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.