The Firefly by Frisco

This locomotive on the front of the post card was one of only three 4-6-2's

built by the Frisco machine shops in 1939. Our friends at Wikipedia tell us this about the engine, its two sisters and the passenger train they pulled, “The Firefly”. The Firefly was a streamlined passenger train operated by the St. Louis – San Francisco Railway (the "Frisco"). At various times, it served St Louis, Missouri, Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Kansas City, Missouri, and Fort Scott, Kansas. It made its maiden run on March 29, 1940, and ended May 22, 1960. It was Frisco’s first streamliner, and the first streamliner to be built in the southwest. The Frisco decided to fit its steam locomotives with a cowling, described as a torpedo-type jacket giving it the appearance of a bullet-like projectile traveling down the track. The engines were converted by Frisco itself in Springfield, with the first one, No. 1026, being completed in May of 1938. The engine was not new; it had originally been built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1910 as an ordinary 4-6-2 “Pacific”. Two other engines, Nos. 1018 and 1031, both also Baldwin 4-6-2’s from 1910, were later converted for the Firefly service as well. This website tells us some of the history of the Railroad to which the locomotive on the front of this post card belonged: http://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 is a Real Photo Post Card. It was taken by A. D. Wellborn. I could find nothing about the photographer on the internet.

Plummer Junction, You Say??

The picture here is a Real Photo Post Card. It was made by Charles A. Lane care of Los Angeles Railway at 7th and Central Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The pencil writing on the back tells us that this passenger train is on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad (CM&SP). It is climbing a steep grade from Ste. Marie to Plummer Junction in Idaho in April of 1922. I have blogged in the past about the CM&SP so I went on line to see what I could learn about Plummer Junction. This website gives a great, photograph-filled tour of Plummer Junction and the surrounding railroad related area. The photographs are from the 70s. I highly recommend that you visit the site. https://www.milwelectric.org/palouse-to-cascades-trail-virtual-tour-plummer/ Plummer Junction was a relay office as well as a train order office. In addition to delivering orders to trains, the office also bridged telegraph circuits to pass along messages.

Allen Miller drew this map of Plummer Junction that shows the configuration of the wye, location of water tank, depot and the old U.P. line that went under the legs of the wye. The Plummer Junction depot was located inside the wye off the main line between Malden (west) and St. Maries (east). Trains from Spokane would come in from the east (right) and have the option of going either direction on the main line. The Union Pacific line from Tekoa to Wallace also came through Plummer. Today the St. Maries River Railroad comes in from the east on the Milwaukee Road main line and interchanges with the Union Pacific at Plummer. The Union Pacific comes in from Spokane on the former Milwaukee Road line to interchange with the St. Maries River Railroad and to service the Plummer mill.

I know nothing about the photographer who would also be the publisher. But I am reproducing the back of the post card here for your viewing pleasure.

Small and Mighty

That is a very interesting looking locomotive on the front of this post card. It

is classified as an 0-6-0. Its class of engines was used for switching. That is exactly what the railroad company that owned it used it for. The BEDT stand for Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal. They basically shuttled train cars along the shores of Brooklyn, New York. This website gives very detailed information about the BEDT. Take the time to read through the materials. http://www.trainweb.org/bedt/BEDT.html#Flow%20Chart Philip M. Goldstein put a lot of time and effort in researching what is on this website. The name Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal as we know it, had its true beginnings in 1906 as a Navigation Company, and in the very beginning was incorporated as such under the Transportations Corporations Law of the State of New York on June 20, 1906. It was not until the November 5, 1915, after all the franchises and certificates of conveniences were finally approved; that all the properties, railroad, marine equipment and other assets were formally consolidated and incorporated under the name by which we know it and as a Freight Terminal operation; with a railroad, tugboats and carfloats. "The Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal" was probably the first private terminal for public use in the Port of New York. According to well authenticated report, this terminal had it's beginning in 1876. This organization has three terminals. The main terminal is located on the East River in Brooklyn and includes frontage between North Third and North Tenth Streets. Of the branch terminals one is on the Tidewater Basin in Jersey City and the other known as the Queensboro Terminal, on the East River, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth Streets in Long Island City. The success of the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal could be measured by many factors, not the least of which being haulage, gross revenue, expansion and appearance. For example, in 1912, according to the "Report of the Committee on Terminals and Transportation of the New York State Food Investigating Commission" published 1913, the track capacity of the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal increased from 357 cars to 426 cars. In 1914: it hauled over 150,990 tons of freight, for 1,200 shippers and 1,400 consigners and operated over 10.33 miles of track in New York & New Jersey. It operated 10 locomotives, 4 tugboats, 19 carfloats and employed 458 employees. In 1920. These reports tell us that the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal handled 59,022 cars, over 9.24 miles of a track (a decrease of .63 miles form the previous year) with a gross income of $853,507.01. There were 115 employee injuries and 1 employee fatality listed for the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal for that year. For the next 60 years the BEDT had its ups and downs, but survived. Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal filed the required ICC "Notice of Intent to Abandon Service" on April 8, 1983; and on August 12, 1983, operations at Kent Avenue Yard ceased altogether with the switching of a few covered hoppers at the Bulk Flour Terminal. The operations of New York Dock at Bush Terminal would not fare any better during this same time frame, and after several previous attempts at downsizing; it ceased operations on August 17, 1983.

This is what we call a Real Photo Post Card. It is an actual photograph that is printed right onto a Post Card backed paper. You can see in the stamp box area that this process was used by Kodak. I am guessing that the post card, at one time, belonged to Robert Morris of Brooklyn. The handwriting, in pencil, tells us that it is the BEDT #12, in Brooklyn, NY, on April 10, 1955. There are two items that I cannot decipher but the bottom tells us that the locomotive was built in 1919.

One Intrepid Photographer!

This posting isn’t so much about the train on the front of the post card, as it

is about the photographer who took the picture. The following is taken from Wikipedia: Charles Roscoe Savage (August 16, 1832 – February 4, 1909) was a British-born landscape and portrait photographer most notable for his images of the American West. Savage converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in his youth while living in England. He served a mission in Switzerland and eventually moved to the United States. In America he became interested in photography and began taking portraits for hire in the East. He traveled to Salt Lake City with his family and opened up his Art Bazar where he sold many of his photographs. Savage concentrated his photographic efforts primarily on family portraits, landscapes, and documentary views. He is best known for his 1869 photographs of the linking of the First Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory, Utah. This is the picture that Charles Savage took. All American train fans are familiar with this famous shot:

The post card was published, not by Charles Savage, but by the

Frederick S. Lightfoot Collection of Huntington Station, New York. This post card is number 13 and it is part of a larger series of 50 post cards that the Lightfoot Collection published. You can see more of the collection at the website listed below here: http://www.wallywombatscollectables.com/Master-Photographer-by-Lightfoot.php The series was published prior to 1963 (the clue is that there is no zip code in the address on the back of the card). There are more than just trains in the collection.

Need a Refill...

The locomotive in this picture on the front of this post card is sitting at a coal dock in Broadview, Saskatchewan. Broadview is about 150 kilometers east of Regina, Saskatchewan,

the capital of the province. Their official website says this, “Broadview is an inexpensive and safe place to raise a family, retire, or start a new business venture. The Town's infrastructure can easily handle significant population growth. We are protected by a 13 member R.C.M.P. Detachment, and have a very well-run volunteer Fire Department. We also boast some of the best Health Care Services you'll find anywhere in rural Saskatchewan. There are many recreational facilities and activities to choose from for your enjoyment. We are a progressive community with a great history and lots of potential for the future. So, please browse through our website and visit our town to decide if this is the place for you. We think it is.” I can tell that the locomotive is just sitting at the dock because there is no one in the cab of the locomotive. Its road number is 389. The engine is a 4-6-0 type of locomotive commonly called (according to the Whyte Classification) a ten-wheeler. Here is some information about 4-6-0 locomotives from this website: https://www.american-rails.com/wheeler.html The 4-6-0 was developed as early as the late 1840s first appearing on the Philadelphia & Reading. Their creation came about because of a need to increase adhesion, which allowed a single locomotive to haul heavier loads. Essentially, it is an American design, and the Ten-wheeler’s extra axle allowed for this increase in tractive effort. For the first time in the railroad industry’s short history it now had a specialized locomotive that could be used for specific purposes, in this case hauling freight and passengers over steep grades. Today, you can find dozens and dozens of 4-6-0s preserved including several that are still operational. Before the 2-8-0 gained widespread use as a heavy-haul locomotive, many railroads turned to the 4-6-0 for that task; the first, true specialized model for freight service (the earlier 4-4-0 was really an all-around design used to pull both freight and passenger trains). As trains became heavier, the 4-6-0 ran into the same problem of all models which lacked a trailing axle or truck; without the added support for a larger firebox and a small frame of just three driving axles limiting boiler size the locomotive, eventually, could simply not keep up with the times. The 4-6-0 was well liked by short lines, logging railroads, and various privately-owned industrial operations due to its weight and nimble ability to operate on light trackage. By the time production of the 4-6-0 had ended an incredible 16,000+ had been built. With so many built the locomotive remained in service many decades after production had ended. Today, several 4-6-0s are preserved around the country, including several of which that are still in operation. Some of the more well-known operable ten-wheelers include: New Hope & Ivyland #1533, (originally built for the Canadian Northern, later Canadian National, in 1911); Sierra Railroad #3 in California; Alaska Railroad narrow-gauge #152 (now #2) at the Huckleberrry Railroad in Michigan; Tweestie narrow-gauge #12 in North Carolina; Virginia & Truckee #25 in Nevada; Nevada Northern #40 at East Ely; Southern Pacific #2248 in Texas; Texas & Pacific #316 (now #201) also in Texas.

The picture was taken by someone with the last name of Robinson. It is a Real Photo post card on Solio brand post card stock. Solio was one of many Real Photo post card papers that were sold by Kodak. The square where the stamp is to be placed tells us that,

not only is this on Solio paper, but, the picture was taken between 1908 and the 1920s. The diamonds in the corners provide that information. The post card was given to me by a very dear friend whose father grew up in Saskatchewan.

Exaggerated?

William Howard Taft was the 27th president of the United States on March 4, 1909. While has was campaigning for the presidency, he used a train that had a car at the end with a platform on the back. As a matter of fact, this post card has captured a picture of him on that train car. He followed Theodore Roosevelt into the presidency so the economy in the United States was flourishing. You can see in the upper right of this post card the word “PROSPERITY”. The large vegetables in the picture reflect the same feeling of wealth. This post card was produced in 1908, while Taft was still travelling across the United States trying to drum up as many votes as he could. He won the election with only 51.6% of the popular vote.

The post card was produced by William H. Martin (1865 – 1940). He worked out of Ottawa, Kansas after purchasing a shop there in 1894. Somewhere along the way he decided to produce not just photographs of exaggerated subject matter, but, he turned these photographs into post cards. He sold his Ottawa business and opened The North American Post Card Company in Kansas City, Kansas. In only three years he made a fortune by selling these post cards. He sold his photography (post card) business in 1912 to open a new venture: the National Sign Company.

This particular post card was used on September 19, 1910, 18 months after Taft became president. It seems to be a note from one young man to another asking when he went to the fair, because they did not see each other there. There must have been a large blimp or dirigible at the fair – it is mentioned at the end of the message with a “ha ha” added.

Don't Try This at Home!

I cannot imagine being able to or wanting to stand inside one of the Spiral Tunnels on “The Big Hill” just east of Field, British Columbia. It just isn't a safe thing to do!! But that is exactly what the photographer for Gowan & Sutton Company must have done to get this beautiful shot of Cathedral Mountain.

Then, in order to sell a very impressive post card to someone, they hand tinted the real photo card. I can see a light shade of blue surrounding Cathedral Mountain; there is a slight shading of green on the side of the mountain, too.

The photographer was probably standing at the opening of the top of the Lower Spiral Tunnel in the base of Mt. Stephen. The track continues to curve to the left, which will take it to the Upper Spiral Tunnel built into the base of Cathedral Mountain.

An eastbound train leaving Field climbs a moderate hill, goes through two short, straight tunnels on Mt. Stephen, under the Trans-Canada Highway, across the Kicking Horse River and into the Lower Spiral Tunnel in Mt. Ogden. It spirals to the left up inside the mountain for 891-m and emerges 15-m higher. The train then crosses back over the Kicking Horse River, under the highway a second time and into the 991-m tunnel in Cathedral Mountain. The train spirals to the right, emerging 17-m higher and continues to the top of Kicking Horse Pass.

I have written in my past blogs about this area that straddles British Columbia and Alberta in the Rocky Mountains. See my 2013 entries from February 17th (probably from Cathedral Mountain looking back at Mt. Stephen), March 22nd and April 5th as well as Nov. 8, 2014. I have also written about the publisher/printer on April 12th and August 2nd of 2013 and February 1st of 2014.

Gowan Sutton (1921 – 1960) was a publisher of real photo and printed postcards of the Canadian West. Not only did they produce cards depicting large cities, they captured many hard to reach views within the Canadian Territories. Many of their cards were hand tinted in a simple manner striving for style rather than realism, which created cards in vastly differing quality. While the real photo cards were made in Canada their printed cards were made in England.

Next to Impossible

These two post cards are also (like the previous two blog posts) Real Photo Cards printed by Byron Harmon. They look very similar to each other. Both are labelled by Mr. Harmon as "774. Mt. Chancellor." Both show a train coming out of a tunnel or around a corner with Mt. Chancellor in the background.







There are several differences, however. 1) The exposure is different - the bottom post card is overexposed;

2) The title of the post card is in a slightly different location - in the top one the 774 touches the train tracks;

3) The engines are different - the top one has a straight line across the front of the "cow catcher" while the bottom one has a curve in front of the boiler. This last difference is so stark that I wonder if Mr. Harmon wasn't experimenting with some sort of "photo-shopping" with this picture!!

You can see that the engine number on the post card is 5178. I found at this website: http://members.shaw.ca/cprsteam/p1.htm that this was a Mikado type of engine with a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement. It was built in 1912 by the Canadian Pacific Railway.

It was next to impossible to find any information about Mt. Chancellor. What I did find was that Mount Chancellor is a 8,826 feet tall. It is located between the towns of Field and Golden in British Columbia, Canada. It is the 515th highest mountain in British Columbia and the 1,105th highest mountain in Canada. - See more at: http://peakery.com/chancellor-peak-canada/#sthash.n5Ok9Ygg.dpuf

In trying to find information about Mt. Chancellor, I found many other copies of this post card out there for sale. The prices ranged from $2.99 to $5.99 USD.

World's Longest Railroad Tunnel (at the time)

I can tell you with great certainty that the picture on this post card was taken after December 16, 1916. I know that because the Connaught Tunnel was opened on that day. The tracks shown here belong to the Canadian Pacific Railway and they are not very far from the bridge in last week’s blog post. This picture was also taken by the photographer, Byron Harmon.

You will notice that there is a set of double tracks through the tunnel. This is because, according to Gary Backler’s graduate thesis: “The C.P.R.’S Capacity and Investment Strategy in Rogers Pass, B.C., 1882 – 1916” the reason the tunnel was built was to compete with other rail lines to gain the lion’s share of rail traffic and to accommodate the increasing demand on the rails that the CPR already operated between Vancouver and Calgary. According to his thesis, the number crunchers found the combination of elevation and length of tunnel to make the project financially feasible. I recommend that you read this article: http://www.okthepk.ca/dataCprSiding/articles/201111/month00.htm

It is named the Connaught Tunnel because it was named after the person who was the Governor General (the queen’s representative in Canada) at the time, the seventh child of Queen Victoria: Prince Arthur William Patric Albert, the Duke of Connaught (a county in Ireland). Construction on the tunnel was started on April 2, 1914 and completed on December 16, 1916. The tunnel is 5.022 miles long (the longest tunnel at the time of its completion) and 20 feet wide. The grade through the tunnel is a mere .95%. In building this tunnel through the mountain CPR was able to abandon fourteen and a half miles of track and thirty one snow sheds. It also saved countless lives of the workers who could have died clearing avalanches on that 14.5 miles of track in Rogers Pass.
I can tell you with great certainty that the picture on this post card was taken after December 16, 1916. I know that because the Connaught Tunnel was opened on that day. The tracks shown here belong to the Canadian Pacific Railway and they are not very far from the bridge in last week’s blog post. This picture was also taken by the photographer, Byron Harmon.

You will notice that there is a set of double tracks through the tunnel. This is because, according to Gary Backler’s graduate thesis: “The C.P.R.’S Capacity and Investment Strategy in Rogers Pass, B.C., 1882 – 1916” the reason the tunnel was built was to compete with other rail lines to gain the lion’s share of rail traffic and to accommodate the increasing demand on the rails that the CPR already operated between Vancouver and Calgary. According to his thesis, the number crunchers found the combination of elevation and length of tunnel to make the project financially feasible. I recommend that you read this article: http://www.okthepk.ca/dataCprSiding/articles/201111/month00.htm

It is named the Connaught Tunnel because it was named after the person who was the Governor General (the queen’s representative in Canada) at the time, the seventh child of Queen Victoria: Prince Arthur William Patric Albert, the Duke of Connaught (a county in Ireland). Construction on the tunnel was started on April 2, 1914 and completed on December 16, 1916. The tunnel is 5.022 miles long (the longest tunnel at the time of its completion) and 20 feet wide. The grade through the tunnel is a mere .95%. In building this tunnel through the mountain CPR was able to abandon fourteen and a half miles of track and thirty one snow sheds. It also saved countless lives of the workers who could have died clearing avalanches on that 14.5 miles of track in Rogers Pass.

Notice that Mr. Harmon was kind enough to tell us that the mountain in the background is Ross Peak. It was named after James Ross who was the superintendent of the construction efforts in the Selkirks. It is 7,647 feet tall.

World's Tallest Railroad Bridge (at the time)

You are looking at what was the tallest bridge in the world at the time this picture was taken. This is the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Stoney Creek Bridge, on the eastern side of Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, Canada.

It was built as part of the Continental Railroad promised to the citizens of British Columbia if they would vote to join the Canadian Federation. The present steel bridge is a 656 foot long truss arch bridge. In 1893 this bridge replaced a wooden trestle that was built in 1885. It stands 295 feet over Stoney Creek. In 1929 a second steel arch was added to handle the train traffic that had become heavier over the decades.

For almost 60 years, until 1988, this bridge handled all of the Canadian Pacific's transcontinental traffic. A second track was built at a lower altitude, so that now this bridge is designated to handle mostly eastbound rail traffic. The "Rocky Mountaineer" and the "Royal Canadian Pacific" tourist trains usually cross this bridge.

It was a great image for rail fan photographers for decades. However, some “graffiti artists” decided to decorate the bridge and vandalize the radio relay tower nearby. Fortunately, the relay tower was alarmed and they were caught. Unfortunately, because of its remoteness, rail fans are not welcomed and the engineers are asked to radio in any leads about any trespassers. One of my dreams that will not be fulfilled!

These two “real photo” post cards are the same image taken by the same photographer: Byron Harmon. He simply produced the image in two renderings. I know it is Byron Harmon because he has stamped the back of the larger post card with his well-known and trademarked stamp.

Harmon arrived in Alberta in 1903 as an itinerant photographer after leaving his portrait studio in Tacoma, Washington. By 1906 He had become a founding member and official photographer of the Alpine Club of Canada. He took over 6,400 photographs while exploring the Canadian Rockies and the Selkirks, where the picture on this post card was taken. In 1907 Harmon began turning many of these photographs into real photo postcards, which became his principal life’s work. In 1924 he traveled into the Rockies with the photographer Lewis R. Freeman. Some of the real photo postcards produced under Harmon’s name from this trip may actually be the work of Freeman that he published for him. After this trip Harmon mostly produced scenes alongside railway lines.

A Canadian in New Mexico? or Buyer Beware!

The Canadian referred to in the title of this blog post is the river. The bridge in this real photo post card was built by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad over the Canadian River near Logan, New Mexico.

Logan was "born" when the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad constructed this bridge. Eugene Logan was a well-known Texas Ranger who came to work on the bridge. Logan is located at 35°21′41″N 103°26′52″W The bridge was 145 feet above the river when this picture was taken. Today there is a dam upstream blocking the flow of the river to a gently dribble.

It is unclear why the river is called the Canadian. The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River. It is about 906 miles long. It starts in Colorado and travels through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma, where it joins the Arkansas River.

The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the US states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's initial basin starts in the Western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas River Valley, where the headwaters derive from the snowpack in the Collegiate Peaks.

A famous attraction on the Arkansas River is the Royal Gorge in Colorado. I have blogged about it in the past.

The reason the second half of the title says "Buyer Beware" is shown here.

Only the front of the post card was published on the website. I didn't ask about it before I purchased it. It was cheap, but I would have preferred to have known about how it was ripped from an album into which it had been glued. Someday I will experiment with removing the glue. The card is fairly worthless as it is.

This is a Real Photo Post Card.
In 1903 Kodak introduced the No. 3A Folding Pocket Kodak. The camera, designed for postcard-size film, allowed the general public to take photographs and have them printed on post card backs. They are usually the same size as standard vintage post cards. Kodak's 3A camera pioneered in its use of postcard-size film but was not the only one to make Real Photo postcards. Many other cameras were used, some of which used old-fashioned glass plates that required cropping the image to fit the postcard format.
After March 1, 1907 half of the back of a post card could be used for a message. This meant that the front of the post card could contain an image that covered the entire card. This made the Real Photo Post Card more popular.

Evidently someone thought it important to record a train traveling over the bridge at the Canadian River near Logan, New Mexico. The photographer of this post card did not use a Kodak camera. The asterisks that form the box where the stamp is to be placed tells us that it is not from a Kodak Camera. However, I cannot find what camera or process was used.

This Will Not Take Long

This post card is a pictures of people who have been working on the railroad somewhere in Canada. They have taken a convenient break to both pose for a picture and to let a steam engine through and, perhaps, to sing, "I've Been Working on the Railroad". It looks like it might be a real photo post card.

You now know everything that I know about the picture on the front of this post card.

The back tells us a little bit more. The back confirms what we thought about the front, that it might be a real photo post card.

In the box where the postage stamp belongs, the frame contains the word VELOX and there are four diamonds, one in each corner. VELOX is the first commercially successful type of paper that was used for real photo cards. It was invented by Leo Baekeland and sold to Eastman Kodak in the late 1800s. VELOX makes black-and-white images suitable for contact printing. The four diamonds tell us that particular VELOX paper was used between 1907 and 1914. This would also explain why it is a divided back era card, too.

Not only did he invent the VELOX paper, he also invented in 1907 the first inexpensive plastic that helped to develop the beginning of the modern plastics industry. It is called Bakelite. I remember learning how to perform several machining maneuvers in high school on Bakelite.

I have included a closer look at the postage stamp box as well as the fact that the card was “MADE IN CANADA”.

Real Photo Post Cards

Having Fun

These three post cards are pictures of people interacting with what looks like a car from a passenger train. In reality, they are all picture backgrounds and foregrounds to give the illusion that the person is at the train. They are souvenirs of their visit to Denver, Seattle and an unknown city in the form of a post card that they can mail to their loved ones back home.

The top left one is the brainchild of one H. Schwartz of Denver, Colorado. The sign says that it was taken at his Lakeside Park studio in Denver. He also had another studio at 320 17th Street in Denver.

The top right one refers to a train that goes from Seattle to Spokane in Washington State: the North Coast Limited. The North Coast Limited was a named passenger train started by the Northern Pacific Railway between Chicago and Seattle. It began operations on April 29, 1900 and made its final run as a Burlington Northern Railroad train on May 1, 1971.

The top post card, in the scan here to the lower right, is the back of the Schwartz card. On the left side of the card is the two addresses of his studios. In the corner where the stamp is placed it tells us that the paper used for the picture is of the PMO brand. PMO was used between 1907 and 1915. All four triangles in the corners are pointing up. I am not sure if this is similar to AZO paper symbols, but if it is, that means this card was printed between 1904 and 1918. If there is no correlation it is from between 1907 and 1915.

The middle card, from Seattle, is also printed on PMO paper. The top two triangles are pointing up and the bottom two are pointing down. Again, if there is a correlation between PMO and AZO papers, that puts the years of this post card between 1918 and 1930. But, PMO paper was only used between 1907 and 1915.

PMO belongs to the category of Chloride Prints - These silver chloride papers in a gelatin emulsion were much faster than traditional papers that required sunlight exposure. They became known as gaslight papers because of their ability to be exposed indoors under gaslight.

They produced a good tonal range with high detail. They were often toned a warm brown to avoid their natural red to purplish brown color. These papers were sold in heavy weights with preprinted backs for specifically creating real photo postcards. (from the Metropolitan Post Card Club of New York City website)

The third post card is printed on AZO paper. Again, from the Metropolitan Post Card Club of New York City website: Gelatin Prints – “These chloride papers were made with very small particles of silver suspended in a gelatin emulsion. They tend to be vulnerable to contamination and can easily deteriorate. They were much faster than collodion based papers and were able to be exposed indoors under gaslight lamps (gaslight paper), but they remained slow enough to be used only in contact printing. Its ease of use made it the most popular paper on the market for real photo postcards. They were manufactured with postcard backs.” This post card’s triangles tell us it was printed between 19048 and 1918.