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.