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.