Summer 2000

Volume 20 Number 3

A Quarterly Publication of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Inc.

Newsletter Notes

During the summers while the young Mr. Hauck was at his cabin on Mullet Lake, I was camping with my family in northern Michigan. We camped in style as my father, Albert, built our second house trailer during the winter of 1934-35. He was a cabinet maker, so the trailer had all of the built-ins: a full length closet, a table that made into a bed, a lounge/bed, overhead and underseat storage bins, ice box and galley. When we camped at Fife Lake State Park during the summer of 1935, several people measured it and the following year three trailer companies came into being. That was the start the camping trailer/mobile home industry. Our 1933 Plymouth easily hauled it. I’m the five-year-old and brother Bob is 13 in this 1936 photo taken at Peacock, MI. Those were the days!

I’m the Quadruplex (issue 20-2) April Fool’s fiction writer, but Bill Withuhn, Bob LeMassena, and the Allen County Historical Society were all for it. Two hints were: no dates given, and the illustration on the bottom of page 10. These illustrations are letters in fonts produced by Benn Coifman <http://www.RailFonts.com>, and I inserted two additional parts into a 4-6+6-4. We hope you liked it.

D&RGW #804, shown on the cover of issue 20-2, was a 4-6-2, not a 4-8-2. Bob LeMassena does know his engines. As editor, I get to make the mistakes in writing my own captions.

If you have first hand information you think should appear in the Newsletter, please send it on to me. If I don’t know about it, I can’t publish it. Thanks.

COVER PHOTO: Pere Marquette class MK-1 #1018 with train #101 crosses 1170 foot long High Bridge over the Manistee River north of Baldwin, Michigan, in September 1943. The Resort Special crossed this bridge during the night. The PM had no 4-8-2 or 4-8-4 engines, so some of the 2-8-2 Mikados in the series 1012-1018 had steam heat and train signal lines for moving heavy passenger trains such as The Resort Special, C&O’s Sportsman and troop trains during WWII. Official PM/C&O Railway photo, C&O Historical Society collection CSPR 1527 BN.

R&LHS Newsletter
Copyright © 2001 R&LHS
Published by
The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Inc.

Editor/Publisher
Clifford J. Vander Yacht
2363 Lourdes Drive West
Jacksonville FL 32210-3410
<CliffVDY@JUNO.COM>

Assistant Editors
Vernon J. Glover 
[invalid address]

WebMaster
Adrian Ettlinger

R&LHS MEMBER SERVICES
Membership Matters

Membership applications, change of address and other membership status inquiries should be sent to R&LHS Membership, William H. Lugg, Jr., PO Box 292927, Sacramento CA 95829-2927.

Trading Post

Society members may use, without charge, the Trading Post section of the quarterly Newsletter and the R&LHS WebSite to advertise items they wish to sell, trade or acquire or to seek information from other readers. This service is intended for personal, not general commercial, use. All items should be sent to Clifford J. Vander Yacht, see address at left.

Locomotive Rosters & Records of Builder’s Construction Numbers

The Society has locomotive rosters for many roads and records of steam locomotive construction numbers for most builders. Copies are available to members at twenty five cents per page ($5.00 minimum) from R&LHS Archives Services, see address below. A list of available rosters may be obtained for $2.00.

Back Issues of Railroad History

Many issues of Railroad History since No. 132 are available at $7.50 per copy.

For information on the availability of specific issues and volume discounts, write R&LHS Archives Services, see address below.

Articles from the Bulletin & Railroad History

Copies of back issues of these publications of the Society are available to members at twenty cents per page ($5.00 minimum) from R&LHS Archives Services, see address below.

Research Inquiries

Source materials printed, manuscript and graphic are included in the Society’s Archives. Inquiries concerning these materials should be addressed to R&LHS Archives Services, R&LHS Archives Services, PO Box 600544, Jacksonville, Florida 32260-0544. To help expedite our response, please indicate a daytime telephone number where you can normally be reached.

[Note: MilePost 1 and James L. Larson addresses no longer apply.]

The story about the Pennsylvania’s Northern Arrow summer luxury flyer to northern Michigan elicited a surprising number of comments from members — surprising to both our editor and myself, because we really were not sure it would be of great interest to most readers, except for the novelty of the 2-10-2 power. But since there are other stories about the train lurking out there, beyond the straight history of the operation, we thought a few added notes might be of interest.

Our own passenger-train expert, Arthur Dubin, supplied the Pullman car assignments for the train for both the 1953 and 1954 seasons. By then the bulk of the traffic was from Cincinnati, and four were assigned to the Cincinnati-Mackinaw City route: one 10 section, Drawing Room, 2 compartment car (the Lake Arthur in 1953, Lake Auburn in 1954), one 10 roomette 5 Bedroom (Cascade Trail, Cascade Range), one 4 Bedroom 4 Compartment 2 Drawing Room (Imperial Terrace, Imperial Crest), and a 6 Bedroom-lounge (Cypress Falls) in 1953 and a 3 Bedroom 1 Drawing Room-lounge car (Colonial Congress) in 1954. One sleeper came from St. Louis — an 8 section 3 Bedroom 1 Drawing Room car (Bell Tower) in 1953 and a 10 Roomette 6 Bedroom (Raccoon Rapids) in 1954. Chicago still warranted two cars: one 10 Roomette 5 Bedroom (Cascade Bend, Cascade Ravine) and one 8 section 3 Bedroom 1 Drawing Room (Lake Constance, and the Bell Tower from St. Louis’s 1953 consist).

Add to this a baggage-smoker and a coach, a diner and — most important — a bar-lounge, and you have a standard consist of eleven cars. For the most popular Friday-up, Sunday-down schedule in midsummer, an additional sleeper or two was added to handle heavier traffic, as twelve or thirteen cars was not unusual. The practice of years gone by of cutting out sleepers going to the Traverse City branch and the Harbor Springs stub had long since been discontinued.

The bar car was an essential and well patronized feature of the train, especially on the northbound trip. After a stressful week in the office or plant, the gentleman resorter was ready to relax or be relaxed on the way north for a summer weekend with his family. The train became part of

the summer vacation season, a link between city home and summer home. Member William Foster (now a retired Conrail General Superintendent, living in Delaware) grew up in Lockland, a Cincinnati suburb, and recalled going to Harbor Springs in 1939 (when the stub train from Petoskey ran around the bay) while in College, to take a summer job at the Harbor Point Clubhouse. Getting on the train at the suburban station of Winton Place, he discovered a huge crate being loaded in the baggage compartment, containing a “massive, beautiful, St. Bernard dog” owned by a prominent local family. The baggageman told young Foster that the St. Bernard was a regular traveller and had “summered” in northern Michigan

for many years, apparently enjoying his regular trips on the Northern Arrow.

As time went on, the train’s perambulations did not always go smoothly. Sometimes the irregularities were more humorous than serious. On one trip about 1956, Janet and I were taking our young children up to visit my parents at Mullet Lake, east of Petoskey. John, our oldest (and a budding railfan), happily hopped up in the upper berth of our one Drawing Room; daughter Amy was just three and Tom just barely a toddler, so they were both bedded down on the couch-bed along the side of the room — leaving the lower for mom and dad — cozy, but it worked. After the children were all set, we repaired to the lounge car to settle our nerves and relax. Suddenly the Pullman porter rushed into the car in a high state of excitement, gesturing animatedly and exhorting us to “come quickly” to our Pullman as something had happened to the “little boy”. We rushed back to the car to find both conductors, a brakeman, and several other porters standing around our Drawing Room - and John sitting on the lower berth. Then we heard the story. When making up our berths, the porter was interrupted as he was making up the upper, and failed to finally fasten down the rods that hold the upper in place. At the first big bump (of many) the upper simply folded back up — with little 5-year-old John inside. John then found the porter call-bell, pushed it, and shortly the porter went into the state of shock we witnessed in the lounge car. Everyone in the gathering around the Drawing Room agreed that they had

never experienced or even heard of any such catastrophe before, and it would probably never happen again. But the upper was then fixed properly, and John, unfazed, got back up in it and slept soundly.

Some of the inadvertencies were less humorous. One Sunday night my late brother-in-law was returning to Cincinnati, and his progress was abruptly terminated about 40 miles south of Petoskey when the diesel locomotive (progress had come to the Arrow) ceased to function. A careful examination revealed that no one had thought to refuel the locomotive after the northbound trip, a duty for which the Michigan Central roundhouse crew was responsible. The Michigan Central used the same facilities and still operated daily freight and passenger service, so they had been recruited by the Pennsylvania to handle what little Pennsy business there was at Mackinaw [City]. As the nearest source of burnable fuel was many miles away at Traverse City or Cadillac, there was a long wait for the rescue truck, and brother-in-law Albert barely made it to Cincinnati for lunch.

I didn’t even do that well one trip — my early morning arrival stretched out to dinner-time. Janet dropped me at the Petoskey depot before seven, in plenty of time. But as a cluster of would-be patrons gathered, the agent came out and announced that there would be an indefinite delay in the arrival of the train, from its Mackinaw starting point 35 miles away. It seems that, in turning the train, they had managed to derail one of the Pullmans in the yards, and

 had elected to cut that Pullman out of the train and reassemble the train, with the help of the Michigan Central engine and switch crew. Eventually the agent gave the cheery news that “it’s coming.” But it didn’t. They got as far as the first stop, a little place called Pellston. After the station stop the train started to move away when BLAM the emergency brakes go on. Screeching halt. Bang. After a consultation, in which the engineer said “we ain’t going nowhere until we find what did this” (or some such), the entire Michigan Central roundhouse and yard crews were brought down in taxis. They went to work on the assumption that some other unnoticed damage must’ve to one of the cars’ brake equipment in the derailing - so


1935 schedule for the Northern Arrow. Collection of the author.

Part of Pere Marquette Time Table dated July 20,1930, shows the schedule of The Resort Special that year. Collection of C. Vander Yacht.

they carefully and laboriously uncoupled and tested each car (of twelve or thirteen) for the expected defect — and found none. Deciding that it must have been a freak occurrence, the engineer agreed to start out anew — and got about a hundred yards and B-L-A-M all over again. Once again the engineer says “we ain’t going nowhere” and meant it.
So the puzzled assembled Michigan Central experts were at a loss — until one bright fellow thought to check the diesel. After some poking around, he discovered that the air brake controller in the cab was defective! Since this was the only Pennsylvania locomotive north of Grand Rapids on a Sunday night, the situation would have been desperate — except that he also noted it was an A-A double unit, and he found that the control in the cab in back worked just fine. The decision was then made to cut off the engine, and run it slowly from the rear cab down to Walloon Lake, about 25 miles, where there was a wye and the engine could be turned — so it could be run from the “good” cab. As it was already about two in the morning when this decision was made, the Petoskey agent took pity on the tired, cold would-be passengers and called a clutch of taxicabs to take us all up to the parked train and our sleepers — all except for mine. I found upon arrival at Pellston that MY Pullman was still laying in the yards at Mackinaw, derailed. When the confusion receded the conductor found me an upper, I got to sleep, and we cleared Petoskey around 4 AM — about 9 hours late, which somehow made us 10 hours late into Cincinnati.
You would think that that would be enough to stomach from the Pennsy on one trip — but not quite. There was the stomach aspect. The diner had been provisioned for just a light breakfast trade, and by the time we latebirds got up it was cleaned — nothing left. Nothing appeared at Grand Rapids. Starvation was imminent at Ft. Wayne and several of us attempted to take the conductor hostage so we could safely go into the depot beanery and eat, but that good brotherhood man insisted that the great Pennsylvania “standard of the world” railroad would take care of us and that, as he spoke, provisions were being put aboard. Technically he was right; I got a very small warm tuna fish sandwich somewhere near Richmond.
Despite everything (and the desires of Pennsylvania management) the Northern Arrow managed to operate, weekends only, into the sixties, making its final run on September 4, 1961. The service once had vigorous competition and pretty well outlived that. The Pere Marquette had a very popular summer train for decades, called the Resort Special, a deluxe flyer from Chicago via

 Grand Rapids to Traverse City, Charlevoix and Petoskey. For many years it also had a Detroit section; sometimes it ran from Detroit to Grand Rapids, but at one time it ran from Toledo and Detroit (with Pullmans from both cities) via Saginaw and the Ludington line as far as Baldwin (half way between Grand Rapids and Traverse City). And from the 1880s the Michigan Central ran year-round service from Detroit and Bay City to Grayling, Gaylord, Cheboygan and Mackinaw City. In the thirties there was a day train to Mackinaw with a cafe-parlor car, and a night train with sleepers to Mackinaw and through, via the Duluth South Shore & Atlantic, to Sault Ste. Marie. Postwar, the MC continued with the night train, heavily travelled, and then surprised everyone by putting on a new resort train — the Timberliner — going north on Fridays (leaving Detroit at 5 PM, arriving in Mackinaw at 12:30 AM) and down Sunday evenings. Designed to serve the growing vacation areas between Bay City and Cheboygan, the service was very popular, lasting into the sixties — lasting longer than the night train, which was replaced by an extension of the Detroit-Bay City day train and then operated with a Beeliner — a Budd car.

Now all of these trains are gone, and even the railroads that operated them have disappeared from the scene — “fallen flags” all — and there are not even any tracks in Mackinaw City.

Model railroaders will recognize this delightful 4-6-0 as being from the Great Undecorated Railroad. Who does #1900 really belong to?

Mystery Photo

I nominate Northwestern Pacific 4-4-0 #22, ALCO 1908, as the subject for your picture on page 7 of Newsletter 20-2. In later years it was modified with a smaller pilot, train number indicators flanking the stack and the headlight moved down onto the smokebox front but not centered. The countryside certainly fits the NWP mold!

— Joe Strapac

Lake at E’ham
by Prof. William H. Wallace

There are topographic maps showing Effingham, Illinois; Earlham, Iowa; Effingham, Kansas; Eastham, Massachusetts; and Effingham, South Carolina. Among these, only Effingham, Illinois; and Eastham, Massachusetts, has a lake adjacent to the railroad. I thought the photo was taken in Eastham, Massachusetts, because the line of the New Haven runs next to Depot Pond in that town on Cape Cod. The G-1 class 4-6-O is a good match for the engine in the photograph. By 1901, these engines, originally Vauclain compounds with 69" driving wheels, had been rebuilt to simple with 63" drivers and appear to fit the picture.

There are two locations there which could match both the size of the lake and the railroad grade in relation to the lake. The lake here was divided by the railroad and the shadows would make the train heading southward late in the afternoon. [Editor’s note: This was the cover subject of the Winter 1999 issue 19-1. We now agree].

What Happened?
Cover photos of Winter 2000 20-1

Just what kind of wreck was this? It happened on the Rio Grande/Santa Fe “Joint Line” south of Denver, near Castle Rock, sometime around 1930. The tender of the Rio Grande 1916 Brooks 2-10-2 #1405 has been jammed up against the cab and derailed, and the crew of the following Santa Fe 2-10-2 seem both puzzled and resigned about what to do about it. But what happened?

Editor’s note: The above was the question raised by Cornelius “Corny” Hauck. He had three suggestions and William S. Young had another. Both assumed that the engines collided by accident and possibly were coupled together when the event happened. Robert LeMassena thinks otherwise in that the collision was done on purpose to stop a runaway engine. In any case, I’m sure the men already knew what happened and are now waiting on the brass.
 

Author’s note: Because a search of ICC accident reports on file at the University of Denver did not yield an official report, the details of this incident have been deduced from the evidence in the two photos plus data obtained from general sources.

On the evening of June 21, 1925, sometime after the Santa Fe’s Denver Express had departed Pueblo for Denver about 6 PM, D&RGW 2-10-2 No. 1405, hauling a heavy coal train, clattered through the RG/SF crossover at Bragdon and commenced its slow journey to Denver. The 106 mile trip ending at Burnham yard would consume most of the time between the departure of the AT&SF passenger train at Bragdon and the arrival of the Colorado & Southern’s Denver Express at South Denver Junction crossover scheduled for 6:45 AM.

After the engineer had brought the train to a standstill with the engine close to the ladder track switch at the northern end of the yard, the head end brakeman pulled the coupler pin and turned the angle cock handle at the rear of the tender. But the angle cock was not completely closed and air began to leak from the brake line when the hostler moved the engine away from the cars. The engineer warned the hostler that throttle wouldn’t close tightly and suggested taking the engine down the track east of the roundhouse to reach the roundhouse track instead of taking it past the west side of the roundhouse to the servicing tracks. Then they would talk with the roundhouse foreman to see what should be done. Close to the yard office the hostler closed the throttle, put the power reverse in mid gear position, applied the engine and tender brakes, shut off the steam supply to the air compressor, and moved the independent brake handle to lap position, thereby keeping the brakes applied.

It was decided to leave the 1405 there until the hosteler had taken one of the 1500 series 4-8-2s to Union Station for the southbound Scenic Limited and had returned with the engine from Train No. 16, which had just arrived from Pueblo.

When the hostler returned about 9:30 AM, the roundhouse foreman told him to take the engine into the roundhouse where the throttle could be repaired. Back on the 1405, he moved the reversing lever to full reverse position noting that the cylinder’s motion was very luggish. Then he released the brakes, and the engines began to

move toward the southern end of the yard where the roundhouse switch was located. After going over the switch, the hosteler tried to put the valve gear in forward motion but nothing moved. A glance at the air pressure gauge told him what was wrong: zero air pressure. The incompletely closed angle cock had drained the air reservoirs because the compressor had been shut off. As the ponderous locomotive began to gain speed the hosteler remained with it blowing the whistle for the two grade crossings, then he jumped off and ran back to the switchmen’s shanty where he called the dispatcher to tell him of an impending disaster.

Fortunately, the Santa Fe’s southbound (9:15 AM) and northbound (9:45 AM) passenger trains had gone by South Denver Junction, and no other passenger trains were due there for a couple of hours. Therefore, the dispatcher decided to send the runaway locomotive over the southward (D&RGW) track. Between the junction and Englewood, the speed was estimated at 15 mph and there was no place where it could be safely stopped or derailed at a siding. The question now was, “How far would it go before running out of steam?” Palmer Lake appeared to be the only suitable location where the errant engine could be halted with minimal damage or disruption of traffic.

South of Wolhurst, the combination of diminishing boiler pressure and increasing gradient caused the engine’s speed to fall to perhaps 10 mph, and at Louviers, where the gradient became 1.2%, the speed may have been only 5 mph. This lower speed provided a better opportunity to halt the 1405 on Rio Grande rails. The dispatcher instructed the operator at Sedalia to align the crossover so that the locomotive would be running southward on the northward track, and it could be diverted onto the wye at Castle Rock. Meanwhile, a northbound Santa Fe freight train pulled by a 3750 class 2-10-2 had passed through Palmer Lake and was commencing its descent toward Denver. The dispatcher issued an order for it to pull into the siding at Castle Rock so that it was clear of the main line and the lead to the wye. This was about 11:00 AM. About half an hour later the 1405 could be seen ambling along at three or four mph, a pace which allowed the uncontrolled monster to be stopped without much damage, a deliberate collision.

The switches were aligned for the siding occupied by the Santa Fe freight train, and the 1405 finally came to a crunching halt. This lifted its almost empty tender off of its trucks. Lengths of cordwood were jammed behind the engine’s rearmost driving wheels to prevent any further movement, and the left side boiler blowoff cock was opened to reduce the boiler pressure. At about 11:45 AM, a photographer summoned from Littleton took the right side photo showing the cab damage and the positions of the in dependent brake handle and the power reverse

mechanism. Perhaps half an hour later he took the left side photo. The AT&SF engine was not damaged; so it could back its train onto the mainline and complete its trip to Denver.

Probably the most important consequence of this incident was the D&RGW’s alarming realization that the water brake installed on all of its locomotives was useless if the engine’s air supply should fail.

The lack of air meant that the power reverse mechanism could not be operated to change the valve to the opposite motion setting, crucial for the functioning of the water brake. At this time the Rio Grande was working with American Locomotive Company on the design of a powerful three cylinder 4-8-2 for passenger service to be delivered in the early summer of 1926. Its manually controlled, air actuated, power reverse mechanism was replaced by one having manual operation with air assist. Thus the engineer could change the valve gear setting even if the air supply had failed. Engineers did not like the rotary handwheel; so the railroad’s personnel devised a steam backup arrangement for the lever controlled reversing mechanism. This pipe and valve having a figure eight handle was soon applied to all Rio Grande engines equipped with power reversing cylinders. Incidentally, it took the ICC twenty years to issue an order requiring steam locomotives to be equipped with an auxiliary air reservoir and check valve for the power reverse cylinder. And that was three years after a DM&IR 2-8+8-4 had lost its air and ran away on the Denver & Salt Lake west of Denver.

NOTES

The date was after the August 1924 renumbering and relettering of the 1405, and prior to the arrival of the three cylinder 4-8-2s in May 1926. The tracks at Castle Rock are aligned exactly North and South, hence the shadows show that the right side photo was taken just before noon and the left side just after. The shortness of the mens’ shadows show that the sun was near its maximum elevation, a week or two before or after June 21st.

The photos show the independent brake handle in release position, the power reverse is in full backward position, the last two drivers were blocked with cordwood, and steam is emerging from the blowoff valve. These items indicate there was no air in the reservoirs, that the air compressor had been shut off and that the locomotive had been running backward because its throttle was leaking steam.

The tender was almost empty and the engine was headed northward, hence it had arrive at Burnham after an overnight trip from Pueblo and had not been serviced at Burnham.
 

Learnin’ Telegraphy
by Dr. James R. Brown

The Cincinnati Northern was a two hundred eight mile railroad running down the western side of Ohio from Jackson, Michigan, to Carlisle Junction where it joined the Big Four’s main line into Sharonville yards in Cincinnati. It was a single track, manual block road and had a division point at Van Wert, Ohio.

As a wet behind the ears, sixteen year old, it was exciting when I passed the tests and became an apprentice telegrapher in the summer of 1945. My being considered was in no small part due to the fact that my Dad was a car knocker at the Van Wert Yard. Railroading always was a family affair.

I was assigned to the first trick operator at the yard, and quickly began my learning experience. Sweeping the floor, emptying the trash baskets, washing the windows, sharpening pencils, arranging the forms and polishing the stove, all were a part of the training. It was some weeks later that I was allowed in the telegrapher’s cubicle, and then only to dust the desktop.

The yards were busy with two locals and two scheduled freights in each direction as well as numerous extras. I was allowed to act as yard clerk and break down the consists, and card the cars for switching. The two mile walks certainly kept me in fine shape.

I began to figure it out. I was doing all the grunt work and running myself ragged, while the operator, as he was called, sat with his feet on the desk and directed my efforts. I finally confronted him and said that I was an expert in yard work, now when would I learn telegraphy? He consented to write down the code for me and told me to memorize it. Later, I found this was a big mistake, for I would listen to the sounder and try to equate the sound to the written dots, dashes and pauses, and then to the letters. The best way was sound directly to letters. The following half hour sessions were brutal. I felt like a dunce and I suppose I acted like one as well. There was a tobacco can placed in the sounder, and I was told that they used Union Leader cans only on first trick as they wouldn’t work on second, and that a Prince Albert can was used when you wanted to listen in German.

I did learn the code and was allowed to sit, on occasion, at the desk and handle train orders and OS trains. I even had my own signature. As the summer progressed, I would spend more time in the office handling trains, while the operator slept in the rear of his car. I knew about Rule “G”, but was smart enough not to mention it to my

teacher.

When summer drew to a close, and I was preparing to go off to college, someone had a talk with someone, and magically, I was promoted to telegrapher/operator and placed on the seniority list. At the bottom.

I was to find out this is life’s lesson. You start at the bottom and work your way to the top, only to find yourself at the bottom of another ladder and again, have to work your way to the top. In High school I was a big senior, and in college I was a lowly freshman again. Fortunately for me, I had a few friends.

The Assistant Chief Dispatcher had been working as a dispatcher when I was apprenticing, and he knew I was going to college, so he set it up for me to work second or third shift as a boomer operator, while I was in college. My seniority carried over on the Big Four as well, so I was able to work the entire system, as long as I could get to the job and back in time for class.

Between what my folks could spare, and the help of a friendly, understanding Assistant Chief Dispatcher, I was able to complete college. As Wittenberg was in Springfield, I worked out of there for 4 years, more or less. Anywhere a motorcycle could take me unless it rained or snowed.

If you have been searching for relatively recent photographs of railroad depots near major metropolitan areas, your search is over. Among the treasure trove of records relating to railroad history at the National Archives are the Rail Accessibility Study Photographs, dating 1979, which are in the custody of the Still Pictures Reference Team, Special Media Archives Services Division, at the National Archives at College Park, in College Park, Maryland. These photographs are in the records of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, Department of Transportation (Record Group 408).

The 3,500 images in this series consist of photographs of commuter train and light rail stations taken for the Department of Transportation study entitled “DOT 321B Rail Retrofit Evaluation of Light and Commuter Rail Stations.” This 439-page report is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service. This study was undertaken to carry out section 321B of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1978 that directed the DOT Secretary to evaluate light and commuter rail modes to determine ways to make them accessible to and usable by handicapped persons. The objectives of the study were to develop estimates of all costs, develop solutions, and estimate transportation demands for accessible commuter and light rail services and the resultant benefits of such services to handicapped persons.

The photographs include images of trolleys, trains, streetcars, buses, interiors of stations showing commuters, ticket windows, restrooms, waiting areas, stairs, exits, walkways, parking facilities, and train wrecks. Some of the major cities covered include Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington DC, New York. Newark NJ, Pittsburgh, Providence, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Transportation systems not included in the collection are St. Charles Streetcar Line (New Orleans), Washington Boulevard Streetcar Line (Detroit), San Francisco Cable Cars, non-UMTA subsidized rail systems, already accessible rapid rail transit systems, and AMTRAK and commuter rail joint use stations.

The collection is divided into duplicate slides, 3" x 5" black and white prints, and negatives. The prints are arranged at random by geographic region, then by transit system and line, and are housed in 15 photograph boxes.

There is a box list and a folder of electrostatic copies available. Access to the Rail Accessibility Study Photographs (408-S) can be gained by contacting the Still Pictures Reference Team, Special Media Archives Services Division, National Archives at College Park,

Several photographs of the Brunswick, Maryland, station on the B&O line (408-5-4) #1, #8 & #10.

8601 Adelphi Road, College Park MD 20740, telephone (301) 713-6625, extension 234. Copies of the photographs or slides can be ordered from this unit or they can be viewed in the Still Pictures research room at the National Archives at College Park. For further details concerning these photographs, please search under commuter rail photographs on the National Archives Information Locator which is located on the WEB on the National Archives Home Page at <http://www.nara.gov>.

Editor’s note: David A. Pfeiffer is an archivist with the Civilian Records Staff, Textual Archives Services Division of the National Archives at College Park. He is a specialist in transportation and particularly railroad records in the National Archives. Mr. Pfeiffer is a member of the R&LHS. Another member of the Society, Jeffrey G. Mora of the Federal Transit Administration, US Department of Transportation, was instrumental in getting this collection of photographs placed at the National Archives.

Snapshots of the area around the Poughkeepsie, New York, station of the Metro North Railroad, Hudson Line (408-5-17-NY) #40-2. & #40-14.

Call for Papers
Second International “Early Railways” Conference

The second ‘Early Railways’ Conference will be held in Manchester at the Museum of Science & Industry between September 7th and 9th 2001. This follows the successful first conference held at Durham University in September 1998, the papers from which are now in the final stages of publication.

Researchers into the history of early railways (defined as being pre-mainline in concept but not necessarily in date), who expect to be in a position to present their findings in 2001, are invited to inform the Conference Editorial Panel at the earliest opportunity, and to submit a 300 word synopsis of their paper for consideration by the end of this year.

Full papers, short papers and brief reports on any relevant topic will be considered. Likely session themes will include comparison of alternative modes for mineral haulage, progress in transport networking through “portage” railways, the use of railways underground and technology transfer in the engineering of early railways.

Proposals should be sent to:
M. J. T. Lewis
60, Hardwick Street
HULL, HU5 3PJ, England
<michael@lew.karoo.co.uk>

Conference Committee: Institute of Railway Studies (University of York National Railway Museum), The Newcomen Society (for the Study of the History of Engineering and Technology), The North of England Open Air Museum (Beamish) and The Locomotion Trust.

A road foreman of engines on any railroad is a special sort of person. As well as being a superb locomotive engineer he has to be a leader, a judge, a psychologist, an arbitrator, someone impervious to weather, an alert night worker, a computer operator in both his office, and his engines, a digester of massive amounts of printed rules, an A-one telephone conversationalist, a public relations expert, an organizer, a locomotive mechanical genius, a maker of instant decisions, and a person familiar with all the engines and track in all the subdivisions of his division. For the old Southern Pacific, to name only one railroad, he had to have a college degree.

This man often lives out of a suitcase. If he keeps his marriage together, it will be only with an overwhelming dose of good luck, the blessing of the Almighty, or what he might consider both.

Over the past several years I’ve spent many an hour in the offices of several road foremen. But they don’t keep office hours for very many days in a row. For weeks at a time they might be off somewhere in the outposts of a division covering hundreds of square miles in the Southwest, orting out delays caused by maintenance-of-

way operations, reroutings, misroutings, terminal and yard backups, wrecks, and breakdowns of all kinds.
Let’s revisit one sample quarter-hour in a road foreman’s office, the door to which remains open unless he is in conference with someone. A young thirty-something engineer quickly enters in an agitated state holding up a page in a freshly printed rule book on which a mistake has been made:

I don’t care what it says here, it just can’t be done. I cannot go 20 miles an hour through this intersection, then speed up to 40 and reduce again to 20 through the next intersection. These intersections are much too close together. For sure I’ll going just about 40 through the second one. Right here --- you see? It just can’t be done. And they’re watching me. If they see me still going 40 they’ll knock my knees in and I’m finished. They’re watching all these intersections.
Yes, it’s obviously a mistake,
And if I’m too slow in between they’ll be watching,
What you do is simply continue at 20 all along through both intersections,
“Why do they print things like that? [He probably thinks it is a deliberate trick to catch him.]
But they’re as subject to human error as anybody else.
But they’re still watching anyway! They don’t realize what my engine can’t do. I’ll be finished!
No, you won’t be. If they complain about your speed either way, they’ll have only me to complain to, and I’ll point out that you did the railroad a favor by pointing the error and that you told me about it right away. If you’re worried about the lost time, don’t be. You know several places where you can make up time if you feel you have to and can do it safely. Just don’t worry about it any more.

The engineer left, greatly relieved and smiling to me and to the boss. All conversation had been totally uninhibited, as though a stranger were not present. He must have thought that if I were there in the first place, I belonged there.

The road foreman closed the door and broke into a big laugh of sheer pleasure, saying that this sort of thing happens all the time. He added with equal delight that he loves his job. That, of course, was evident as fifteen minutes became history. A very special sort of person.

President’s Letter
by William F. Howes, Jr.

Accolades to the Chicago Chapter, and especially chainman Charles Stats and secretary Don Davis, for hosting and organizing a fine Annual Meeting and Convention of the Society in June. The Board of Directors met on June 2nd and I want to share with you some of the more significant items discussed and actions taken.

The annual operating deficit of the Society has been ranging between ten and twenty thousand dollars. The recent introduction of color photos in the body of RAILROAD HISTORY (meeting with strong reader support) is putting additional stress on the budget. Fortunately, our investment income has generally been able to cover the operating deficit. However, the Board feels it is important to narrow the deficit and is taking action on several fronts:

1. A concerted effort will be made to increase membership from the current 2350 to at least 2500 by the end of this year.

2. Regular dues will be raised effective with membership year 2001 to $25.00, with comparable adjustments to the other dues categories.

3. The price structure for copying locomotive rosters and builders’ records will be revised to better reflect the effort and costs associated with providing this service.

Additional details concerning these initiatives will be carried in future issues of the Newsletter.

With great sadness, the Board acknowledged the death on November 24, 1999, of director George Krambles. A “Resolution” was adopted citing George’s long-time devotion to the Society and its members. The “Resolution’ is printed in this issue of the Newsletter.

After a quarter century of service to the Society, Bob and Dian Post have retired from their involvement in the publishing of RAILROAD HISTORY. Bob has also relinquished his position on the Board and chairmanship of the Railroad History Awards Advisory Committee. The Board enacted “Resolutions” recognizing the many contributions Bob and Dian have made to organization. Copies of these “Resolutions” appear in his edition of the Newsletter.

All of the incumbent officers were elected for one-year terms. At the Annual Meeting of Members on June 4th, directors whose terms were expiring in 2000 were elected to the Board for three-year terms, as was Thomas G. Hoback, President and CEO of the Indiana Rail Road. In addition, Kenneth Miller, chairman of the Lackawanna Chapter, was elected to a one-year term filling the vacancy created by Bob Post’s resignation and Bob Church was elected fill the remaining term of George

Krambles. Members attending the Annual Meeting also approved two minor revisions to the Bylaws of the Society and these are reproduced elsewhere in this Newsletter.

The Southeast Chapter will host the 2001 Annual Meeting and Convention of the Society in Jacksonville, Florida, May 31 through June 3. Plan now to attend!

June 19, 2000

Resolutions of the Board
of Directors

Whereas Robert C. Post has been a member of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society for more than two decades, and Whereas he has served with great distinction as an officer and director of the Society since 1980, and Whereas he has since 1974 brought his expertise and energy to the publication of RAILROAD HISTORY at the highest standards of excellence, and Whereas for the last two years he has chaired with skill and an even hand the Railroad History Awards Advisory Committee,

We, the Officers and Directors of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society do, this day of June 2, 2000, enact this Resolution expressing our appreciation to Robert C. Post for his contributions to the Society and its members and for the fellowship we have enjoyed while in his company.

Whereas Dian Post has been a member of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society for 22 years, and Whereas she has for 25 years devoted her skills and energy to the production of RAILROAD HISTORY, achieving the highest standards of excellence,

We, the Officers and Directors of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society do, this day of June 2, 2000, enact this Resolution expressing our appreciation to Dian Post for her contributions to the Society and its members.

Whereas George Krambles was a member of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society for 52 years prior to his death on November 24, 1999, and Whereas he served with great distinction as a director of the Society from 1966, and Whereas he had long been a valued mentor and devoted friend to members of the Society,

We, the Officers and Directors of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society do, this day of June 2, 2000, enact this Resolution in recognition of George Krambles’ contributions to the Society and its members.

W. F. Howes, Jr.
President

TRADING POST

Submissions should be made to the Newsletter editor to arrive by October 1, 2000, for inclusion in the next issue. See Member’s Services section for details. All items subject to available space and editorial decisions as to content. Logos and photographs are limited to 7/8 inches high if space permits. New Trading Post items posted every week on our WebSite. <http://www.RLHS.ORG>

SALE - Duplicate Kodak 20-slide sets of B&O steam and first generation diesel power photographed by William Price for sale at $20/set postpaid. SASE or e-mail for details. Mint-condition back issues of Rails Northeast for March and July 1979 and July and August 1980 are also available at $5.00 each postpaid. John Kernan, 96 Beacon Hills Drive North, Penfield NY 14526.
 <John.Kernan@Kodak.com>

SELLING - My new book, D&RGW - Superpower Railroad of the Rockies, is available from me for $25, autographed and postpaid including ten pages of added material: 1939 mainline timetables plans for 3 cylinder 4-8-2 and 4-6+6-4, shaded topographic map, profile with tonnage ratings, loco specifications, loco life-spans, etc. If you already have the book, send me $1 for the supplementary sheets, Colorado’s Mountain Railroads is going out-of-print . At $40, autographed and postpaid, my supply will be gone by Christmas. Robert A. LeMassena 1795 S. Sheridan Blvd., Lakewood CO 80232- 7252.

SELLING - Franklin Mint set of Sterling Silver locomotives. Make offer. Don Meeham, 3545 Oxford St., Napa CA 94558. (707) 226-7511.

WANTED - The Electric Way Over the Mountains by Steinheimer, Locomotives of the Louisiana and Arkansas and

Kansas City Southern by Brown, The Pennsylvania Railroad by Dredge, and Santa Fe Depots of the Plains by Ellington. Offering a decent price for copies in good condition. Dan Allen, 147 Atsion Rd, Medford NJ 08055. <njsouthrr@aol.com>

WANTED - Photos, Timetables, operating information, etc. on the Cherry Tree & Dixonville Railroad. The NYC and PRR jointly built (1904) and operated this short line railroad in Northwest Pennsylvania. It is now under control of the R. J. Corman group. Especially need information on operating procedures. Copies OK. Will purchase or trade. Donald R. Davis, 2945 Everett Street, Blue Island IL 60406.

SEEKING copy of R&LHS Bulletin No. 19 to complete collection. Top dollar paid for copy in good condition. John F. Kell, 103 White Birch Lane, Dallas PA 18612. (570) 675-0350 <jkelljr@aol.com>

OFFERING - We have recently received 1500 accident/wreck reports from the ICC’s 1940-1980 files for many of the major railroads, and some of the lesser known ones as well. Copies of these very fragile reports are available at fifty cents a page, $10.00 minimum including postage. The little Falls Railroad & Doll Museum LTD. PO BOX 177, Cataract WI 54620-0177. <RailDoll@CenturyTel.net>

WANTED - Photo of Illinois Central #7050 (2-8-4 - former Lima demonstrator). Paul M. Somers. 511 West White Street, Champaign IL 61820-4793.

BUY or TRADE - Anything FEC or predecessors, anything Florida, and any and all other US railroad and trolley memorabilia. Especially wanted, from all roads and tractions lines: china, silver, menus, linens, dater dies, wax sealers, hat badges, keys, locks, lanterns, RPO postmarkers, pre 1954 passenger & employee timetables, fine and early

passes, passenger train descriptive booklets, unique advertising items (calendars, match strikers, and paperweights, postcards, photos, negatives and original slides and all other descriptive booklets and brochures). Seth Bramson, 330 N. E. 96th St., Miami FL 33138. Collect (305) 757-1016, fax (305) 895-8178. <seth@fecrailway.com>

WANTED - All issues of Pennsylvania Railroad Mutual Magazine, Pennsylvania News, and The Pennsy. Also seek agent’s lantern with composite green-white globe used for flagging trains, with any of the following lettering: PFtW&C, PCC&StL, or Pennsylvania Lines. Please state prices in first letter. SELLING - Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 2-wheel freight and baggage truck marked with company initials and inventory number, excellent condition, approximately a century old. Bob Hess, 295 Hunters Road, Gore VA 22637-3006

SELLING - Books, all in near-mint condition. Beebe and Clegg, Steamcars to the Comstock, $25; Mixed Train Daily, $40; Great Railroad Photographs (with slip cover), $60; Beebe, Mansions on Rails, $40; Dubin, Some Classic Trains, $50; Plowden, Farewell to Steam, $20. Also 12 issues of Pacific News (44-55), 1965-66, $8. Add $2 p&p, George H. Yater, 1511 Tyler Park Drive, Louisville KY 40204.

WANTED - Photos of former Reading Railroad line’s Skillman, NJ, station building and any pertinent information on area when used for Philadelphia/Newark/New York service around 1900. William R. Foster, Sr., 4 Hillvale Cir., Wilmington DE 19808-3631.

NEEDED - Recollections of former Rexall employees and those familiar with route of Rexall Train of 1936 for an article on the old St. Louis-based Rexall Drug Co. in progress. Want to visit with retired Rexall pharmacists. Larry Thomas, TRRA Historical Society, P 0 Box 1688, St. Louis MO 63188-1688. (314) 535-3101 any evening.

WANTED - Photos, history, ads on chemical weed spraying services such as National Aluminate Corp. (Nalco Chemical), Reade Mfg., Chipman Chemical, W.T. Cox Co., Allied Chemical (General Chemical Co.), R.H. Bogle Co., Habco Inc., SSI/Mobley, Aspundth Co., etc. for a new book project on the subject. Jerry Pitts, 6208 Thicket St. NW, Albuquerque NM 87120-2528. (505) 897-8169. <JJPi@aol.com>

WANTED - Material on New York Westminster & Boston and Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee, ephemera, hardware, etc. J. J. Sedelmaier, 199 Main St. 10FL, White Plains NY 10601-3200. <J2SP@aol.com>

WANTED - Original Howard Fogg paintings, both oil and watercolor. John J. Atherton, 16 Coachlight Dr., Poughkeepsie, NY 12603-4241, (914) 471-8152. <JJAAMAPOU@aol.com>

WANTED - Input or literature on pre -1947 named passenger trains. Want titles of index(s) and seller lists. Anything appreciated. Will respond. John Maye, 1320 W. Lincoln Highway #G7, Schererville IN 46375.

SELL or TRADE - NYC Interborough Rapid Transit route destination (marker) light, 1903-1908, lenses dated 1905. 100% original, including working socket and wiring, totally restored, and all parts original to lamp. European steam locomotive cab number plate 22x8x½ thick, painted cast etal. Porcelain passenger car number boards black with white serif numbers 24¼x7. Adlake hand lanterns with various Fresnel globe colors. Also individual Fresnel globe

colors. Marker light aspect lenses and roundrels, various colors & diameters, individual Fresnel globes. SEEKING wax sealers from southern roads, whistles, builder’s plates, etc. Greg Hendricks, 105 Old Course Road, Summerville, SC 29485, (843) 875-5729.

SEARCHING for information on Guardettes and other women in railroad police departments. Dorothy M. Schulz, 140 Riverside Drive, New York NY 10024-2605.<scadarfin@aol.com>

Railroad Historical Resources
Thomas T. Taber, Administrator
504 S. Main Street
Muncy, Pennsylvania 17756
Fax 570-546-8346
Providing answers and assistance to finding answers on railroad subjects of any kind prior to 1970. No charge.

SELLING - Russian Rail Transport, 1836-1917, offers a new, colorful history of Russian railways from their beginning in 1836 until the Bolsheviks took power during WW1. The 274-page book is a translation from the Russian and was written by a consortium of authors from St. Petersburg State Transportation University. Of especial interest is the lengthy section on the building and rebuilding of the Trans-Siberian line. $32.00 USA, $36.00 foreign. Also available is the 118-page biography, Franz Anton von Gerstner, Pioneer Railway Builder, by Mikhail and Margarita Voronin. $28.00 USA, $32.50 foreign. Books shipped postpaid. Checks payable to Languages of Montour. John C. Decker, 112 Ardmoor Avenue, Danville PA 17821.
<JDecker@Uplink.net>

SEEKING photos, passes, timetables, and roster information on Knoxville, Sevierville & Eastern; Knoxville & Carolina; Tennessee & North Carolina; and Smoky Mountain Railroad. Jerry L. Dowling, 11 Lucky Leaf Court, The Woodlands, TX 77381.
<jdowling@lcc.net>

FOR SALE - NG and other RR history books, including Beebe, Crossen, LeMassena, Myrick and some autographed publications. Priced for quick sale. Send SASE for copy of list. Norman F. Clarke, 120 Pulpit Hill Rd. #8, Amherst MA 01002-4013
<clarken@mindspring.com>

CHANGES [shown bold] TO THE BYLAWS APPROVED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF MEMBERS ON JUNE 4, 2000

Article IV, Section 4. If any elected Director shall cease to be a member in good standing of the Corporation or shall resign from office of Director, his, or her, office shall become vacant and another member of the Corporation may be elected by the Board to fill the vacancy until the end of the term of the person vacating the position.

Article V, Section 3. The Secretary shall keep the records of the meetings of the Corporation and of the Board of Directors and shall send out such notices of the meetings as the Bylaws provide. Further, the Secretary shall hold copies of all official documents such as contracts, agreements, authorizations, etc., executed on behalf of the Corporation, and attend to such general matters in his or her line of duties as may be ordered by the Board of Directors. He or she shall sign, execute and deliver on behalf of the Corporation all documents under its corporate seal, when required, as may be ordered by the members of the Corporation or Board of Directors (such documents shall also be signed by the President), shall keep a full record of the same and shall perform such other duties as the Board of Directors may from time to time, by its vote, direct.