Phil Hastings PRR photo from cab of Truk Train

Jaygee:

Page 87 of the Kalmbach Publishing book "Heart of the Pennsylvania Railroad".  The book was written by Robert McGonigal and published in 1996.

Curt

The picture appeared in Trains Sept 1956 issue, in an article titled "World's busiest mountain railroad", by DPM. It has been re-packaged and is now available in a new Kalmbach offering titled "Trains of the 1950's - Railroading's decade of change". The picture you inquired about is on page 105.

I didn't remember the photo in the Trains issue, but it doesn't matter 'cuz now I've misplaced the issue!   Anyone know if it's online anywhere?   Thanks!

Why not just purchase the latest "special" from Classic Trains Magazine, titled "Trains of the 1950s"?

...That's because this is the correct name for the article I mentioned for March '57.

Can't find my issue right now, but I don't remember this photo being in it.  I have since tracked down the Kalmback  PRR softcover mentioned above...Heart of the Pennsylvania Railroad.  There it is...although reproduced in a wide angle format compared to the version I remember.  A terrific photo, anyway you cut it, You have the best of the Penn all blasted out in front of you...can't imagine a better poster than this!  And by golly, if that doesn't look like Samuel "Ice Pick" Swedron on that GEEP!

The article was definetly not in the March 1957 Trains. There was a "Steam in Indian Summer" installment covering the Pennsy on Horseshoe Curve and commentary on the I1 2-10-0  being likened to a hippatomus, in that issue. It was my first Trains magazine purchase and remains one of my all-time favorites!

Might be April, then.  Hard to check....when yunz can't find it!  Whenever it was, it remains one of the all time best articles Trains ever floated !

so, again,,,,,what is wrong with purchasing the latest "Trains of the 1950s"? It has the photo you are looking for.

Read the thread!  It's already been located in the Kalmbach PRR book, altho there are different versions in print, IIRC.  

Okay, jaygee . . . you have captured my interest.  Do you know how Brother Swedron acquired the Ice Pick moniker?

I have seen this famous photo elsewhere, cropped differently, and blown up... so that the crewman in question is a lot more recognizable.  I believe this chap was actually a brakie at this point in his career.  Never met him, but the descriptions I've heard make this an almost sure thing.  Many railroaders acquire rather colorful handles over the years; I once met Billy "The Kid" Vom Hofe, off the Big Four, and knew "Flippin' "Morris... the EL Towerman at Summit, NJ, on weekends.  The Ice Pick moniker may have come from his hard-nosed nature, or his being tall and thin, or maybe both.  I believe I know his daughter, and she matches that description too.

If I get to feeling really frisky, There is a vignette involving this guy and some others on the PGH. Div. in 1957,  which I could do as a separate thread.    It's pretty decent stuff   !  FWIW, nobody around here locally has the CT issue for sale, must be some hot chooch or ?????

HuzzaH !!!!   Found the missing issue....and probably the source of the controversy . Yes, the date of the Trains Mag. PRR Busiest Mountain Railroad is April - '57.  There is a photo in it that people might think I was referring to.  It shows exactly what I described, and yet is NOT the photo in question.   Could only happen on the Penn! Now I gotta ask: which photo appears in the Kalmbach CT  article???  The one shows ol' "Ice Pick" and the other, no crewmen at all.  One thing for sure...Penn in the '50s, was a Dieselover's paradise!  Even those Big Jays are honorary Diesels!