (numbers 13 through 16) were built for the Northern Pacific Railway. All four locomotives were still operating in 1935, but soon after they were all scrapped. These two post cards were published by Bob Fremming out of Dallas, Wisconsin. My guess is that they were published in March of 1957 – there is a code in the top-middle of the post card that says, “3-57”.

This third post card has a much more modern steam locomotive picture. It is a 4-8-4 Northern-type of locomotive. It was built by Baldwin in 1943. It was not the first Northern-type locomotive built for the Northern Pacific Railway. That was done by Alco in 1926. You can easily see that this is a coal-burning steam locomotive; just look at that load of coal in the tender!! The picture was part of the Carl H. Sturner Collection. Carl Sturner was the founder of Audio-Visual Designs for the sole purpose of sharing train related audio-visual materials to rail fans. The company is still operating today, but without Mr. Sturner, who died in 1995. This post card was published by Audio-Visual Designs after 1983 – there is a five digit zip code with the 4-digit extension in the address.

Definitely NOT Twins!!

The two locomotives in these two post cards belonged to the same railroad company: The New York Central Railroad Company. The top locomotive was built in 1926 by the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, New York as one of 100 class L-2a Mohawk-type locomotives. Here it is at Harmon, New York in December of 1949. The bottom locomotive was also built by the American Locomotive Company. It was built eleven years later. In 1941 the locomotive was streamlined to match the Budd stainless steel passenger equipment that it was intended to pull for the “Empire State Express”.

Here is some history of the New York Central Railroad as found on this website: https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-York-Central-Railroad-Company New York Central Railroad Company, one of the major American railroads that connected the East Coast with the interior. Founded in 1853, it was a consolidation of 10 small railroads that paralleled the Erie Canal between Albany and Buffalo; the earliest was the Mohawk and Hudson, New York state’s first railway, which opened in 1831. Cornelius Vanderbilt joined it to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway in 1873, extending his system from Buffalo to Chicago. He added the Michigan Central in 1871. Under his son William, the Central acquired the New York, West Shore, and Buffalo Railroad on the west side of the Hudson River in 1885. The system grew until it had 10,000 miles (16,090 km) of track linking New York with Boston, Montreal, Chicago, and St. Louis. After World War II the New York Central began to decline. Between 1946 and 1958 it dropped four of its six fast daily passenger runs between New York and Chicago. Efforts to merge with its chief competitor, the also ailing Pennsylvania Railroad Company, culminated in 1968 with the creation of the Penn Central Transportation Company—a merger that later included the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, in 1969. The new colossus had 21,000 miles (33,790 km) of track. The merger failed, however, and the new road was forced into bankruptcy in June 1970. Passenger services were taken over by the federally established National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) in 1971. The company’s other railroad assets were merged with five other lines in Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) in April 1976, although the New York–Washington route was later transferred to Amtrak. Both post cards are part of my 333 card collection of Audio-Visual Designs out of Earlton, New York. The were both published after 1963. They have the 5-digit zip code in their addresses.

My Favourite Type of Locomotive

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card

is one of my favourites. It is what is known as a “Mountain” locomotive. There is one on display in Jasper, Alberta (6015) and a sister of it (6060) waiting to be restored back to running condition by the Rocky Mountain Rail Society. They were both built by the Canadian Locomotive Company of Kingston, Ontario. The locomotive on the front of this post card, however, was built by the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, New York. This website https://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=USA&wheel=4-8-2 tells us about the history of the American “Mountain” locomotives. On the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, as the number of cars grew on its passenger trains, it became necessary to doublehead "Pacifics" to get these longer trains over the Allegheny Mountains. In 1910, the C&O turned to the American Locomotive Company for a more powerful locomotive. The engineers at ALCO made a study of the road conditions and other requirements. From this study they recommended a locomotive with eight drivers, like the "Mikado", for traction to which they would add a four-wheel lead truck, like the "Pacific", for speed and riding stability. The result was a new wheel arrangement, the 4-8-2. The C&O agreed and in 1911, became the first North American railroad to take delivery of a locomotive with the 4-8-2 wheel arrangement. This locomotive was numbered 316 but was later renumbered 540. The C&O named this new type of locomotive "Mountain" because it was developed to haul passenger trains over the Allegheny Mountains. The "Mountain" 4-8-2 was a fast dual-service locomotive that was bought by many railroads in need of more motive power for the ever increasing weight of passenger trains and to compete for fast freight. In North America 41 railroads bought or built 2,204 "Mountain" Locomotives. The locomotive on the post card belonged to the Western Pacific Railway. This website https://www.american-rails.com/western.html gives a great history of this railway company. When completed in the early 20th century, the Western Pacific marked one of the last major projects of its kind ever undertaken. It could be strongly argued the Western Pacific should have never been built. The WP was the longtime dream of Arthur Keddie who wanted to break the Southern Pacific's (SP) monopoly between San Francisco/Oakland and Salt Lake City. Such a project had been tried many times but noted tycoon Collis P. Huntington, who controlled the SP, used his influence to stop each attempt. Keddie finally outmaneuvered his nemesis by partnering with another mogul, George Gould. Together, they opened a competing line through the beautiful Feather River Canyon. For nearly 80 years Western Pacific moved freight along its well-engineered corridor that, in total, spanned slightly over 1,000 miles. Despite a route difficult to maintain it was operationally superior to the SP's former Central Pacific corridor over Donner Pass (part of the original Transcontinental Railroad). As a result, WP's 924-mile line remains in service today under successor Union Pacific. Although relatively small, the Western Pacific is remembered for many things; operating one of the most successful streamliners of all time, constructing the famous Keddie Wye, and maintaining the important "Inside Gateway."

The post card was published by Bob Fremming. If you have been following this blog over the years, you know that I know extremely little about this person. My guess in that this post card was published in September of 1956. But it is purely a guess, based on the numbers next to the description on the back of the card: “9-56”.

Once a Busy Rail Line, Now a Busy Hiking Trail

The passenger train pictured on this post card is travelling on what is now a National Recreation Area administered by the National Parks of the United States. It is in a gap between New Jersey and Pennsylvania in which the Delaware River flows. It is just south of where the borders of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York all share a meeting point. This website of the National Park Service tells a bit of history of the Delware Water Gap, including some railroad history: https://www.nps.gov/dewa/index.htm

The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railway (DL&W) first arrived at the Delaware River on May 13, 1856 with a train to New York City. The terrain from Scranton had been mountainous and isolated; the route traced the course of major streams, crossed the Lehigh's headwater at Gouldsboro, and bisected Pocono Summit Lake on DL&W's land bridge. In what is now the park, the single-track line used an old right-of-way to Slateford Junction on the Delaware, then crossed into New Jersey and continued to New York via existing tracks. The effect of the new rail line on the Delaware Valley was immense. The resort industry at the Water Gap had begun with Kittatinny Hotel, built in 1832. With the railroads now also promoting the Gap as a destination, 16 more hotels sprung up in the village of Delaware Water Gap by the century's end. Additional rail lines, such as the New York, Susquehanna, and Western (NYS&W) served the Jersey side of the Gap. A small section of the Delaware Valley Railway bed is now part of Railway Avenue Trail in Bushkill, and just under a mile of the NYS&W rail bed is now the Karamac Trail in New Jersey. The DL&W's single track is still in use through the Gap between the river and Route 611, and occasionally an excursion train from Steamtown National Historic Site will reach Point of Gap Overlook. Just outside the park, the rail station in Delaware Water Gap awaits renewal. From 1901 to 1938, the Delaware Valley Railroad ran a spur from East Stroudsburg station to Bushkill PA, carrying both passengers and freight. Resort-based agriculture, such as dairying, began to replace subsistence farming, and remote areas between Scranton and the Stroudsburgs filled with villages and farms. Church, scout, and trade groups lined the banks of the river with rustic summer camps. The park encompasses significant Native American archeological sites, several of which have been investigated. A number of structures also remain from early Dutch settlement and the colonial contact period. The entire region was a frontier of the French & Indian War. Historic rural villages from the 18th and 19th centuries remain intact on the New Jersey side, and landscapes of past settlements are scattered throughout the park. In the 19th century, the village of Delaware Water Gap was a focus of the early resort industry fostered by the railroads. Even today the region is known for its vacation appeal. The proposal to dam the Delaware River near today's Smithfield Beach brought the region and its inhabitants into another era of American history -- the conservation and environmental movements of the 1960s and later.

This post card is from the divided back era (1907 – 1915). Because it was printed by Curt Otto Teich, we can get very close the actual date of the printing. The number at the bottom-middle of the card is R-31555. Between 1908 and 1928 the company’s number system went up to 124180. 31555 is about 25% of the distance from 1 to the end. 25% of the 20 years between 1908 and 1928 is about 1913.

The post card was published by J. F. Kirkton of Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania. I searched the internet for information about this person, but could only find other post cards published by him; I found nothing about him. I have a second post card of the gap. It was also printed by Curt Otto Teich. No publisher is listed. I include it here so you can enjoy the airplane flying over as well as the train passing through it.