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

Something is Fishy Here

The picture on the front of this post card was taken along the Green River

just a few miles northwest of the city of Green River in Wyoming. The Union Pacific Railroad tracks follow the river for a very short distance (maybe 4 or 5 kilometers), but just enough to get this gorgeous view of the river valley. This particular stretch of the tracks is called “Fish Cut”. This website gives some information about how to get there: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1595361,nodelay=1 Looks like the climb west of Green River to Peru. West of Green River on old Hwy 30 about 3 miles. This road parallels the tracks and is apparently a public road, Ive never been approached by UP police while on it. On the same road is access to the famous bridge over the Green where one can have a train and Castle Rock in the background in the frame. Cross the Green River and look up to your left to the tracks. Turn left on any dirt road that looks like it goes to the base of the hill below the tracks. Hike up to the tracks. Be aware that the cut has been changed from your postcard. The low side of the cut has been completely removed. These are the coordinates to Fish Cut: Latitude: 41.5477 Longitude: -109.5068 This web site gives you the story of why the length of track is called “Fish Cut”: www.jstor.org "Fish Cut" is called that because of the fossil fish from the Eocene (about 48 million years old) Green River Formation. When they made the cut, they discovered some of the best preserved and most abundant fossil fish. If you've seen the fossil of a fish that died eating another fish, it came from that formation (which covers most of Southwest Wyoming and parts of Utah)... along with the millions of fossil fish often seen at museum gift shops for surprisingly low prices. Interestingly, Como Bluff to the east has a similar story involving UP railroad workers discovering abundant fossils, but there it was dinosaurs. Como Bluff is the dig that kicked off the western states dinosaur hunts, started the "war" between Cope and Marsh, and provided a huge percentage of dinosaur fossils in museums around the world. It's now the haunt of one of the most well-known living paleontologists, Bob Bakker (the one on Discovery Channel with the beat up hat and scraggly beard). The post card was published by the Barkalow Brothers. You may notice that there are some darker lines on this side of the card. That is because the post card is embossed and those are signs of wear. It was posted in July of 1908. Here is the story of the Barkalow Brothers as taken from the website https://www.metropostcard.com

The Barkalow Brothers, Sidney D. Barkalow and Derrick V. Barkalow, arrived in Omaha from Ohio in 1856. BARKALOW BROS., news agents U. P. R. R., firm composed of D. V. and S. D. Barkalow, commenced business in 1865. D. V. B. of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, February, 1843. In 1856 he removed with his parents to Omaha, Neb. Learned printing and telegraphy, and about 1862 was engaged as operator on the overland telegraph line. He married in Cheyenne, W. T., May 24, 1876, to Miss Kate Whitehead. They have two children, Weltha M. and Robert V. Mr. B. is a member of the Pleasant Hours Club. S. D. Barkalow of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1844; removed to Omaha Neb., with his parents in 1856. At the age of fifteen years he commenced clerking, and at seventeen started in business for himself in book and stationery firm of Barkalow Bros. They became the exclusive distributors of printed materials, including postcards, for the Union Pacific Railroad. They won won their contract with the U.P. in 1865 and became the exclusive news agents on the trains and in the stations along the line. The Barkalow Brothers also published non railroad oriented view-cards that were often printed by Tom Jones. They have been known to cooperate with Williamson-Haffner Company in their publishing efforts. They eventually became suppliers of hotel gift shops and moved their business to Fort Myers, Florida. However, I have seen that on June 9, 1972, the Barkalow Brothers were suing a janitorial company for damages caused by a fire that the Barkalow Brothers say was the janitorial company. This office was in Omaha, Nebraska.

Three Related Post Cards (1 of 3)

Preface: I am still cataloging the post cards that came in the mail while I was blogging about my Pikes Peak post cards. I looked at this card and thought that, for some reason, I should look at the next one, too. I realized immediately that the pictures seemed to be related. When I turned them over I saw that they were both from the Barkalow Brothers Publishing Company. (It is nice to know I am learning something as I blog about these post cards.) But, I also noticed that the writing on the back looked very similar. Sure enough, both post cards are being sent to Miss Reba Van. I let my curiosity get the best of me and I picked up the third card on the stack. It, too, was written on the same journey, by the same author, to the same person. These next three blogs will show you the three cards. This is the first of the series. It was mailed while they were traveling through Wyoming.

This post card shows the "San Francisco Overland Limited" leaving Cheyenne, Wyoming; it doesn't specify in which direction the train is headed. Overland is the title given to the first wagon train trails that headed west. When the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads built the first transcontinental railroad, it only seemed natural that the name would also refer to the train tracks. There have been several variations on the name: Overland Limited, San Francisco Overland Limited, the Overland Flyer, the Overland Route being the most common. If it is leaving Wyoming with only one locomotive at the head, it must be headed to the flat plains of Nebraska.

Looking at the back of the card, I notice that it is from the Divided Back Era and the post mark confirms this. It was mailed on January 6, 1911. This is interesting because it was the first card written to Reba. The name of the location at the top left says Wyoming. On the next card it will say Nevada and the third card says they are in Sacramento, California. These post cards are also related to each other because they were all published by the Barkalow Brothers Publishing Co. I will write a bit about the company in the final of these three blog posts. The number of the card, found at the bottom middle of this back, is A-9092. You can wait to see what the other two cards are numbered. I will keep you hanging in anticipation.