Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!!

The three locomotives featured on the front of this post card are hauling coal. The train has just crossed the summit of the Allegheny Mountains and

is entering the yards at Clifton Forge, Virginia. It will now have a down grade run along the James River to the Tidewater Area of Virginia. The train is operated by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. Its earliest ancestor was the Louisa Railroad, which was incorporated on February 18, 1836. It’s first leg of track of 22 miles was quickly completed by December of 1837. Today, the trackage of the C&O is part of CSX Transportation. This website gives us the following details about the locomotives themselves: https://www.trains-and-railroads.com/ge-u30-b The GE U30B was a diesel-electric locomotive produced by GE Transportation between 1966 and 1975. It was a further development of the U28B, with a 3,000 hp (2,200 kW) 16-cylinder prime mover. The U30B competed with the EMD GP40 and the ALCO Century 430, but was not as successful as the GE U30C. The U30-B was manufactured between 1966 and 1976. They were of the C-C wheel configuration, which means that each truck had 3 powered axels They were 67 feet and 3 inches long with a service weight and adhesive weight of 363,000 pounds. It provided 91, 650 pound force of starting effort and could reach a top speed of 70 miles per hour. The engine that drove this was a V-16 diesel described officially as a GE-FDL-16 and the fuel tank held 3,000 gallons of diesel. All of this provided 3,000 horsepower to the train; it was the first GE manufactured locomotive to offer this. The U30B experienced several upgrades over the life of the production run. I have featured a couple of those changes in the previous two blog posts. About the title of this blog post and logo of the railroad: Wikipedia tells us that Chessie was a popular cat character used as a symbol of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O). Derived from an etching by Viennese artist Guido Grünewald, the image first appeared in a black and white advertisement in the September 1933 issue of Fortune magazine with the slogan "Sleep Like a Kitten." The advertisement makes no mention of the cat's name. When the ad generated a positive response, the railroad developed an advertising campaign around the image and chose the name Chessie as a derivation of the railroad's name.

The picture was taken by Mary Jayne Rowe and she is also the publisher of the post card. I have 243 of her post cards in my collection. As I was collecting the post cards, I noticed that her name appeared quite often. In fact, the only publisher from whom I have more post cards is Audio Visual Designs (333). I wrote to her and asked if she had a catalogue of her post cards; she sent me 42 pages!!

Just Got Traded to a New Team!

When the photo of this locomotive was taken, the new owner of the railroad company was the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN). However, the paint scheme on the locomotive on the front of this post card is that of the Northern Pacific Railway (reporting mark NP), which the BN recently purchased. The Northern Pacific Railroad was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. The Northern Pacific was headquartered in Minnesota, first in Brainerd, then in the state capital of Saint Paul. It had a tumultuous financial history; the N.P. merged with other lines over a century later in 1970 to form the modern Burlington Northern Railroad, which in turn merged with the famous Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to become the renamed BNSF Railway in 1996, operating in the western U.S. It has a long and interesting history, and this website does a very good job of presenting it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Pacific_Railway The locomotive on the front of this post card is a General Electric (GE) U33C model. It was a modification of GE’s U30C locomotive, which began production in September of 1967. The U33C (produced in 1968) was one of GE's most powerful six-motored road-switchers, and one of the last models made by GE using the “old technology” before they developed the more technologically advanced "Dash 7" line. The U33C was General Electric's first six-motored model to sport a noticeably flared rear radiator; needed to handle the unit's 3,300 horsepower using the 7FDL16 prime mover. This model of locomotive sold 275 units by the time GE started to produce Dash 7’s. These two websites can fill you in on the details of the U33C https://rapidotrains.com/ho-scale/diesel-locomotives/u33c-u36c.html and one of my favourites https://www.american-rails.com/38213.html

The post card was published by Railcards.com

Is that a "Bluebird" that I See?

This website tells us almost everything we want to know about the front of this post card: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_U34CHU34CH

What we are seeing is one locomotive of a fleet of 32 that were built by General Electric for Erie-Lackawanna and the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT). The locomotive is a U34CH fitted with heating equipment to handle commuter trains in northern New Jersey. This picture was taken in 1972. The U34CH is a 3,600 hp passenger diesel locomotive built by General Electric between 1970 and 1973. In total, 33 U34CH units were built; 32 were built for the New Jersey Department of Transportation and operated by the Erie Lackawanna Railway and, later, Conrail, with the last unit coming as a later rebuild of a GE U30C for the New York MTA. The 32 initial locomotives operated with new Pullman Standard push-pull coaches. The units were intended to replace locomotives in suburban commuter service out of Hoboken, New Jersey. The U34CH was the first GE locomotive to use steel crowned pistons to develop 3,600 hp and was the first commuter locomotive built with shaft driven HEP–that is, a Head End Power alternator driven by the locomotive prime mover rather than by a separate diesel. In the next sentence, F indicates a cylinder bore of 9 inches; D identifies the engine configuration with the master and auxiliary connecting rods; and L refers to the service as “locomotive”. To provide HEP at the proper AC frequency the FDL-16 prime mover ran at a constant 900 RPM, so traction horsepower was 3430 minus whatever was going into HEP. By contrast, when not providing HEP, the FDL-16 could produce 3600 traction horsepower at its usual 1050 RPM. To show their NJDOT ownership, the units were painted in a dark blue and silver paint scheme with NJDOT logo and were often called "Bluebirds" by rail enthusiasts. The U34CHs on the weekends were sometimes used in Erie Lackawanna freight service, often being on freight duty from Saturday to Sunday and returning to commuter service Monday morning.

The post card was published by Railcards.com

Yours, Mine and Ours

General Electric Locomotive Division, General Electric Leasing Corporation, Burlington Northern come together to make this post card work. The paint scheme on the locomotives on the front of this post card is that of

the General Electric Leasing Corporation (LMX). Not only did General Electric (GE) build locomotives, but they also leased them to railroads. The General Electric Leasing Corporation was acquired by Wells Fargo in September of 2015. This was then merged with Wabtec to form Wabtec Freight, which has continued to operate General Electric’s leasing operations. The locomotives themselves are Dash8-39B models from General Electric. This website gives a good, concise history of this model of locomotive. https://trains-and-locomotives.fandom.com/wiki/GE_B39-8 The General Electric B39-8 (Dash 8-39B, or simply "Dash 8") is a type of four-axle, 3,900hp diesel locomotive first built in 1984, and again from 1987-1988. 145 were sold only to Southern Pacific (SP), LMX Leasing, and Santa Fe (ATSF). During the mid-1980's, railroads became interested in purchasing more modern, high-horsepower, fuel-efficient, and otherwise more economical diesel locomotives to replace the preceding so-called "ancient" diesels. To meet these needs, GE developed the Dash 8 line of revolutionary, economical, high-tech, high-horsepower diesel-electric locomotives which included microprocessor controls that monitored everything under the hood via computerized sensors and displayed stats from a panel located the cab of the locomotive. Other features included automatic engine starters, a doppler-controlled wheel-slip system, as well as having an advanced engine cooling system reminiscent to EMD's “Tunnel Motor” cooling system design used on the SD40T-2 and other subsequent "Tunnel Motor" series models, while also retaining a similar design found on previous GE models. The testbed line for the early Dash 8 models officially debuted with the introduction of the B36-8 and C36-8 between 1983-1984. The B39-8 was a complete success and became an almost instant contender to EMD's GP60. Yet not too long after the B39-8's initial production, the more popular and externally similar B40-8 was introduced, thus eliminating the B39-8 entirely from GE's catalog, and the six-axle C40-8 overtook the latter in 1987.

The picture on this post card is taken on the Burlington Northern line at Loram, Montana in 1992. The post card was published by Railcards.com and he usually did not give photo credit for the pictures on the post cards he published.

Dashing through the Line-up

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is the successor to the

locomotive featured in last week’s blog post. This website gives us the details about this new model of locomotive: https://grokipedia.com/page/GE_Dash_8-40C The GE Dash 8-40C is a six-axle diesel-electric freight locomotive built by General Electric Transportation Systems, featuring a 4,000 horsepower GE 7FDL-16 V16 turbocharged diesel engine and microprocessor-based control systems. A total of 584 units were produced between December 1987 and 1992, primarily for heavy-haul service on North American Class I railroads. Developed as an evolution of the earlier Dash 7, the Dash 8-40C represented GE's push into advanced electronic controls, becoming the first locomotive in any major series to incorporate fully microprocessor-equipped engine management for improved efficiency and reliability. Production began with the first unit delivered to Union Pacific in late 1987, and the model quickly gained popularity due to its robust design suited for intermodal, coal, and general freight trains. Major original purchasers included Union Pacific (256), CSX Transportation (147 units), Norfolk Southern (75 units), Chicago & North Western (77 units), and Conrail (25 units). Key specifications include a length of 70 feet 8 inches, a weight of approximately 391,000 pounds, a 4,600-gallon fuel capacity, and a top speed of 70 mph, with standard features like dynamic braking, GE 752 traction motors, and 83:20 gear ratios. Early units used Rockwell International FB-3 trucks, later transitioning to Adirondack castings, and production saw minor phase changes such as relocated dynamic brake intakes and enhanced anti-climber designs for safety. The Dash 8-40C's success led to variants like the wide-cab Dash 8-40CW (built from 1989) and cowl-bodied Dash 8-40CM (1993–1994), extending the lineage until GE shifted to the Dash 9 series in the mid-1990s. Many remain in service, often rebuilt for continued freight operations. The railroad for which this “Dash 8” is working is the Chicago & Northwestern. It is seen here at the Proviso Yard in West Chicago. While I have compiled most of the concise history of the railroad below, I recommend that you go to this website for a comprehensive history: https://www.american-rails.com/cnw.html The Chicago & North Western's founding predecessor was the Galena & Chicago Union chartered in 1836. The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (G&CU) was the first railroad constructed out of Chicago, intended to provide a shipping route between Chicago and the lead mines near Galena, Illinois. The railroad company was chartered on January 16, 1836, but financial difficulties delayed construction until 1848. While the main line never reached Galena, construction to Freeport, Illinois, allowed it to connect with the Illinois Central Railroad and provide direct service to Galena. The G&CU is notable as not only being Chicago’s first railroad but also the first to operate a steam locomotive out of the city. After a very long and complicated history, including the purchase of the railroad by its employees in 1972, the Union Pacific Railroad took full ownership of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad in 1995.

The photo credit for this picture goes to Doug Koontz. I found this description on this website: https://www.tumblr.com/norfolksouthern/190314271822/doug-koontz-a-norfolk-southern-foreman-is-no. No guarantees that this is the same Doug, but if push comes to shove, I might bet some money that they are the same person. "Doug Koontz, a Norfolk Southern foreman, is no stranger to photography. Before joining the railroad six years ago, Koontz was a newspaper photojournalist in Maryland. Near the end of a freezing winter day, Koontz happened to be near Fort Hunter Mansion and Park just north of downtown Harrisburg when he saw this NS merchandise train passing over the Susquehanna River on the Rockville Bridge. He took advantage of the colorful sunset view just in time. The icy waters of the Susquehanna, juxtaposed by fading sunlight, serve as a reminder that NS runs 24/7, in all weather conditions. Koontz recalls a saying he once heard about our around-the-clock service: “A sunset on the railroad is a pretty light show in the middle of the day.” The post card was published by Audio Visual Designs.

Quite the Long Pedigree

Way off in the distance you can see three GE C30-7 locomotives heading

up train number 289 on the Raleigh Division, Collier Yard, Virginia on May 26, 1979. The C30-7 was a six-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by GE Transportation Systems between September 1976 and May 1986. It was developed as an updated version of the U30C and was powered by a 16-cylinder GE FDL-series diesel engine. A total of 1,137 units were built for North American railroads. The model succeeded the earlier U30C, also known popularly as the U-Boat. It was General Electric's most successful design up until that time selling 606 examples. There are three examples of the U-Boats in my collection. They are coming soon… The "C" refers to that fact that it is a six-axle (C-C) locomotive. The "30" indicates that the horsepower rating is 3,000 h.p. in the traction motors. And the "7" indicates that it was introduced in 1976. The Dash 7 model is similar to the familiar U-Boat locomotives made by General Electric with a few important changes. "7" indicated the "Dash 7" line was introduced in 1976. The train we are looking at on the front of this post card belongs to the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. The Railroad (SCL) was formed from the merger of two long-time rivals, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL), in 1967. It became a major force in the southeastern U.S. before it was consolidated into the Seaboard System Railroad in 1983. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lines to create the Seaboard System in 1983. At the end of 1970, SCL operated 9,230 miles of railroad, not including A&WP-Clinchfield-CN&L-GM-Georgia-L&N-Carrollton; that year it reported 31,293 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 512 million passenger-miles. Because it is the merger of two railroads that had been around for a long time, it has quite the pedigree. You can see the list at this website, along with more history: https://appalachian-railroads.org/homepage/railroads-across-the-appalachians/seaboard-coast-line-railroad/seaboard-coast-line-railroad-historical-timeline/

The photo was taken by Curt Tullotson, Jr. The post card was published by Audio Visual Designs.

A True Hodgepodge of a Railroad

The locomotive on the front of this post card is a General Electric B23-7.

The "B" refers to that fact that it is a four-axle (B-B) locomotive. The "23" indicates that the horsepower rating is 2,250 h.p. in the traction motors. And the "7" indicates that it was introduced in 1976. The Dash 7 model is similar to the familiar U-Boat locomotives made by General Electric with a few important changes. The length of the locomotive was increased by 2 feet. The radiators used were bigger than those used on the U-Boats. There are two fewer side windows on the main cab. And the hood is wider than the U-Boat between the radiator cabin up to the exhaust stack. The fuel efficiency (because of a smaller 12 cylinder engine) and tractive effort were both improved with this model. A total of 536 B23-7's were built. This locomotive is operating on the Metro-North Commuter Railroad. Metro-North is the descendant of commuter rail services dating back as early as 1832. By 1969, they had all been acquired by Penn Central. The MTA acquired the Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven Lines by 1972, but Penn Central continued to operate them under contract. Service was transferred to Conrail in 1976, when it absorbed most of Penn Central's railroad functions after Penn Central's bankruptcy. The system took its current form in 1983, when the MTA took over direct operation of Conrail's commuter services in the northern portion of the Tri-State Area and formed Metro-North to run them. To understand the title of this particular blog post I recommend that you read the article in Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro-North_Railroad

The photo credit goes to Joseph J. Trifono. The post card was published by Audio Visual Designs out of Earlton, New York.

Three for the Price of One

Last week I published a blog post that included information about the General Electric 44-Ton Locomotive. I also presented some information about the railroad that was running the locomotive, the Southeaster Railway Museum. This week I am going to focus on the railroad, assuming that you have memorized the information about the locomotive. This first post card is

a picture of a GE 44-Tonner at Evanson roundhouse in Wyoming. The back of the post card says that it is Wyoming Car Co. #8568, one of a small group of special military versions of the switcher. The picture was taken in August of 1976.

The second post card is another GE 44-Tonner. This one worked for one of the shortest railroads in history. This website gives you the history of the Hoboken Shore Railroad. http://hbs.railfan.net/ The Hoboken Shore Railroad started off as the Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad in 1902, a shortline that served a large industrial clientele running the length of Hoboken's (New Jersey) waterfront. The line had tight curves, street trackage, a float bridge - all elements that endeared the railroad to its fans. The railroad was renamed the "Hoboken Shore Railroad" in 1954, solely for the reason that "it sounded better!" Traffic started dropping off as industry on the Hoboken waterfront began closing down and moving out. The railroad operated in a limited fashion until at least 1977 and filed for abandonment in 1978. Today, very little of the railroad remains: Its main yard is long gone, enginehouse is now a parking lot, and most of the main is ripped up. A short section of street trackage remains in place from the vicinity of Maxwell House (today a brewery), running to the new park at 5th Street. The picture on the front of this post card was taken in 1975, just before Hoboken started its revival.

And, finally, we have the 44-Tonner, Unit #10 at the Stewartstown Railroad. This website tells you about the history of this railroad. https://stewartstownrailroadco.com/ The Stewartstown Railroad, chartered in 1884, is one of the oldest, continuously running common-carrier railroad companies (STRT) in existence. It has provided freight and passenger service to southern York County, Pennsylvania, since 1885. It operates over 7.4 miles of track which runs from Stewartstown, PA to an interchange in New Freedom, PA with the former Northern-Central Railway (NCR). The Stewartstown Railroad served mostly farmers and a handful of small manufacturing firms in its early years. Unlike many railroads of the past, the Stewartstown Railroad was able to survive the Great Depression and the shift of shipping from rail to truck that occurred in the late 1950’s as a result of improved roads and highways. This was made possible by switching from Steam Engines to Gas-powered locomotives. Despite a decline in business through the 1960’s, a small group of loyal supporters (many of whom held stock in the company) utilized the Stewartstown Railroad until 1972 when Hurricane Agnes struck. While the Stewartstown Railroad remained largely unscathed, the connecting Northern Central Railway sustained major damage. The soon-to-be bankrupt Penn Central owned the NCR at the time and refused to repair the line. The USRA planners for the newly formed CONRAIL (which assumed Penn Central’s rail lines) also refused to include the NCR as a branch line. This left the Stewartstown Railroad without a connection to the outside world. Although it appeared that the Stewartstown Railroad was no longer going to be able to provide freight service, the company continued to maintain its Right-of-Way and locomotives in preparation for future service. The Company’s efforts were rewarded when the PA Department of Transportation reopened the NCR once again giving the Stewartstown an outside connection. The Stewartstown Railroad assumed trackage rights in 1985 and ran trains on the NCRy until 1992. Passenger excursion trains continued on the Stewartstown’s trackage until 2004. Today, with the tireless efforts and dedicated help from numerous volunteers, railroad enthusiasts, and the local community, the Stewartstown Railroad is back in passenger excursion service. Home to the venerable “Mighty-Mo”, a vintage 1943 Plymouth switcher locomotive, we offer various forms of train rides in some of the most pastoral scenery in the northeastern United States. Along the meandering hills and wistful forests of the Deer Creek valley. The post card was published in 1993

Lightweight and Popular

The locomotive you see on this post card is pulling a consist of a caboose from the Southern Railways, Central of Georgia Railroad and the Clinchfield Railroad. It is at the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, Georgia. It is being pulled by a General Electric 44 Ton Center Cab Unit. My favourite railroad-rlated website, https://www.american-rails.com/laurinburg.html tells us this about the GE 44-Tonner: General Electric's 44-tonner was the builder's most well-known in its early line of industrial switchers with more than 400 produced between 1940-1957. This model was first powered by two Caterpillar D17000 V8 diesel engines, providing a top speed of 35 mph. A total of 373 units were produced in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. In addition, another 60 were built for the military and 43 more exported to other countries making it a successful model for General Electric. The switcher featured a symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing carbody while also providing ruggedness and reliability. The centercab carbody sported a raised cab with a tapered hood at each end. Their B-B trucks were an all-welded design, somewhat unique as most were produced from castings. They were 33 feet, 5 inches long. Ten 44-tonners were equipped with a pair of Buda 6DH1742 engines capable of producing 205 horsepower each. The Phase IV and Phase V switchers boasted 400 horsepower.

The Photo is courtesy of Howard L. Robins. I found a book on line that features photos “by noted photographer Howard Robins. Enjoy ACL, SAL, SOU, A&WP, GA, CofG, SCL, L&N, and the other smaller roads that made Atlanta, Georgia such an eclectic mix of railroading in the 1960s.” The book’s title is “Trackside around Atlanta 1956-1975 with Howard Robins” The post card was published by Mary Jayne’s Railroad Specialties, Inc. in 1994. It is 1 of 243 post cards in my collection that were published by Mary Jayne’s.

Gone, But Not Forgotten

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is an Alco S2 Switcher

– a sister to last week’s featured locomotive. This one is leaving the Engine House at West Point, Georgia to do some local switching. The locomotive was owned by the Chattahoochee Valley Railway. This short (9 ½ miles) railroad connected with the Atlanta & West Point and with the Western Railway of Alabama right there at West Point. The line was abandoned in 1992 after being in existence for 97 years. The information about this railroad, presented below was found at our good friends from Wikipedia. Originally the line was constructed by the Chattahoochee Valley Railroad on July 2,1895 from Langdale to Lanett, it was extended to Riverview by 1897. In 1900, the railroad was reorganized to become the Chattahoochee Valley Railway (CHV). Further expansion included new tracks south to Jester in 1899 and north to Standing Rock, Alabama by 1908. By extending tracks further to Bleecker in 1916 the railroad totaled 45 miles and connected to three other railroads. The railroad started retracting in 1932 when part of the railroad was abandoned from Standing Rock to West Point and passenger service ended. In the 1960s, a dam was constructed north of West Point, and the CHV built a short spur line to reach the construction site for delivery of materials. When construction of the dam was completed in 1973 the spur was abandoned. Around the same time, the railroad abandoned the line from Riverview to Bleecker. The railroad shut down completely on September 23, 1992, with tracks removed the following year. By the time of the abandonment the railroad numbered less than 10 miles. CHV 2-8-0 steam locomotive No. 21, built in 1924 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, is now on display at the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, Georgia.

The post card was published by the same person who took the photograph: Mary Jayne Rowe. I have 243 post cards published by this lovely, now deceased lady. It was published on December 4, 1985 from Covington, Virginia.

That is a lot of Horsepower at Work

The picture on the front of this post card is another set of Fairbanks-Morse

4,800 horsepower “Train Master” locomotives. They are hauling iron ore from the open-pit mines near Ely-Biwabik to the loading docks at Two Harbors, Minnesota. This website https://www.american-rails.com/nylb.html offers us a fascinating history of how the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railroad came to be. Here is a very short excerpt from his article. I recommend that you go there and read it. Because of its unique nature the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range carries one of the most interesting histories of any railroad. The company's existence was tied directly, and almost exclusively, to iron ore. In many ways, it differed entirely from its counterparts. Its heritage, ironically, begins with gold. A gold rush hit Minnesota's Lake Vermilion region in 1865 when prospectors claimed they had stumbled upon the precious metal. This hope turned out to be unfounded, and the flurry of activity had ended by 1868. However, a few individuals stuck around after noticing the red soil appeared to contain rich sources of iron. The most notable was George Stuntz who set into motion efforts that later became the Duluth & Iron Range, DM&IR's earliest component. After studying samples, the ore was proven to be roughly 65% pure iron, an extremely exciting prospect. The Duluth & Iron Mountain Railroad (D&IM) was incorporated on January 29, 1881 by Charlemagne Tower of Philadelphia for the purpose of hauling the iron ore to market. After a route was surveyed for the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad, construction commenced northward from Agate Bay with a short segment initially opened at that location on August 28, 1883. After nearly a year of construction the entire 68-mile line was completed on July 31, 1884, serving two early docks at Two Harbors. A group of industrialists, which included oil mogul John D. Rockefeller, carried a nearly limitless stream of capital. Threatening to build a competing line of their own, Tower capitulated and sold his stakes in April of 1887 for a total of $6.4 million. The D&IR reached the western Mesabi Range in 1892 when it opened an 18-mile extension to McKinley via Wyman. This put it direct competition with a nearby road with which it would later merge, the Duluth, Missabe & Northern. On February 11, 1891 the Duluth, Missabe & Northern Railway was formed and by October of 1892 it was ready for service. The two railroads remained separate corporate entities until a series of transactions in the late 1930s; first, the DM&N and Spirit Lake Transfer Railway (formed in 1907, this DM&N subsidiary eventually constructed 11 miles in the West Duluth area to serve a steel mill owned by the Minnesota Steel Company) were merged on July 1, 1937 to form the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway.

This post card is another of the post cards in my collection from Audio Visual Designs. The photo is by Lewis A. Harlow.

Living up to its Mission even Today

The locomotive on the front of this post card is a Fairbanks-Morse “Train Master”. I wrote about the “Train Master” in last week’s post. This week, rather than writing about the locomotive, I will write about the railroad on which it is operating: the New York & Long Branch. This picture was taken at Bay Head Junction in New Jersey in October of 1956. https://www.american-rails.com/nylb.html tells us this information about the history and continued importance of the New York & Long Branch Railroad: The New York & Long Branch (NY&LB) was never an independent corporate entity and never operated any of its own equipment. This system started at Bay Head Junction and ran up to Perth Amboy, where it linked with the Central Railroad of New Jersey's Perth Amboy and Elizabethport line. Jointly owned and run by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey to largely handle commuter service throughout east-central New Jersey, it transitioned to Conrail ownership in 1976. Incorporated on April 8, 1868, the NY&LB was conceived with a clear mission: to connect the major cities of New Jersey's Monmouth County with the economic heart of New York City. • By 1875, the rail line extending from Perth Amboy to Long Branch was completed. On December 20, 1881, several railroads were merged into the NY&LB which included: The New Egypt & Farmingdale Railroad was incorporated on March 17, 1869. Its tracks reached from Long Branch to Belmar in 1876, though the rest of the line to New Egypt was never completed. • The Long Branch & Sea Girt Railroad, incorporated on June 18, 1875, constructed its line from Belmar to Sea Girt in 1876. • The New York & Long Branch Extension Railroad was founded on March 10, 1880, and built its line from Sea Girt to Point Pleasant that same year. • The Long Branch & Barnegat Bay Railroad, established on September 23, 1880, laid tracks from Point Pleasant to Bay Head Junction by 1881. The NY&LB marked a significant shift in the socio-economic landscape of the New Jersey coast. It transformed previously isolated beach towns into thriving seaside resorts frequented by wealthy New York residents. The easy access afforded by the railroad spurred real estate development, giving rise to an array of Victorian-style homes and seaside settlements. Beyond tourism, the NY&LB was instrumental in boosting local industries. Agricultural producers and manufacturers benefited from new markets opened by fast and reliable rail connections. Through its various incarnations—from a passenger lifeline for vacationers and locals, to an integral part of New Jersey Transit's commuter network—the NY&LB continues to epitomize the adaptability and enduring relevance of railways in American history.

This post card is another of the post cards in my collection from Audio Visual Designs. The photo is by Don Wood.

Exit, Stage Left!!

The locomotive on the front of this post card is a Fairbanks-Morse “Train Master”. It was built for the Reading Railroad Company in 1953.

Here it is switching at the railroad’s Rutherford Yard near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on May 2, 1964. The H-24-66, or “Train Master”, is a diesel-electric railroad locomotive produced by Fairbanks-Morse and its licensee, Canadian Locomotive Company. These six-axle hood unit road switchers were used in the United States and Canada during the 1950s. Advertised by Fairbanks-Morse as "the most useful locomotive ever built", the 2,400-horsepower “Train Master” was the most powerful single-engine diesel locomotive at its introduction in 1953. No competitor offered a locomotive with an equal horsepower rating until the ALCO RSD-7 entered production in January 1954. EMD followed suit in July 1958 with the SD24, and GE introduced their U25C in September 1963. While some railroads saw advantages in the “Train Master's” greater power, others thought the unit had too much horsepower. Other drawbacks were the difficulties inherent in maintaining the opposed-piston engine, inadequacies in the electrical system, and a higher-than-normal consumption of cooling water. All these contributed to poor market acceptance of the “Train Masters”—and ultimately the departure of Fairbanks-Morse from the locomotive business. Thus, the title of this blog post is "Exit, Stage Left!!"

This post card is another of the post cards in my collection from Audio Visual Designs. It looks like the post card was commissioned by the Frisco line for distribution by them. The photo is by Carl H. Sturner

Another Set of Twins

In my April 8th and April 22nd posts, I introduced you to a couple of twin locomotives working for the Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern Railway. They were Baldwin-built locomotives. The twin locomotives pictured on the front of this post card are Fairbanks-Morse model H-12-44 switchers.

(the “H” tells us that is it a Hood unit, the “10” indicates that it produces 1,000 horsepower, and the 4 shows us that it has four axles and four traction motors) They are working on the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (the Frisco line). Here they are pulling a freight in February of 1970, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Fairbanks-Morse H-12-44 was a switcher locomotive produced from May 1950 until March 1961. The units had a six-cylinder opposed piston engine prime mover, and were configured in a B-B wheel arrangement mounted atop a pair of two-axle AAR Type-A switcher trucks, with all axles powered and geared for a top speed of 60 miles per hour. Of the 336 H-12-44 locomotives produced, 303 were for American railroads, 30 were made between August 1951 to June 1956 by the Canadian Locomotive Company for use in Canada, and one was exported to Mexico. This website tells us some of the history of the Railroad to which the locomotives on the front of this post card belonged: https://frisco.org/mainline/about-the-frisco-railroad/ The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (affectionately known as the “Frisco”) was a St. Louis-based railroad that operated in nine Midwest and southern states from 1876 to 1980. The railroad stretched from Kansas City to Pensacola and St. Louis to Oklahoma City and Dallas, having some of the most iconic motive power, logos and slogans in the history of railroading. The Frisco was also renowned for excellent passenger service led by some of the best-looking steam locomotives ever built, and celebrated for fast freight hauling behind steam locomotives of its own design as well as diesels in the later era. Born as a branch of the great Pacific Railroad project of the mid-19th Century, the Frisco became a separate entity that helped to feed the population of a growing nation, helped build its factories and ship those factories’ products, helped win two World Wars, and helped to carry Americans East and West, North and South in style and comfort. In the 104 years of its separate existence, it became a major corporation that provided the best service possible to its customers while treating its employees like a big family, never losing the homey touch. The Frisco merged with, and was assimilated into, the Burlington Northern on November 21, 1980, but most of its lines are still in service today with the BNSF or various short lines.

This post card is another of the post cards in my collection from Audio Visual Designs. It looks like the post card was commissioned by the Frisco line for distribution by them. The photo is by Mac Owen.

Didn't I Just See You Two Weeks Ago?

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is a Baldwin DT6-6-2000. It is seen here with a freight train on May 20, 1971 at Minneapolis.

Two weeks ago, I posted about its sister locomotive (Number 21) which worked for the same railroad, the Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern Railway. These two locomotives are twin-engined diesel-electric transfer switchers, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works between 1946 and 1950. 45 locomotives were built using 6-cylinder turbocharged 606SC prime movers during 1948–1950. Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway #21 is the only DT-6-6-2000 preserved. It is owned by the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois where it remains in operable condition. Adam Burns of American Rails https://www.american-rails.com/20001.html writes this about the Baldwin DT6-6-2000: The DT-6-6-2000 was one of the most interesting models released by a major manufacturer. This design was a specialized type of locomotive intended for use in heavy drag service over short distances, such as on terminal railroads or moving cuts of cars between local yards. Believing that there was a market for such, Baldwin released the DT-6-6-2000 directly after World War II, one of first models to employ the company's own prime mover. As a switcher, it was massive and, longer than virtually every road switcher or cab unit on the market at that time. As John Kirkland explains in "The Diesel Builders: Volume Three," the locomotive featured dual control stands for maximum flexibility, thus allowing operation in either direction without turning the locomotive. Ironically, for a design geared towards switching, the DT-6-6-2000 retained a high-hood on both ends, thus restricting a crew's 360-degree view from either the ground (seeing the engineer) or the cab (seeing the crew). Unfortunately, the design had mechanical issues and railroads were never really interested in such a specialized locomotive resulting in fewer than 50 constructed when production had ended.

This post card is another of the post cards in my collection from Mary Jayne’s Railroad Specialties. I have written about her many times because I have 243 of her post cards in my collection. The photo was taken by A. Robert Johnson.

It's a Steel!!

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is a Baldwin AS-616.

The AS616 was Baldwin's most powerful six-axle model, in terms of both horsepower – 1600 h.p. and tractive effort - up to 78,750 pounds. The Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton AS616 began production the fall of 1950 and was the third model it offered in its "All Service" series, which was part of its new Standard line of road switchers. It was a 1,600 horsepower, C-C design that utilized the 608A model prime mover, the latest and final engine it offered. It was also the lightest C-C road switcher design on the market at the time, weighing just 164 tons. It was so popular that 221 units were sold This particular unit has serial number 91and the construction number is 75758. It was completed on July 31, 1952. https://www.american-rails.com/ From this website Adam Burns tells us the information about the locomotive, above and about the Railroad Company and its history, below. The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad was a regional system based in western Pennsylvania that connected Bessemer, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh) with the Lake Erie port of Conneaut, Ohio. The history of the Bessemer & Lake Erie dates as far back as the Bear Creek Railroad, chartered on March 20, 1865. A few years later the company changed its name as the Shenango & Allegheny Railroad on April 9, 1867. The railroad slowly expanded southward connecting to Harrisville in July of 1872 and Hilliards in January of 1876. In 1883 the main line was opened beyond Pardoe to Butler and one final extension was carried out before the road's 1888 reorganization. The present day Bessemer & Lake Erie received its name in 1900 when it formally leased the Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie created through the merger of the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie and Butler & Pittsburgh. In 1901 the Bessemer became a sister road with the Minnesota ore hauler Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range when the Dale Carnegie steel interests were purchased by the United States Steel Corporation, which had taken over the DM&IR some years prior.

This post card is another of the post cards in my collection from Audio Visual Designs in Earlton, New York. It is one of 333 cards in my collection from them. They are the publisher from whom I have the largest number of post cards. The photo was taken Paul M. Penney.

Beast of Burden

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is a Baldwin DT-6-6-2000. I will be giving more details in two weeks when I post about its sister locomotive, Number 23. This post is about the railroad for which these two locomotives operated. This website provides information about the railway for which this locomotive worked: https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/thing/minneapolis-northfield-and-southern-railway The Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway (MN&S) was a Minnesota short-line railroad that operated between the cities of Crystal and Northfield from 1918 until 1982. It was a profitable bridge line, routing traffic past the crowded freight yards of the Twin Cities onto connecting railroads at Northfield, connecting with the Rock Island, the Chicago Great Western, and the Milwaukee Road. The financially unsuccessful predecessor of the MN&S was the Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Company. The road was to be electrified and use a system of overhead catenary wires to provide power to locomotives. Freight traffic generally utilized steam locomotives instead. Passenger service was offered using “doodlebugs,” unique gas-electric hybrid locomotives that were ideal for providing limited passenger and even mixed-freight service over smaller railroads. In 1916, and the short line entered receivership. The MN&S grew out of this defunct line under Henry E. Pence in 1918. The new railroad used trackage rights over the Chicago Great Western to extend service to Randolph and Mankato. Rights also extended to the Luce Line railroad, an agricultural sister line that extended to the rich croplands of western Minnesota. The MN&S also built an extension from its junction with the Luce Line west of Minneapolis northward to the rails of the Soo Line in Crystal. The MN&S was thus able to access Shoreham Yard, the Soo Line’s major local terminal in north Minneapolis. This also allowed the line an interchange with the nearby terminal of the Northern Pacific, the Northtown yard. The new line became a well-positioned road with access to the major carriers of the Twin Cities. The MN&S had a competitive advantage as a bridge line and offered many connections to virtually all larger freight carriers in the Twin Cities. The railroad built a servicing facility for motive power to the west of Glenwood Park in Golden Valley, connecting it to the main line by a small spur. The line used 2-10-0 Decapod-type locomotives, having purchased seven in the 1930s and several more in the following decade. The doodlebugs maintained a limited passenger service over the route, and they came from several manufacturers, such as General Electric and the Wason Company. The MN&S eventually abandoned passenger service as less than profitable. The last run—a trip to Northfield—took place on April 30, 1942. The late 1940s saw the end of the steam era on the MN&S and the switch to diesel. The line received its first center-cab road switching locomotive from the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1948. The railroad took subsequent delivery of the unique diesel units in 1949 and 1953, as well as other units from Baldwin and the Fairbanks-Morse Company. The company also acquired motive power from the Electromotive division of General Motors. In June 1982, the Soo Line purchased the MN&S, and the line ran its last freight train. Most of the system continued to exist, operated in sections by several other railroads. Here is the back of the post card:

This is not a Joke; See Below for Details...

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is a Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (see below for details) Baldwin Lima Hamilton AS416 (see below for details) that was eventually repowered by EMD (see below for details). The result is the humpback hybrid seen here at Kansas City in 1972. All the information below was taken from our good friends at Wikipedia. The BLH AS-416 was a diesel-electric locomotive of the road switcher type rated at 1,625 hp that rode on three-axle trucks, having an A1A-A1A wheel arrangement. Used in much the same manner as its four-axle counterpart, the AS-16, though the wheel arrangement spread out the axle load for operation on light rail such as are found on branch lines. It was introduced in 1950 as a replacement of the DRS-6-4-1500 and remained in Baldwin Lima Hamilton's catalog until their cessation of locomotive manufacture in 1956. Only 25 units were sold to four railroads — all of whom had bought the earlier model. The vast majority (17 of the 25 units) were purchased by the original Norfolk Southern Railway (1942–82), becoming a signature locomotive for the company. Most of us think of Baldwin Locomotive Works as only “Baldwin”. The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American manufacturer of railway locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it moved to nearby Eddystone in the early 20th century. The company was for decades the world's largest producer of steam locomotives but struggled to compete when demand switched to diesel locomotives. Baldwin produced the last of its 70,000-plus locomotives in 1951, before merging with the Lima-Hamilton Corporation on September 11, 1951, to form the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation. EMD has an interesting history, too. Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (reporting mark MKT) (1870–1988) was a Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Its predecessor was established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railroad (UP), Southern Branch, and came to serve an extensive rail network in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In 1988, it merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad and together they were part of the UP.

Here is the back of the post card. It was published by the mysterious railcards.com out of Alameda, California.

There it is, No it isn't, Yes it is, Oops, Gone Again

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is a 50-ton Atlas Locomotive built in 1940.

It is viewed, here, at the Junction of the Penn Central and Warwick Railway in Cranston, Rhode Island. Atlas Engine Works was around for a very, very long time. Wikipedia provides for us the following information about the company’s history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peckett_and_Sons The company began trading in 1864 as the Atlas Engine Works, in St. George, Bristol, as Fox, Walker and Company, building four and six-coupled saddle tank engines for industrial use. They also built stationary engines and pioneered steam tramcars, the first being tested in Bristol in 1877. Much of their output was exported, mostly 0-6-0, with some 0-4-0, 2-4-0 and 0-4-2. In 1878 they produced six 18 inch gauge 2-4-2 trench engines for the Royal Engineers at Chatham using Henry Handyside's steep gradient apparatus. Here is a link to some information about the apparatus: https://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/53/Handyside.htm They also produced nine 0-6-0STs for the Somerset and Dorset Railway. They were taken over by Thomas Peckett in 1880, becoming Peckett and Sons, Atlas Engine Works, Bristol. The company acquired limited liability some years later. By 1900 the two companies had built over 400 locomotives. The company continued producing a variety of small industrial and shunting engines at their factory located between Fishponds and Kingswood in Bristol. They became specialists in the field, with very precise specifications and standardisation of parts. The largest engine was an 0-8-0 built in 1931 for the Christmas Island Phosphate Company. The works were served by a branch line starting just southwest of Kingswood junction on the Midland line and ran for about 1 mile in a generally eastward direction. It also served some collieries in the Speedwell area. During the two World Wars, the works were especially busy, but by 1950 trade had largely dried up. Although in 1956 an attempt had been made to enter the diesel-mechanical market, the last steam engine was produced in 1958 and the company was taken over by Reed Crane & Hoist Co Ltd on 23, October 1961, which itself later went into liquidation. The information below is a compilation of American Rails and Wikipedia The Wikipedia link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warwick_Railway is this one; and the Amercian Rails by Adam Burns link https://www.american-rails.com/lhr.html is this one. The Lehigh & Hudson River's earliest heritage began with the tiny Warwick Valley Railroad organized on March 8, 1860, to build a line between Greycourt and Warwick, New York, a distance of about 10 miles. It opened for service on April 1, 1862. The Warwick Railway (reporting mark WRWK) was a railroad in Rhode Island. It was originally chartered in 1873 under the name Warwick Railroad, with a route connecting Cranston to Oakland Beach, eight miles away. Opened in 1875, the company survived until 1879 when it declared bankruptcy and shut down; it was resurrected in 1880 as the Rhode Island Central Railroad under New York, Providence and Boston Railroad (NYP&B) ownership and extended by two miles. In 1949, the NYP&B line was purchased by a newly formed Warwick Railway, which ended electrified service in favor of diesel locomotives in 1952, and abandoned another mile of track in 1954. The Warwick Railway provided freight service until 1979, when the Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W) began service following the Warwick Railway becoming insolvent.

This post card is another of Mary Jayne’s Railroad Specialties post cards in my collection. The photo was taken In April of 1975 by Ronald N. Johnson.

Bigger than Ever!!

The locomotives pictured on the front of this post card are the products of Alco, the American Locomotive Company.

The back of the post card reads: “Three of Genesee & Wyoming Railroad’s Alco 1,000 h.p. locomotives, Numbers 35, 1776, and 42 are shown entering Genesee & Wyoming’s Retsof Freight Yard in Retsof, N.Y. These Units are normally NU’s in order to provide the necessary power to transport salt trains from Retsof to the Caledonia, N.Y. interchange location.” My favourite website about the history of railroads, https://www.american-rails.com/gw.html tells us this: The history of G&W;'s current operations began humbly as a small, short-line by the same name, the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad. This little system was based in Western New York, south of Rochester and began as the Genesee & Wyoming Valley Railway. The G&WV; was incorporated in 1891 and eventually opened from Retsof (where the picture on the front of this post card was taken) to a location known as P&L; Junction near Caledonia in 1894, a distance of about 14 miles. With freight traffic never materializing as hoped the G&WV fell into bankruptcy in November of 1898 and was reorganized as the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad (reporting mark GNWR), incorporated on March 24, 1899. The new G&W was owned by Edward Laton Fuller and began serving a massive salt mine near Retsof, owned by the International Salt Corporation. The mine was, for many years, the largest producer of rock salt in the world and the G&W's largest customer. As it turns out salt remained the railroad's primary source of traffic throughout the 1970s and even today it continues to handle large quantities of the mineral. The modern history of the G&W is continued on the American Rails website. I recommend that you go there to read about it. It leads to the information contained on the current website of the G&W. You can read that and more here: https://www.gwrr.com/about-us/ Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) owns or leases more than 100 freight railroads throughout North America with 4,000 employees serving 2,000 customers over more than 13,000 track miles. G&W subsidiaries and joint ventures also provide rail service at more than 30 major ports, rail-ferry service between the U.S. Southeast and Mexico, transload services, and railcar switching and repair.

This post card is another of Mary Jayne’s Railroad Specialties post cards in my collection. The photo was taken by Thomas Cottone.