Hello! Just like many of you, I have been kept sheltered in place for about 6 weeks inside my house. Fortunately, for me, I have been kept employed during this time, researching and writing on various topics as I would have for my job when at work. One of my tasks has been to take the large amount of print photographs in the possession of the National Park Service at Steamtown. Some of these are well known among Steamtown followers, while others might not have been seen since the day they were photographed. Here are a few that I have scanned to eventually become part of the archives.
Edwill H Brown took this photo of Canadian Pacific no. 1293, which was one of the 4-6-2s used in the later years of the Vermont operation of Steamtown USA. This is just outside of Bellows Falls, VT near the location where the collection was kept in Riverside.
Jim Shaughnessy took this one of the Delaware & Hudson Railway's 150th anniversary. A few special excursion trains were run on both this railroad and on the Erie Lackawanna for a few days in 1973. The lead locomotive in this train is Canadian Pacific no. 1278, disguised at D&H 653. Reading no. 2102, not part of the Steamtown collection, is in disguise as D&H 302.
Not all of the photos are black and white. Sadly, not all of them are credited to whomever took the photo. Fortunately, my scanner makes some auto color correction, so the reddish yellow and fading of different processing is not lost the way it would be if you looked at the prints. This appears to be one of the railfan weekends from 1978 or thereabouts with CP 1246 and CP1293 in the passenger colors of the Canadian Pacific. These two were only about 30 years old when they made this photo run in Vermont.
Carl H Sturner took this rather well-known image of the 1969 Eastbound leg of the Golden Spike Limited train departing the Kansas City Union Station on May 15, 1969. This was after the official centennial of the Golden Spike Ceremony led by the National Park Service at Promontory Summit, UT. The Union Pacific had a Centennial type diesel locomotive take the train from Ogden, UT to Kansas City, MO over the previous days or so. Nickel Plate Road no. 759 will lead the train to the east, where a blue painted GG1 will take the cars to New York City. I don't remember if the transfer to electric was in Washington, DC, Baltimore or Harrisburg. But the Penn Central hosted the return to New York, as it did, by using a New York Central motor leaving Grand Central Terminal a couple weeks earlier.
The photo formats are all over the place, too. This is possibly a 120 or 110 print of Nickel Plate Road no. 759 The date is October 28, 1973, but once again, no photographer mentioned.
Scott Whitney took this night scene of Reading no. 2124 in 1979 or so. She had not turned a wheel under her own power in 15 years by that time. Looking at the streaks of the steam engine right now, we notice that this same locomotive streaks in the same manner.
I will end this post with this photo of a steam star that made it to the current Steamtown in Scranton, and ran in Pennsylvania over the years. Canadian Pacific no. 2317, a larger 4-6-2 than the previous ones shown, is getting one of her first fires in Bellows Falls, VT. She had a very limited career in New England because she was a bit heavy for some of the track. But she was perfect for the mountain rails of Pennsylvania.
It's good to reach out to you folks again. I have not been out to railfan since mid-March, but I hope to be back trackside in a rather short amount of time. I hope that you are all doing well.
