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Spring 2001
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Volume 21 Number 2
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A Quarterly Publication of the
Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Inc.
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By Russell Tedder

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Newsletter Notes
You will notice two
things with this issue. The color cover is obvious.
It is a ink and colored pencil painting by Mrs. Elsie
Voigt, editor of the Southwest Chapter’s El Paso
& Southwestern Flyer. It was commissioned for
this issue to appear to be the opposite side of the
train shown on page 5. See Elsie’s ad in the Trading
Post for more of her work. Your
membership dues did not pay for this color cover. The
display ad paid for it. In the future, you may contribute
any amount for additional color covers ($350 per issue)
by sending a check payable to the R&LHS to
the Newsletter Editor. Additional display advertising
may become available in the future. Mr.
Lawrence R. Duffee advises that many papers from the
1926-29 era and the early 1940s to 1991 of the Potomac
Yard office of the RF&P were recently donated to
the Alexandria, Virginia, Public Library. Prof.
Bill Wallace raised a question about roundhouses. Were
these structures, partially or fully surrounding a turntable,
an American institution? They appear in other countries
where there was significant American influence, otherwise
a shed was used.
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Mr. Robert R. Lowry
and Mr. Eric C. Powell correctly identified the icicle-breaker
car (page 6) and Mr. H. Lansing Vail, Jr., further stated
that this NYC car was used on the "West Shore Line"
at the head of trains with auto rack cars (loaded, mostly
southbound) to keep the ice from damaging the automobiles.
This car was cut in at the last yard before the tunnels
and cut out at the first yard beyond. Mr. John C. La
Rue, Jr., sent five photos of similar cars (page 7).
Mr. William H. Howes, Jr., provided a photo of a dome
passenger car with an icicle-breaker bar to protect
the dome itself. The passengers were permitted up there
through the tunnels. "Pick
the most profitable aspect of the business and make
it more efficient," was the cry of the new wave
of managers, not only in railroading, but in all industry.
This meant that railroad pickup and delivery branches
were doomed unless bought by shortline operators. How
do these new operator’s fare? Hear the ins and outs
of that business and more at the R&LHS Annual Meeting
June first through third in Jacksonville, Florida.
We’ll have a bus tour of the NASA Railroad and FEC’s
New Smyrna Shops on Friday and a panel discussion on
Florida passenger service, past and future, on Saturday
with the shortline panel. Speakers at our dinner, banquet
and breakfast are John Hankey, Don Phillips and Richard
Hillman. Be sure to come. Register now. 
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R&LHS Newsletter
Copyright ©
2001 R&LHS Published by The Railway & Locomotive
Historical Society, Inc.
William F. Howes, Jr., President
3454 Cormorant Cove Drive Jacksonville FL 32223-2790
Editor/Publisher
Clifford J. Vander Yacht
2363 Lourdes Drive West Jacksonville FL 32210-3410
<CliffVDY@JUNO.COM> Assistant
Editors Vernon J. Glover
[invalid address] Printer
Raintree Graphics Jacksonville,
FL R&LHS
MEMBER SERVICES Membership
Matters Membership
applications, change of address and other membership
status inquiries should be sent to:
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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
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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:
Milestone 1 and James L. Larson addresses are no longer
valid.] 
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WATERMELON
EXTRA: Sixteen Hours on a Pair of GE 70-Tonners
By Russell Tedder
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From the earliest
years, watermelons were an important source of revenue
for the South Georgia Railway and the Live Oak, Perry
and Gulf Railroad. The two north Florida and south Georgia
shortlines made arrangements each year with one of their
connecting lines to provide the ventilated "melon"
cars, called "vents," in exchange for the
outbound loads. The LOP&G
usually divided its business between the Seaboard Air
Line and Atlantic Coast Line at Live Oak, Fla., with
one road furnishing empties and receiving loads the
first three days of the week and the other road furnishing
cars and getting the business the last three days, which
worked out to about a 50-50 split. Most of the LOP&G
watermelons were handled on the two round trip daily
except Sunday mixed trains. On heavy loading days, it
was sometimes necessary to run an extra out of Live
Oak to Day and Mayo, Fla., the two major loading stations
on the line. The South Georgia
always ran watermelon extras during the shipping season
since it operated only one daily except Sunday round
trip freight train. The loading was spread out at several
stations between Adel, Ga., and Greenville, Fla. The
originating station for the watermelon extras depended
on which connecting line furnished the cars each year.
After disposing of most of its "vents" by
the 1940s, Southern enjoyed South Georgia’s watermelon
business only in occasional years when it furnished
refrigerated "reefer" cars. In
1955, the first season after Southern bought the two
roads in 1954, the watermelons off the South Georgia
and LOP&G were routed via Southern and loaded in
"reefers." The LOP&G continued to haul
its melons to the Seaboard at Live Oak that year while
the South Georgia operated a watermelon extra between
Perry, Fla., and Adel where the cars were delivered
to the Southern (Georgia Southern & Florida).
Regular South Georgia operations
at that time consisted of Kalamazoo "doodlebug"
railcar No. M-100 which ran daily as first class passenger
trains No. 2 northbound from Perry to Adel and No. 1
southbound carrying mail, express, and those passengers
who were hardy enough to take the little train for the
sake of convenience or necessity. Freight trains were
run six days a week as extras. The northbound was called
at 11:00 a.m. at Perry and usually tied up at Adel about
6:00 or 7:00 p.m. where
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the crew laid over
for its eight hours rest before making the return trip
southbound to Perry. A goodly
number of the employees of the South Georgia and LOP&G,
both regular and seasonal workers, came from the larger
roads, usually the ACL, where they had been fired for
various infractions of the rules, such as Rule G (use
of alcohol or narcotics on duty) or failure to observe
meet orders. In 1955 I became
the young (20 years old) and inexperienced Agent at
the joint station of the South Georgia and LOP&G
at Perry. I was also responsible for dispatching trains
for the two short lines which operated by timetable
and train order with both regular and extra trains.
Previously, the South Georgia trains had been dispatched
by the Agent at Quitman, Ga., and the LOP&G by the
Agent at Foley, Fla. I had worked both these stations,
particularly Quitman, for varying lengths of time since
1951 when I started out with the railroads. Ever
since the word got out that Southern was going to buy
the South Georgia and LOP&G, much of the sandhouse
talk had been about the expected transition from a shortline
to a mainline (Class I) operation. Imaginations ran
wild with speculation that the South Georgia was going
to be extended to Tampa with through freights and passenger
trains to compete with the ACL’s west coast route. Many
employees already envisioned what type of jobs they
would have, such as baggagemaster, fireman, and like
jobs which had long since vanished from the South Georgia
and LOP&G. In an environment
such as this, those employees who had mainline experience
talked a lot about their qualifications and how that
I should, as the dispatcher, make a trip over the road
each six months just like they did on the mainline.
Naturally, it didn’t take much to talk me into this,
especially since I was beginning to be caught up in
the excitement of all the changes, real and imagined,
that were taking place. I decided
to make my first voluntary semiannual dispatcher’s road
trip on the South Georgia watermelon extra on Saturday,
July 3, 1955. Southern had by this time upgraded the
track from Perry to Quitman with 85 pound rail which
replaced the lighter 56 and 60 pound rail. Although
the South Georgia and LOP&G’s GE 70-tonners and
Southern’s EMD SW-1s and ALCO S-1s
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were still the motive
power, the track had been surfaced and lined making
it possible to operate at authorized speeds of 30 miles
per hour. The watermelon extra
that year was assigned GE 70-tonners South Georgia 202,
usually in the lead, and LOP&G 300 along with a
Southern day coach which was used as a caboose. The
job ran out of Perry six days a week making a round
trip from Perry to Adel and return. Ever since the roads
came under common ownership by Brooks-Scanlon in 1946,
South Georgia freight trains originated and terminated
and tied up their engines on the LOP&G at Perry.
The "doodlebug," Nos. 1 and 2, originated
and terminated at the old South Georgia station across
town. On this trip, the crew
was called for 5:30 p.m. Our train orders were as follows:
Order No. 1-Engine 2004 run extra
Perry to Adel and return to Perry not protecting against
following extra trains except Extra 202 North. Extra
2004 South wait at Adel until arrival of Extra 202 North.
SRT. Order No. 2-Engine 202
run extra Perry to Adel and return to Perry not protecting
against following extra trains except Extra 2004 South.
SRT. The speed limit for
freight trains between Perry and Quitman had been increased
by bulletin to 30 miles per hour instead of the 20 miles
per hour authorized by the timetable. The
70-tonner consist backed out of the LOP&G engine
track and picked up six empty reefers and the coach
off the LOP&G house track. After giving the air
brake test a lick and a promise, we backed through the
old LOP&G-South Georgia transfer track onto the
South Georgia mainline. Pulling up and stopping at the
LOP&G diamond, our engineer sounded the required
two long blasts of the whistle and we were on our way
about 6:00 p.m., the foghorn whistle blasting its way
over the many street crossings as the little train left
town. Soon the self-described hoghead-who, incidentally,
was a boomer-had the throttle in the company notch and
we were bouncing along at 40 to 45 miles per hour on
the recently upgraded track. All
was going well until we rounded a curve and saw a bulldozer
trying to cross the track few miles north of town. After
"big holing" the train and stopping a safe
200 feet from the dozer, we "pumped ’em" off
and continued the trip. Where the railroad paralleled
the highway, motorists stopped in amazement as the little
train sped along with the 70-tonners approaching their
top speed of 55 miles per hour. The rhythmic clickety
clack of the wheels turned
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into a low steady
roar that was absorbed into the rumbling and pounding
of the exhaust from the Cooper-Bessemer’s six cylinders
as they approached their maximum of 1,000 RPMs. The
light but speedy consist sounded more like Southern
Railway’s Royal Palm than the slow cumbersome
freight that had bobbed and weaved its way through the
Bermuda grass covered track less than a year before.
No. 1, the southbound first class
passenger train with Kalamazoo Railcar M-100 as its
consist, was due at Sirmans, a station 18 miles north
of Perry, at 6:45 p.m. As the watermelon extra stopped
on the mainline in front of Clement’s store, our boomer
hogger sounded the prescribed one long and three shorts
for the flagman to protect the rear of the train just
like the mainline boys did, even though we were relieved
by train order from protecting against following extra
trains. The crew and I had just enough time to go over
and get a soft drink before No. 1 rounded the curve
and came into sight. The doodlebug headed into the clear
on the house track and stopped across from the country
store where a lone passenger detrained while the motorman
helper swung down to hand the mail pouch to the waiting
postmaster. Barely on duty for
one hour, the watermelon extra headed on its way; crossing
the Seaboard diamond at Greenville and running uneventfully
to our first revenue stop at Empress, Ga., where the
six empty reefers were dropped and sixteen carloads
of melons were added to the train. With our first revenue
tonnage in tow, we pulled over the ACL overpass and
registered our arrival at Quitman, Ga., at 8:30 p.m.
While the crew was switching and
picking up watermelon loads, I went inside the depot
where Southern’s commercial agent and the government
inspectors were rolling dice on the agent’s floor. The
agent, who had been fired from the ACL for Rule G violations,
was obviously having trouble with his billing that evening,
so I pitched in and waybilled the last of the 30 carloads
of melons we were picking up. About
10:30 p.m. we whistled off with a running start to get
over Okapilco "Pilco" Hill, the ruling northbound
grade named for the creek that was crossed on the south
side of the hill. Leaving Quitman, for over a mile north
of the ACL overpass, there is a descending grade and
curve northward that varies between 1.25 percent and
2.25 percent. This grade was often used by adventurous
engineers such as our boomer hogger to gain the momentum
needed to make the 2.8 percent ascending grade over
Pilco. At other times, when available, a helper engine
was engaged. This was the derailment site of another
watermelon train, Extra 103 North, ten years earlier
on June 19, 1945. According to the ICC accident
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report, the Baldwin
ten-wheeler was running for Pilco at 35 miles per hour
when the engine and first twelve cars of the twenty-car
train derailed in the curve. The engineer was injured
and the fireman and frontbrakeman were killed. After
picking up 22 cars of melons at Morven, Ga., and four
cars of peaches at Barney, Ga., we were on our last
lap into Adel with a total of 72 cars. The brace of
70-tonners handled the consist handily over the ruling
grade at Pilco as well as Campground, Bry Williams,
and other lesser grades. Since the best South Georgia
track before rehabilitation was between Quitman and
Adel, this was the last stretch to be rebuilt. However,
the bridges had already been rebuilt and raised in preparation
for the track to be raised to the same level when it
was rehabilitated. Looking back from the cab of the
70-tonners, I could see the car numbers on the ends
of the reefers as they came over the humped bridges
one by one like sheep jumping over a fence. Southern’s
caboose hop from Valdosta, Ga., was waiting at Adel.
As soon as the 70-tonners were cut off and in the clear,
the two-unit A-B set of EMD F-units coupled to the 72
car consist and doubled it out onto their caboose on
the GS&F mainline for the brake test. With a radio
highball from the conductor to the engineer, the GS&F
watermelon extra headed out for Macon and Atlanta
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where the following morning the melon
cars would be diverted at Inman Yard to specific northern
markets. There was always a rivalry among the
South Georgia train crews and this day was no exception.
After a hot meal at the local beanery, our conductor
checked the Southern bill box to see what watermelon
empties were on the GS&F to be moved south and spotted
on the return trip. Seeing none, he consulted with the
rest of the watermelon extra’s crew about the local
extra which had arrived earlier. The local’s power was
Southern’s 600 horsepower SW-1 No. 2004 which was coupled
to a Southern bay window caboose and tied up next to
South Georgia’s Adel depot white the crew took its usual
eight hours rest before following the watermelon extra
south. Acting upon a strong suggestion from the conductor,
the watermelon extra’s crew decided it would be an appropriate
trick on the local extra’s crew if their train could
be hijacked while they slept. The 70-tonners backed
the coach up to the GS&F interchange yard and picked
up the 18 car local consist for Perry. All the while
the crew enjoyed a great deal of pleasure from anticipating
the local crew’s reaction when they returned to duty
to discover that their train had disappeared while they
rested. Our southbound 18 car
train soon headed through the wye onto the South Georgia
mainline on what was
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There’s no watermelon
cars in this extra southbound train lead by South Georgia
202 and LOP&G 301 between Greenville, FL, and Quitman,
GA, this August 12th, 1955, photo by William J. Huse,
Jr.
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expected to be a
straight 77 mile run to Perry, stopping only at Quitman
to register. The little GE’s handled their tonnage nicely
over the southbound grades to Quitman. From Quitman
south the 30 miles per hour speed limit was easily maintained,
perhaps too easily, since the engines were not equipped
with speedometers. At Milepost 45 the trailing unit,
LOP&G 300, developed a hot box which we nursed on
into Greenville. The Greenville agent lived across the
street from the depot, so about 6:00 a.m. our conductor
woke him up and asked him to open the depot and call
the General Manager. The General Manager apparently
was not too happy about being called early Sunday morning,
and on July the 4th at that, to report a hotbox on a
locomotive. He strongly suggested, in appropriately
colorful language, that the crew could fix the problem
on their own. Before we could
jack the engine and rebrass the journal, we heard the
growl of Extra 2004 South as its headlight came into
view around the curve approaching Greenville with a
handful of local cars it had picked up at Quitman. We
were in the clear on the mainline between the house
track switches so the southbound local extra headed
through the house track and passed our crippled train.
In the excitement resulting from overtaking their hijacked
train, the local crew ran through the south house track
switch, completely oblivious to the fact that it had
not been lined for their movement. Finally, the
new brass was seated and packed and we were on our last
lap to Perry, arriving at Boyd, Fla., in time to clear
No. 2 which was due there at 8:47 a.m. Within 15 minutes
after our meet with the Kalamazoo M-100, we arrived
at Perry in time to run around our train on the South
Georgia wye and yard it on the LOP&G. The
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conductor marked
off at 9:29 a.m., concluding a 15 hour and 59 minute
tour of duty, not an uncommon occurrence in those days
of the 16 hour "hog" law. A total of 96 cars
(90 loads and 6 empties) were handled on the 154 mile
round trip. Needless to say, the rookie dispatcher was
much better acquainted with conditions on the road,
but definitely in need of a long Sunday nap. Little
could any of us have known the changes that were ahead
at that time. Trucks were already making inroads into
the watermelon market. Their ability to go directly
to the fields and haul direct to the northern markets
made tough competition. The railroads were somewhat
successful in keeping some of the business on rail by
piggyback, but this left shortlines like the South Georgia
and LOP&G out of the picture. The railroads had
also concluded that the six week harvesting and shipping
season was then followed by six months or more of loss
and damage claims processing and payment that largely
offset any profit they made on the business. There seemed
to be a direct relationship between the watermelon markets
and the level of freight claims. If the market was good,
freight claims were minimal. If the market was poor,
then freight claims were many. For all these reasons
1955 was the last year for watermelon extras on the
South Georgia. A few carloads were handled the next
year or two in regular train service. The old
adage, "the only constant is change itself,"
was confirmed again. 
Editor’s
note: Samuel Russell Tedder retired in 1997 as president
of the Georgia-Pacific railroads. The article itself
tells how and when his career began, etc.

This was used for the
short tunnels on the NYC between Poughkeepsie and Harmon,
along the Hudson. The photo was taken in 1969 at Beacon
Yard. From the collection of Austin McEntee. Thanks
to Adrian Ettlinger, our WebMaster, for sending this
along.
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TOP: This Baltimore and Ohio ice breaker car 1B-11,
was photographed by D. H. Hamley at Cumberland, Maryland
on May 11th, 1975. ABOVE:
The words on the small panel are, "Ice Breaker
Service Only. To be used between Cresson and Altoona."
John La Rue, Jr., was at Cresson July 19th, 1975, to
take this shot of Pennsylvania #194796.
BELOW: Baltimore and Ohio also had
ice breaker bars on their ex-Chessie Dome-Sleeper-Observation
cars used on the Capitol Limited and Shenandoah.
B&O Photo, W. F. Howes collection.
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TOP: Western Maryland #301 at Cumberland, Maryland,
on July 21, 1966. Photo by John La Rue, Jr.
ABOVE: This photo of Clinchfield
#10131 at Erwin, Tennessee, was taken in December of
1970 by O. W. Kimsey, Jr.
BELOW: Delaware and Hudson had this
battered gondola #40011 outfitted as an icicle breaker
car for use at Oneonta, New York. May 31, 1971, JCLR,Jr.
Five photos John C. La Rue,
Jr. collection.
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THE MYSTERY OF
MISSING MATERIAL by Stephen
Duffell
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A problem that has
bedevilled people wishing to study the history of some
of the early locomotive builders in England, is the
mysterious disappearance of material in the USA some
100 years ago. The story is presented here in the hope
that if some of the documents still exist in the USA,
their whereabouts can be discovered. It
began with the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in
Chicago. The Transportation exhibit was but one section
of this, and a request was made to an English railway
engineer and historian, Clement Stretton, to provide
exhibits from the United Kingdom. This he duly did,
and some 10 tons of rails and a large quantity of drawings,
paperwork and photographs was sent. (A note in the Stretton
papers in the Science Museum, London, identifies the
recipient as Mr. Willard Smith). At the close of the
exhibition, much of the heavy rail exhibits were returned
to England, but not all. Some remained in the Field
Columbian Museum in Chicago; it is debatable whether
they paid for them or just took them on "loan."
The Science Museum records indicate that Stretton continued
to have material returned to him over the next 10 years.
The Field Columbian Museum established a "Museum
of the World’s Railway," with J. G. Pangborn (of
the Baltimore & Ohio RR) acting as president for
a commission to collect material world wide. Pangborn’s
name appears in various UK railway journals in the mid-1890s,
never in a very complimentary fashion, presumably related
to his collecting methods. In
1904 the whole collection was sent to St. Louis, for
the Louisiana Purchase Centennial, with Pangborn supervising
the removal, that entailed cutting a hole in the museum
wall to get the large exhibits out. At the close of
the St. Louis exhibition the exhibits were sent to storage
at the old B&O shops at Martinsburg, West Virginia.
An old accession book of 1904 indicates that most of
the railway books (including old British publications)
were returned to the B&O, suggesting they had never
been purchased anyway by the Field Museum. The B&O
displayed some of the material at their 1927 hundreth
anniversary of incorporation at Halesthorp, Maryland.
The collection remained in Halesthorp after the exhibition,
and in 1935 a hurricane destroyed the buildings. Some
material was lost, and the remainder was moved to Bailey’s
roundhouse near the Camden Yard in Baltimore. The B&O
library was distributed among a number of universities
in the early 1940s, no list or even a catalogue being
available.
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The outline of the
story above was provided in an article by R. J. Brettschneider
(Industrial Railway Record, Vol. 7 (no. 81) 1977-9,
pages 379-381), and his enquiries failed to find
any evidence of the material at the Field Museum (now
of Natural History) nor with the B&O museum. Whilst
some Pangborn material had found its way to the Smithsonian,
John H. White Jr. found nothing of any merit relating
to early English locomotive builders. So the mystery
revolves around what exactly was sent to the United
States, and what happened to it after the Columbian
Exposition? Firstly, what material
was supposed to have been sent? According to the Scientific
American of 1897 the following had found a home
in the Field Museum in Chicago:
The original books and working drawings
of Edward Bury & Company (of Liverpool). A few
books and a large number of original working drawings
of the firm Bury, Curtis & Kennedy (successors to
Edward Bury, of Liverpool). Books and drawings of
Edward Wilson & Company of Leeds. Original list
and some original drawings of the earliest engines upon
the Great Western Railway. The whole of the books
and drawings of Messrs. Slaughter & Company, Bristol.
A number of books and locomotive drawings from the Haigh
Foundry, Wigan. The complete set of drawings of
the firm of Rothwell & Company, late of Bolton.
The original drawings, papers and documents of the Forrester
& Company of Liverpool. Working drawings of
engines for the North Midland Railway. Original
drawings of some engines designed by Mr. J. E. McConnell.
Some of this
material had been provided by Stretton in 1893, but
some appears to have been acquired by Pangborn on his
trips to England. There is some dispute over whether
some of the material was actually sent by Stretton.
The books of Bury, Curtis & Kennedy were supposedly
sold (not known to whom), when the Company was dissolved
in 1851. Stretton states that he purchased some of Bury’s
material from his descendants in the early 1890s. Stretton
is now regarded as an
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unreliable historian,
and who as a self-publicist wrote copiously to the UK
railway press in the 1890-early 1900s. He would challenge
anyone who doubted his word in the most indignant tones,
and this has led to difficulties in disentangling fact
from fiction. A Science Museum (London) letter of 1903,
has Stretton stating that he purchased the Rothwell
books in 1892 for the Chicago Exposition. The
possibility was raised by Brettschneider in his article,
that Pangborn would have been well aware of the value
of the material he so assiduously collected, and that
when the Field Museum lost interest in railway material
and it was stored by the B&O, he ‘took care of it’.
Pangborn died in 1914, and it would be interesting to
know what happened to all of his material. One other
possibility unearthed by Brettschneider was that some
paperwork of the old Field Museum was stored in the
cellars of the Soldier Field Stadium, and that a fire
had raged there in the early
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1920s. So,
whilst the likeliest possibility is that these early
works books and drawings are lost forever, there always
remains an outside chance that some may survive. And
if they survive at all, then it will be in the USA.
They may be in private collections or stored in some
archive. Only Bury and Rothwell sent locomotives to
the USA in the 1830s, so interest in these firms amongst
US railway historians would be limited, and their true
value to English historians unrecognized. If anyone
knows of anything old and English relating to early
locomotives and languishing in some collection or archive,
then please send details to this side of the Atlantic.
Their discovery would be most truly welcomed. Stephen
Duffell, Hillcroft, Ford, Shrewsbury, SY5 9LZ, UK.
<stephen.duffell@syngenta.com> 
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TRADING POST
Submissions should
be made to the Newsletter editor to arrive by July 1,
2001, for inclusion in the next issue. All items subject
to available space and editorial decisions as to content.
Logos and photographs are allowed if space permits.
New Trading Post items are posted every week on our
WebSite. <http://www.RLHS.ORG> SELLING
- Southern Pacific equipment. Headlight from
cab forward No. 4285, complete with original indicator
numbers, electrified. Bell and yoke from Pacific #2400,
first in its class in 1907. Bell inscribed with history
and engine data in Sacramento Shops. Beautiful sound.
Send bids to Anson Perkins, Pacific Coast Chapter,
3062 Lunada Lane, Alamo CA 94507. (925) 820-7145.

FOR SALE -
Steamships of the Two Henrys - being an account
of the maritime ventures of Henry M. Flagler and Henry
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Bradley Plant. Profusely
illustrated, many details of their railroads ventures
as well as maritime. Soft cover. Discount price of $30.00
(regular price $39.95) offered to R&LHS members,
allow $3.00 for postage, Florida residents, please add
$2.10 sales tax. Ed Mueller, 4734 Empire Avenue,
Jacksonville FL 32207-2136. WANTED
- All data & pictures, particularly picture post
cards, of private owner "billboard"
wood reefers prior to 1935 ICC ruling. Send description
or xerox of items and price. All mail answered. John
Maye, 1320 W. Lincolnway #G9, Schererville IN 46375.
(219) 865-8967 (9:30-8 CT)

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,
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approximately a century
old. Bob Hess, 295 Hunters Road, Gore VA 22637-3006.
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 metal. Porcelain
passenger car number boards black with white serif numbers
24¼x7. Adlake hand lanterns with various Fresnel
globe colors. Various marker light lenses and Fresnel
globes. WANTED Wax sealers from southern roads, whistles,
builder’s plates, etc. Greg Hendricks, 105 Old
Course Road, Summerville, SC 29485, (843) 875-5729.
WANTED - Original Howard Fogg
paintings, both oil and watercolor. John J. Atherton,
16 Coachlight Dr., Poughkeepsie NY 12603-4241, (845)
471-8152. <JJAAMAPOU@aol.com> WANTED -
Steam, Diesel & Electric builder’s and number plates
for my collection. Still looking to fill some gaps and
still need a round Lima from a Shay or Rod engine, a
CRRofNJ round number plate with name cast around
rim, a UP 4-6-6-4 builder’s plate and shield,
and any
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WM builder’s
plates. Will purchase outright or have plates to trade.
I will also research and verify plates for other collectors.
Ron Muldowney, 52 Dunkard Church Rd., Stockton
N.J. 08559-l405. (609) 397-0293 <steamfan@crusoe.net>
WANTED - Information on fatal
accident on May 18,1918 on the Wisconsin Valley Line
Div. of the CMStP&P. Need engine numbers,
crew manifest, dispatcher’s sheet for that day, and
any other details. Passenger train ran into freight
that had not cleared the Main near Sprague, WI. Engineer
Gleiss was the only fatality. Dr. James R. Brown,
LFRR&DM, 9208 County Highway II, Sparta WI 54656-6485.

FOR SALE -
Complete run of the R&LHS journal. Vols. 1-163 Bound
(32 volumes in all including indexes, special bulletins
and rosters). Volumes for 1988 - 2000 are unbound. $1500.00
inc. shipping. Betsy Towle, 4621 E. Don Jose Dr.,
Tucson AZ 85718. WANTED - Drawings
of railroad letter sets (not lettering diagrams) and
drumhead/tailend signs. Clifford Vander Yacht, 2363
Lourdes Drive West, Jacksonville FL 32210-3410.

SELLING - Original railroad art.
Over 300 engines and trains in charcoal, ink and colored
pencil, and watercolor. Affordable prices. Elsie
Voigt, HC 74 Box 44, Fort Davis TX 79734-9702. (915)
426-3414. 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>
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SEEKING - Original
or copy of Burlington Route public timetable
from October 1895, Katy Flyer issue. Donald
J. Metzler, 1830 Centennial Dr. #103, Louisville
CO 80027. FOR SALE - High quality
hard cover reprints of Frank Spearman’s most popular
railroad fiction books. 4 titles available. 2 are works
of short stories: Held for Orders, and
The Nerve of Foley. And 2 are full length
novels: The Daughter of a Magnate, and
Whispering Smith. All are set in the
same Rocky Mountain location. Exciting reading for a
reasonable price. $12 each postpaid, or $45 for the
set of 4, postpaid. Dan Allen, 147 Atsion Rd.,
Medford NJ 08055. SELLING -
Chesapeake & Ohio and Pere Marquette
fonts. $10.00 each. Available on-line at www.RailFonts.com.
Clifford Vander Yacht, 2363 Lourdes Dr. W., Jacksonville
FL 32210-3410. 
POLING
ALONG IN WEST VIRGINIA Cornelius
W. Hauck For
something different in railroading, try pole-roading
— a low-cost form of low-speed railroading adapted by
lumbering companies occasionally in parts of Michigan
or the deep south. Instead of laying down track with
iron rails or even strap-iron on timbers, big wood stringers
were laid on the ties and the cars and locomotives were
equipped with big, double-flanged wheels that looked
like oversized pulleys. The “poles” were satisfactory
for guiding the train along, and the timbers had to
last only as long as the logging operation. The pole
road illustrated was operated by one S. Rinard of Cranesville,
West Virginia, the site was above Terra Alta, near the
Garrett State Forest in Maryland. Motive power was a
type A Climax of 13 tons, construction no. 21 of March,
1891. The photo is from the collection of the late Claude
T. Stoner of Michigan. 

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Help Pick a
Winner! Help
the R&LHS Awards Committee pick the nominees and
the winners for the Railroad History Book Award
and Article Award! All
members in good standing may suggest candidates for
consideration by the Awards Committee when nominating
authors for the 2001 Railroad History Awards.
The R&LHS Awards Panel solicits advice from members
in two award categories: the David P. Morgan Article
Award, and the George and Constance Hilton Book Award.
Articles must have been published
in magazines or journals with cover dates of 1999 and
2000. Enter the complete name of the author, the name
of the article, the pages on which it may be found,
the exact name of the magazine, and its exact cover
date (month and year). (Some journals are hard to find,
so please send a photocopy of the article, if you can.
This will aid the committee and save some time.)
Books must have been published in
1998, 1999 or 2000. (See publication or copyright
date for the book under consideration.) Enter the complete
name of the author, the complete book title, complete
name of publisher, and copyright or publication date.
The Awards Panel will make the final
selection of Nominees for each category. The Panel will
take members’ entries very seriously. In this way, the
Society’s members can play a key role in the Railroad
History Awards. Fill out and
send in this coupon, or photo copy, by June 1, 2001.
Only those entries postmarked on or before that date
will be tallied for the 2001 awards. Mail to Ed Graham,
316 Innisfree Circle, Daly City, CA 94015-4358.
Coupons sent to the wrong address or sent after June
1, 2001, will not be tallied. 
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To: R&LHS Awards Panel
For the 1999 David P. Morgan Article Award
___________________________________________
Author’s Full Name ___________________________________________
Complete Title of Article ___________________________________________
Page Number(s) of Article ___________________________________________
Complete Name of Magazine or Journal ___________________________________________
Exact Cover Date: Month/Year or Month/Day/Year
___________________________________________ Publisher’s
Editorial Address (from inside magazine) ___________________________________________
Today’s date: ___________________
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For
the 1999 George and Constance Hilton Book Award
___________________________________________
Author’s Full Name ___________________________________________
Complete Name of Book ___________________________________________
Complete Publisher’s Name ___________________________________________
Copyright Year ___________________________________________
Member’s Name ___________________________________________
Member’s Address ___________________________________________
Member’s City State & ZIP
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