Adding to the Intrigue of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railroad

There is definitely a picture of a train on the front of this post card. However, the caption on the back does not tell us the type of locomotive it is. When one looks more closely, one can think that the reason they do not tell us what kind of locomotive it is, is because it is drawn in. They have drawn in a 4-6-4 (Hudson) engine.

The fact that the tracks are on the north shore of the Columbia River tells me that, more than likely, it is on the line owned by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway Company. On March 23, 2022 I blogged about how this company came into being and how it made it into Oregon, against all odds. It is a good read; I like rooting for the underdogs. The back of the post card tells us that this picture is of the Cape Horn Palisades and the North Bank Railroad tunnel. The following information was taken from this website: http://columbiariverimages.com/Regions/Places/north_bank_road.html The Great Northern Railway and Northern Pacific Railroad, competitors in the transcontinental business, launched the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway in 1905 and built a line along the north side of the Columbia River. This line was known as "The North Bank Road", "The North Bank Railroad", "Columbia River Scenic Route", and "The Northwest’s Own Railway". The tracks were started in October 1905 and completed in February 1908, with a celebration being held on March 11th at Sheridan Point upstream of the Fort Rains Blockhouse location. On March 19th, regular passenger service between Vancouver and Pasco was begun. The journey took eight hours.

The post card was printed by our good friend, Curt Otto Teich. The code at the top of the card (A-55943) gives a hint that this may have been printed in 1917. The post card is from the White Border Era, so the year is a real possibility. This website: http://www.pdxhistory.com/html/post_card_history.html tells us about the publisher, Lipschuetz & Katz from Portland, Oregon. Oregon’s biggest event happened just as Post Cards began to boom in popularity. The Lewis & Clark Exposition opened in 1905 as Portland took center stage in its own World’s Fair. This event was single-handedly responsible for the production of 450 different post cards. Beautiful European-produced lithographs made up the bulk of these post cards. Also produced at the fair were leather, wood, copper and aluminum post cards. Several Portland post card publishers got their start at the Lewis & Clark Expo: B.B. Rich and D.M. Averill, as well as E.P. Charlton. Lipschuetz & Katz started publishing post cards in the years after the Expo.

Two Ten-Wheelers

Both of these locomotives are waiting for their departure times to arrive. They are at the North Freedom Depot at North Freedom, Wisconsin. Both trains will take passengers on a nine mile round-trip, through the rolling counryside of Sauk County Wisconsin. This is the first locomotive. The information about it was taken from this website: Western Coal & Coke #1 – https://www.midcontinent.org/equipment-roster/steam-locomotives/western-coal-coke-1/ WC&C #1 was built by the Montreal Locomotive Co. in Canada, in 1913, for coal hauling service at Beaver Mines, Alberta. WC&C later became Royalties Oil & Share Corp., and eventually merged with Lethbridge Collieries, Ltd., in 1935. The locomotive was last used in 1964 at Plyami, Alberta. It was purchased by a group of museum members and moved to North Freedom on two flatcars, arriving at the museum on October 30, 1965. At first glance, #1 would appear a rather simple design for a locomotive of the 1910’s. In fact, its blueprint can be traced back to a group of similar engines, albeit straight-boilered, built by the Pittsburgh Locomotive Works for various American roads as B&LE, Pittsburgh & Lake Erie, and Duluth Missabi & Northern in the late 1880’s. By the early 1900’s they became obsolete and many found their way to Canada via equipment dealers. The construction of the National Transcontinental Railway across Canada brought a need for low-speed workhorse locomotives to assist with construction. A group of about 15 engines were built by Montreal to the old Pittsburgh design. So successful they were, many copies were ordered by Canadian public and private railways, thereby saving on engineering/redesign costs. WC&C #1 is one such example. MCRM’s shop forces brought WC&C #1 back to life by 1970. She served as duty engine at the museum for many years during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1991, she received a new wooden cab. She is coal fired, weighs 55 tons in working order, and features a rare chain firedoor that challenges the scoop shovel skills of Mid-Continent firemen. WC&C #1 is presently out of service, and receiving a rebuild by the museum’s shop forces, including major repairs to the boiler shell and running gear. The information about the second locomotive was taken from this website: Warren & Ouachita Valley #1 - www.rgusrail.com The Warren & Ouachita Valley Railway Company was incorporated in 1899 and was controlled by the Arkansas Lumber Company (50%) and the Southern Lumber Company (50%). The line ran sixteen miles from a connection with the Iron Mountain in Warren to Banks, AR, where it connected with the Rock Island. It carried lumber for the parent companies from mills along the line, as well as providing passenger services. Built by Burnham, Williams & Company, an early incarnation of the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA, this Ten Wheeler (4-6-0) locomotive joined the roster in 1906 and was the only steam locomotive owned by the company.

The picture was taken by Jeff B. Haertlein and the post card was published by the operator of the two locomotives, Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society, Inc. in North Freedom, Wisconsin. It seems that Jeff was born in 1951 and at the writing of this post is still living in Freedom, WI.

They Just Keep Getting Bigger!!

Last week's featured locomotive had a 4-6-6-4 wheel arrangement. The Western Pacific Locomotive pictured on the front of this post card has graduated to a 2-8-8-2 wheel arrangement - also a Mallet locomotive. This one was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadephia, Pennsylvania in 1938. Just like last week, this locomotive in the picture was owned by Western Pacific Railway. The story of the railroad company is in the blog from two weeks ago so I will not repeat it here. When built, the 2-8-8-2s of the Western Pacific Railroad were among the most powerful steam locomotives in the world. They were not fast; but, they were powerful!! Just like last week, the post card was published by Bob Fremming.

Even Bigger than a Mountain!!

Just like last week's feature locomotive, this locomotive was built for the Western Pacific Railway by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) out of Schenectady, New York in 1938. But, as you can see, it is much larger

than last week's. The tractive effort of last week's locomotive was 40; this one is rated at 200. It is also a Mallet locomotive. You can see that there are two sets of cylinders driving the two sets of driving wheels. What happens is that the steam that is exhausted from the front cylinder makes its way into the second set of cylinders and drives the second set of drivers. This method of using the steam twice was invented by a French person with the surname of Mallet. This week the feature locomotive moved up from last week's 4-8-4 to this week's 4-6-6-4. Wait until next week!! This post card, too, was published by the elusive, Bob Fremming.

The Beginning of a Trend and the Continuing of a Trend

This the beginning of a trend in my blog publishing. The next three post cards are going to show the continuing trend in the Western Pacific Railroad to purchase larger and larger locomotives.

This is a photo of the Western Pacific Locomotive No. 173, built by American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, N. Y. in 1924. Its cylinders are 26 by 28 inches; it has 73 inch drivers and a tractive effort of 44. Like in most railroads, the locomotives became larger and larger as the technology and the load demand increased. This post card and the next two show some of the growth in the Western Pacific Railway's locomotive roster. The steam engine reached its zenith on the Western Pacific in 1938 with the delivery of four 2-8-8-2’s from Baldwin and seven 4-6-6-4’s from Alco. Of the 208 steam locomotives that had been on the rolls of the Western Pacific, all but thirty-one of them were delivered new. Of these 208 the railroad started business with in 1909, just over half that many, not considering engines used in construction which did not become a part of the regular roster. There were sixty five 2-8-0’s, numbers 1-65; thirty six 4-6-0’s, numbers 71-106 and twelve 0-6-0’s, numbers 151-162, all new machines, plus two second hand 4-6-0's acquired with the Alameda & San Joaquin Railroad, a total of 115 engines. The succeeding years saw the acquisition of the only 2-6-0, three more 4-6-0’s, one more 2-8-0 and four more 0-6-0’s to round out the smaller power. The first big power arrived in 1917 in the form of five 2-6-6-2’s. See https://www.wplives.com/about-wp/motivepower/steam.php for more details. This post card was published by Bob Fremming from Dallas, Wisconsin.

Still Picking Up Passengers Today

If you look carefully, you will see a passenger train crossing the river.

From what I could find on line, the train tracks in the picture on the front of this post card are owned today by CSX. Today, the Amtrak station is just to the northeast of the falls and Amtrak runs on the lines owned by CSX. The following information about Rochester and the falls in the picture is from Wikipedia: At Rochester, New York the Genesee River cuts through the Niagara Escarpment exposing limestones and shales of Silurian age in the rock column. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides hydroelectric power for downtown Rochester. If "not for hydropower, the flour mills, clothing mills, and tool fabricators would not have located in Rochester", and the 1825 Erie Canal allowed the mills to ship products to New York City. Believe it or not, the best information that I could find on the internet about the Upper Falls of the Genesee River in Rochester, New York was on “Trip Advisor”. Here are a few excerpts from what I found: This is a striking waterfalls, most impressive perhaps because it is located in a downtown area rather than in a natural setting like a forest or a glen. It is easily viewable from a parking lot, or from a foot bridge that passes over the river. You can also eat at the Genesee Brewery and have a spot on the balcony where you can admire the falls. This is a nice waterfall right in the middle of Downtown Rochester. It’s a great place to take a walk or to stop for pictures. They have nice informational boards about the history of the falls and surrounding area. To be able to see a waterfall in the middle of a city is unusual and breathtaking. There is a long bridge, Ponte de Rennes, to walk on to get a perfect view of the falls. There are plenty of benches throughout so you don't need to feel like you have to walk to the center right away if you have issues with long distance walking.

The post card was printed by Miller Art Co. That little blue coffee cup at the bottom-middle is their trademark. They published view-cards of the Northeast in halftone lithography. Many of their cards suffer from very crude retouch work. They issued better quality holiday cards and a large set of New York World’s Fair cards in 1939, many with decorative borders. They existed from 1922 to 1941 in Brooklyn, New York. They printed the card for Scrantom’s Incorporated in Rochester, New York. That is the name printed on the left of the card. Henry Scrantom and Lansing Wetmore founded the company in 1868 with a store at 10 State St. The business originally carried both men's names. The store moved around downtown before landing in the Powers Building at Main and State streets in 1889. A second store, which proved to be Scrantom's longest-lasting, opened at 334 E. Main St. in 1924. Scrantom's was one of Rochester's oldest businesses and the place to go for office supplies, gifts, books and stationery for more than a century. At its peak, Scrantom's operated 11 stores in the area and ran a wholesale-supply business throughout New York and parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and other states. The end came in the early 1990s. Scrantom's Book and Stationery Co. — which opened its first store in downtown Rochester just a few years after the Civil War — declared bankruptcy and closed up shop. The demise was blamed in part on a recent flood of big-box competitors, as described by Cliff Smith in a Times Union story from August 1992.

Following the Theme of the Last Two Posts

Just sit back and enjoy the picture on the front of this post card. The train on the front is also from the Southern Railway and the picture is, no doubt, from the North Carolina mountains.