These Two Ladies Live In Kansas City . . .

They Used To Live In New York . . .

Any Idea Who They Are?

2007 Annual Meeting in Salisbury, North Carolina

Richard Prince - Southeastern Railroad Historian

A Porter Lost and Found

Snippets of Early B&O Railroad History
 

From The Editor

Nearly 45 Years Later, The Sadness Remains
The destruction of Pennsylvania Station in New York during the mid-1960’s remains as one of the most miserable
affronts to the cause of historic preservation in the history of the United States. Today, we see many beautifully restored
and thriving railroad passenger terminals around the country - Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, Chicago
Union Station, Union Station in Kansas City, Grand Central Terminal in New York City, King Street Station in Seattle,
and St. Louis Union Station, just to name a few. Some serve as fully functional rail passenger stations, while others
fulfill other purposes.

With these successes in mind, one cannot study the demise of Penn Station for very long without wondering
what it would be like to see it today, beautifully maintained and proudly serving rail passengers bound for destinations
throughout the land. That would be quite a sight. We’re quickly brought back reality, however, as the photographs of
broken maidens thrown in the New Jersey meadowlands, debris scattered over the floors, and the dismantling of the
station’s steel framework really sink in. The frustration and sadness of this tragic event remains with us, nearly a half-century later.

Despite these grim feelings about Penn Station, Pete Hansen’s piece on the maidens and eagles that once sat
over the Seventh Avenue entrance to the station gives us something to feel good about. Thankfully, at least a few
remnants of the station were saved, and the story of how these beautiful carvings ended up in Kansas City, Missouri is
a bright ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds. For those who, like me, never had the opportunity to see Penn
Station, Pete’s story may leave wanting to know more about this grand terminal.

For those who are interested in learning more about the rise and fall of Penn Station, I highly recommend the
following books: The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station, by Lorraine B. Diehl; Manhattan Gateway - New York’s Pennsylvania Station, by William D. Middleton; The Destruction of Penn Station - Photographs by Peter Moore; and, New York’s Pennsylvania Stations, by Hilary Ballon. If you’d like more information about these books, please contact me.

Richard E. Prince
The name Richard Prince is very familiar to those who are even remotely interested in the history of southeastern
railroads. His books documenting the steam locomotives and boats operated by most of the major southeastern
carrier has benefited researchers and enthusiasts for nearly fifty years. Frequent Newsletter contributor Dick Hillman
has prepared an interesting piece about the life of Richard Prince, based on his research in the Southern Railway Historical Association archives at the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History, just north of Atlanta.

2007 Annual Meeting and Member Survey - Watch Your Mailbox!
On page 4, you will find brief articles about our 2007 annual meeting in Salisbury, North Carolina, as well as a
member survey that you will be receiving soon, if you haven’t already.

Regarding the 2007 annual meeting, several leaders of our Southeast Chapter, including Paul Barnes, Jim Smith
and Bill Howes, have been working hard on planning this year’s meeting. Details are included in the article on page 4,
and you will also receive a copy of the meeting flyer with the member survey.

The member survey has been thoughtfully prepared by several Board members, and we urge you to complete
and return the survey in the stamped, addressed envelope that is provided. This will ensure that the Society leadership
will better understand the interests of members, and how the Society can serve those interests.

David C. Lester

2007 Annual Meeting Plans Finalized
Learn about the rich history of North Carolina railroads and enjoy warm southern hospitality at Carolina
Rails 2007, the annual meeting of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society. This event will be held in Salisbury,
North Carolina from June 7 through June 10. Planned highlights of the gathering include a rare-mileage excursion
on part of the original Norfolk Southern Railway (today’s Aberdeen, Carolina & Western Railway), special events at
the North Carolina Transportation Museum at Spencer, North Carolina, and guest speaker Jim McClellan (retired
Norfolk Southern Corporation executive) at the annual banquet.

The Holiday Inn at Salisbury, North Carolina has reserved a block of rooms for R&LHS members until
April 30, 2007 at a special rate of $69.99 (plus tax) per room (double or king) per night. To secure this special rate,
please reference code “RLH” when booking online at www.holiday-inn.com/salisburync or call (800) HOLIDAY.
Please mention any personal requirements (i.e., mobility restrictions) at time of booking. Reservations made on or
after May 1, 2007 will be on a space-available basis at the best rate available at time of booking.

Registration Information

Mail completed form with check payable to Southeast Chapter, R&LHS to:

Carolina Rails
P.O. Box 600544
Jacksonville, FL 32092-0544

For more information, please access www.rlhs.org (National Meetings tab) or email RLHS2007meeting@aol.com or
phone (904) 910-1197.

Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Member Survey

By the time you read this, or shortly thereafter, each member will have received a member survey that
several members of the Board of Directors have worked to prepare over the past few months. This mailing will also
include a flyer and registration form for the upcoming annual meeting in Salisbury.

We urge each member to complete and return the survey in the addressed, postage-paid envelope that
will be included. The Officers and Board of Directors of the Society seek to maintain the organization as a premier
historical society with excellent service to members, and the information gathered in the survey will help to accomplish
this goal.

The survey consists of 34 multiple-choice questions, along with one and a quarter blank pages for your
comments and suggestions.

We hope to have the results of the member survey compiled and ready for review at the Society’s annual
meeting in June. Therefore, your prompt completion and mailing of the survey would be greatly appreciated! If
you have any questions about the survey, feel free to contact the Newsletter Editor, and your question will be forwarded
to the appropriate Board member.

H. Albert Webb Award Goes to Beverly Historical Society

Nahant, MA, 3/14/2007 - The Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts (Mass Bay RRE) announced that the
Walker Transportation Collection at the Beverly Historical Society and Museum will receive the 2007 H. Albert
Webb Memorial Railroad Preservation Award, given by Mass Bay RRE member Leigh A. Webb. The $10,000 grant
will support scanning and cataloging approximately 5,000 railroad images in the Walker Transportation Collection.

Mr. Leigh A. Webb created the H. Albert Webb Memorial Award in 2000 to recognize his father’s love for
New England railroading. The award assists non-profit organizations that preserve historically significant railroad
equipment, structures, or information about New England’s railroads. Stephen Hall, Director of the Museum
said, “We are honored that Mr. Webb would bestow on the Museum, this award given in his father’s name, to help
us promote and preserve railroad images for use by future generations. We also applaud the hard work of the
Awards Committee of Mass Bay RRE, which administers the award, for selecting the project.

The H. Albert Webb award will provide the Walker Transportation Collection an opportunity to further
catalog and make available information and images of historic locomotives and other railroad stock that once
traveled the rails in New England. By scanning and cataloging these historic images into its PastPerfect museum
database, thousands of New England railroad images will become more accessible to visitors and researchers who
visit the Museum.

The Mass Bay RRE Award Committee faced the difficult task of selecting from among many project applications
for the 2007 Award. Each of these projects was submitted by a not-for-profit organization engaged in preserving
New England railroad history, and each project had significant merit. Potential sponsors are encouraged to
submit updated applications for consideration for future H. Albert Webb Awards. The application process for the
2008 Award will begin in June 2007, and the application deadline will be September 25, 2007. For more information,
please visit www. masspayrre.org.

Big-10 Universities Complete Microfilming of Railroad Collections

by Roberto A. Sarmiento - Head, Transportation Library, Northwestern University Library

Four university libraries of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) have just completed the
massive project of reformatting a large collection of endangered paper copies of railroad journals and books dating
from 1832 to 1975 to archival-quality microfilm. The 46 journal titles (1,319 volumes) and 217 books targeted for
this project reflect the history of United States railroads from its beginnings through its Golden Age and into the
decline of railroad influence in the mid- to late-twentieth century.

Sponsored by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant, the two-year project involved work
by the libraries at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Iowa, Northwestern University,
and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Availability of the microfilm for both interlibrary lending and purchase will greatly enhance access to these
journals and books in cases where the originals are too fragile for circulation, thus, extending and expanding the
useful research life of the selected titles for generations to come.

The microfilmed titles encompass an extremely wide array of research interests of appeal to a broad range
of users, including university faculty and students, independent researchers, corporations and businesses, governmental
policy makers, family genealogists, and hobbyists.

This project is the latest in the CIC-NEH’s partnership for the preservation of railroad collections and con-
firms the CIC’s commitment to the preservation of collections at risk.

For further information about the project, a list of journals and books microfilmed, and contact information
please visit http://www.library.northwestern.edu/transportation/cic8/cic8.html.

The Kansas City Penn Station Maidens
The Boy Scouts Adopt a Pair of Girls

by Peter A. Hansen

The title of this piece notwithstanding, there never was a Pennsylvania Station in Kansas City. But part of the
greatest passenger terminal ever built survives there today, half a continent and several architectural epochs removed
from its original spot.

The work of sculptor Adolph Weinman, the maidens once crowned Penn Station’s main entrance on Seventh
Avenue in New York. Carved in pink granite, one figure representing day and the other night, they framed a clock
that commanded a view down 32nd Street toward Herald Square.

Today in Kansas City, hundreds of cars and a few pedestrians pass the figures daily, but almost no one knows
who they are or where they came from. They have been cleaned up and given a new home, but the demure melancholy
of their Penn Station years endures, perhaps more strongly than ever.

But at least they’ve been saved. This is the story of how it happened.

This pair of maidens, and their accompanying eagles, once guarded the Seventh Avenue entrance to
Pennsylvania Station in New York City. They now reside in a Kansas City park at 39th & Gillham. David Lester photo

In 1963, the Pennsylvania Railroad decided that it could no longer afford its midtown Manhattan jewel. The
sprawling neoclassical temple occupied 9 acres of some of the most expensive real estate on earth, and taxes had
become a greater burden than Pennsy was willing to pay. With no effective historic preservation laws to stop it, the
company was free to do as it saw fit with its property.

Aside from taxes, maintenance was another serious issue for the railroad. An internal analysis showed
that annual labor costs for Penn Station’s 149-member work force were $906,000 in salary and benefits, plus another
$261,000 for maintenance materials. If the station were razed, however, it could be maintained with a force of only
119, at an annual cost savings for labor and materials of 17%.

The memo containing the latter set of figures was titled, “Maintenance under a slab at Street level” – a pretty
apt description of the dungeon Penn Station has become.

The plan led to an immediate public outcry. Seeking to blunt the criticism, Pennsy said that it would entertain
requests for bits and pieces of the old building. The Associated Press picked up the story, and it ran nationwide.
One of the people who saw it was Miller Nichols, the most prominent real estate developer in Kansas City.
 

Nichols’ firm was responsible for homes and retail districts that are still regarded as the city’s finest addresses.
The company was begun by his father, a man who was so impressed with a visit to Seville, Spain that he returned to
Kansas City and constructed an elegant, if unlikely, reproduction of the Moorish capital in his hometown. Ever since
that time, the firm had developed a penchant for importing architectural salvage from across Europe, gracing the city
with columns and fountains that imparted a continental flair to a place previously known as a dusty cowtown.

Artifacts from Penn Station would be a natural for Nichols, so he reached out to his friend, William Capen
Shank – Kansas Citian, erstwhile coal baron, and director of PRR subsidiaries Wabash and Ann Arbor. Surely, Shank
would know Pennsy Chairman Stuart T. Saunders: would he help Nichols make the case?

Apparently, the answer was affirmative, because the railroad’s archives contain letters to Saunders from
both Nichols and Shank, dated in October and November, 1963. Nichols sought to assure Saunders that if he “were
privileged to acquire” any Penn Station objects for his firm’s “outdoor art gallery,” the pieces would find an honored
– and credited – place in Kansas City. For his part, Shank told Saunders that Nichols’ “company goes far beyond the
concepts of the average real estate developer.” For good measure, Nichols and Shank also wrote to David C. Bevan,
Pennsy’s Vice President of Finance. Bevan responded a few weeks later, but only to say that he had referred the matter
to J.B. Jones, who headed the railroad’s real estate operations.

It wasn’t the first request Jones had received for Penn Station artifacts. By June of 1964, he was able to list
83 such pleas from private individuals, PRR directors, government entities, universities – even a Hicksville NY high
school Latin club. The list of petitioners later reputedly rose into the thousands, and with multiple requests for many
of the same items, Pennsy was compelled to form an internal committee to evaluate them all.

Nichols’ case was better than most: not only did he have Shank in his corner, but Jones’ list of the 83 petitioners
indicates that Pittsburgh banker and PRR board member Richard K. Mellon also interceded on Nichols’ behalf. In
addition, Nichols was among the few who were interested in taking one of the 31-ton clock groupings.

None of this turned out to be enough, however. Nichols didn’t get his maidens.

But Kansas City did – or more precisely, the Boy Scouts did.

By summer, 1964, PRR brass decided to donate its Penn Station artifacts instead of selling them. The company
liked the public relations benefits to such an approach, and there might also be some tax advantages. David Bevan
counseled that “the donation of decorations from a demolished structure fall in a very complicated area of tax accounting
and…the tax benefits from the gift[s] would be speculative.” Despite that opinion, Pennsy President A. J.
Greenough recommended to Saunders in an August 13 memo that “these mementos should be donated to institutions
and others who will use them for public display, with proper acknowledgement.”

If the Pennsy was looking for high-visibility non-profit organizations to be the recipients of its largesse, they
couldn’t have done better than the Boy Scouts, but it was actually the Boy Scouts who found Pennsy. At this point, the
trail is a bit obscure, but it appears that Miller Nichols remained involved, even though by 1966, he knew he wouldn’t
receive any Penn Station artifacts for his own firm.

Plaque commemorating the relocation of the maidens to Kansas City on October 6, 1968 David Lester photo

The maiden representing day, who once stood over the Seventh Avenue entrance to Penn Station, now gazes over a Kansas City park
David Lester photo

Nichols was active with the Kansas City Area Council of the Boy Scouts, and had previously been an Eagle
Scout Class Sponsor, along with such luminaries as Harry S Truman, First Brother Milton Eisenhower, and Douglas
MacArthur. Another Class Sponsor, John W. Starr, possibly after a conversation with Nichols, conceived the idea of a
fountain honoring the Eagle Scouts and centered on one of the Penn Station clock groupings. Like Nichols before him,
he had a high-powered advocate in his corner – Thomas J. Watson, Jr., CEO of IBM.

Watson was on the national board of the Boy Scouts of America, and since IBM was a trusted vendor to the
Pennsy, he was not without influence in the railroad’s executive suite. According to John W. Starr’s son Philip, who still
lives in Kansas City, Watson personally contacted Stuart Saunders and made a request on behalf of the Boy Scouts. The
Pennsy chairman agreed without hesitation.

Saunders promised to transport the sculpture as far as St. Louis, the westernmost extent of Pennsy’s rails. John
W. Starr would still have to fund the cross-Missouri trip to Kansas City and the labor to load the massive statue in New
York. Even on these two points, however, he caught some breaks.

Missouri Pacific CEO Downing B. Jenks agreed to donate the transportation on the last leg to Kansas City, and
a happy coincidence resulted in free labor in New York. As Philip Starr tells it, the foreman of the crew responsible
for loading the sculpture had been an Eagle Scout himself. When he arrived at the job site and learned that the statue
would become the basis of a tribute to Scouting’s highest honor, he contacted his union local offices, and they agreed to
donate the labor.

Thus did a piece of Penn Station find its way to 39th and Gillham Road in Kansas City – and arguably, it’s
the most significant piece salvaged from the old building, since this particular grouping sat atop the Seventh Avenue
entrance. The clock has been replaced by an Eagle Scout ribbon, and the maidens now overlook a fountain and a broad
boulevard flanked by parks on both sides. It’s actually a more attractive, if less exalted, setting than their original location
in New York.

Still, for those few who see Kansas City’s Eagle Scout Tribute Fountain and know its origins, a sense of the bittersweet
is inevitable. Despite a feeling of gratitude that the maidens have been saved, there’s no escaping the sense of
loss – even after all these years – for the Penn Station that was, and never will be again.

Where are the Other Penn Station Statues?

Kansas City’s maidens were just one of four identical pairs that marked the principal entrances to Penn Station
on 31st and 33rd Streets, Seventh and Eighth Avenues. What became of the other three, and what of the 22 eagles that
once guarded the parapets?

The State of New Jersey received a pair of maidens directly from the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the company
archives contain the correspondence related to the donation. This pair originally went to Ringwood State Park, but it is
currently being evaluated for possible placement in Newark’s Penn Station or in the Trenton station.

One pair became separated, with a Night figure going to the Brooklyn Museum of Art upon demolition of Penn
Station. Its companion Day figure is owned by Con Agg Recycling in the Bronx, which rescued it from destruction in
1995. Its whereabouts before that date are uncertain.

As for the fourth pair: It’s thought to lie beneath the muck of the Jersey Meadows, where many of Penn Station’s
remains were dumped.

At least 18 of the 22 eagles have survived, and many of them are close to home. Two can be found on Seventh
Avenue, near the main entrance to Penn Station. One is at Cooper Union in Lower Manhattan. Two are at the
Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY. And one is still at the Hicksville station of the Long Island Rail Road,
where it was placed at the behest of the Latin class.

Two of the birds are still with the New Jersey maidens, and two are in Kansas City.

Five eagles found their way to the PRR’s hometown and its environs: four are on the Market Street bridge over
the Schuylkill River, within sight of Philadelphia’s Thirtieth Street Station, and another is at the Valley Forge Military
Academy in Wayne, PA.

The National Zoo in Washington and Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia each have one. The last known
eagle visited Montreal for the Expo ’67 world’s fair, and it now resides in Vinalhaven, ME. Peter A. Hansen
 

At least 18 of the 22 eagles from Penn Station survive today, including the two in Kansas City. This one stands next to the maiden representing day in Kansas City. David Lester photo

Richard E. Prince
Railroader, Steam Historian, Author & Firefighter

by Dick Hillman

Richard Prince - this photograph was most likely made upon his graduation from Georgia Tech in 1942. Photo courtesy of Southern Railway Historical Assn. archives at the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History

When the subject of steam locomotives of the railroads in the southern part of the United States comes up, it’s difficult to not think of the books written by Richard Prince. Over a period of some 14 years Prince produced a series of ten titles covering the railroads in the southeastern US. This series of books is sometimes criticized as being nothing more than a series of “photo albums” and correspondingly short on history, but when accepted for what they are, they are important additions to the history of the respective railroads.   Richard Edward Prince, Jr. was born on January 5, 1920 in Norfolk, Virginia and graduated from Maury High School in that city. Upon graduation he entered Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta in pursuit of a degree in mechanical engineering, completing that work in 1942. During his four years in Atlanta Prince developed a relationship with Atlanta’s fire department and frequently responded to fire alarms, compiling an impressive record of the city’s fire alarms during those years. Prince was a busy young man in those years working on his degree, playing trombone in the Tech band, accompanying the fire department on calls and pursuing his hobby of photographing trains. Already an accomplished photographer, Prince had his photos published in several magazines and newspapers during his college years. Remembering that his Georgia Tech years encompassed the early years of WW II with its resulting security issues, folks out trackside with cameras were frowned upon.

In June, 1940, Prince was in Augusta, Georgia photographing trains and wound up having his film confiscated
and his person locked up in the Augusta city jail. Following his release, he wrote a humorous letter to the Augusta
police chief thanking him for his hospitality and the delicious minced ham sandwich he was served for his dinner.

Upon graduation from Georgia Tech in the spring of 1942, Prince signed on with the Louisville & Nashville
Railroad as an apprentice in their South Louisville shops. After working for the L & N for little more than a year he
began to deal with the realities of WW II and how he would respond to that. Having been informed earlier of an irregular
heartbeat he realized that a conventional military pre-induction physical would most likely exclude him from
military service. And so, as an alternative, Prince joined the US Merchant Marine Service as an assistant engineer.
After his initial training at Hoffman Island, NY City, Prince sailed the world on Liberty Ships.

The war’s end found Prince back at the L & N in Louisville in 1946 where he became involved in the L & N’s
transition from steam to diesel locomotives. He stayed with the L & N until 1952 when he joined the Union Pacific
Railroad, his employer until his retirement in 1983. Prince spent many years on the UP gas turbine project working
out of Green River, Wyoming. In 1969 he was transferred by the UP to their Omaha, Nebraska headquarters where he
remained for the balance of his career.

Prince’s literary career began in the 1950’s resulting in the publication of the first edition of his L & N book in
1959. The “look” of all of Prince’s books is explained by the printing company he utilized for many years, the Wheelwright Lithographing Company located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The main focus of this company was the production of school year books, a genre of books that rarely, if ever, were produced with dust jackets. The files of Prince’s correspondence during his book production years is a treasure trove of correspondence with legendary rail historians. Included are letters from H. Reid, who addressed Prince as “Richard the Prince”, Gerald Best, Lucius Beebe, Graham Claytor, Harold Vollrath, Don Phillips, Richard Kindig and Freeman Hubbard who, in a colorfully worded letter criticized Prince’s writing style.

Richard Prince in his firefighting dress while working with the Atlanta Fire Department during his college years. Southern Museum photo

His books and the reprints were published by him between the years 1959 and 1983. It’s interesting to note that all of those ten titles dealt with railroads in the southeastern US while Prince was employed by the Union Pacific and living in the mid-west or western US. Thus far no indication has been found in the Prince files at the Southern Museum that he planned on doing a similar book on the Union Pacific. Marine operations of the railroads Prince wrote about were a significant part of his books and this is most likely due to his war-time hitch in the US Merchant Marine. The pace that Prince maintained in his book production is impressive and it’s difficult to imagine how he did that while holding down his UP job while also fulfilling the roles of husband and father. As mentioned earlier, his first L & N book came out in 1959 followed by the Georgia Railroad & West Point Route book in 1962. And then came the first Southern Railway volume in 1965, the Atlantic Coastline in 1966, Nashville Chattanooga & St. Louis in 1967, L & N 2nd edition in 1968, Seaboard in 1969 and Southern 2nd edition in 1970. He then took a two year time-out with the Georgia Railroad & West Point Route 2nd edition published in 1972 along with the Norfolk Southern Railroad issue the same year. 1973 saw the publication of the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac book followed by another two year hiatus. Two 2nd editions followed in 1975, ACL #2 and RF&P #2. In 1976 Prince’s Central of Georgia was

published and then a four-year lull was followed by hisbook on the Norfolk & Western in 1980. The last Prince issued book was the 3rd edition of his Southern Railway book in 1983, the same year in which he retired from the UP. It’s helpful to keep in mind that, along with his book production pace, Prince alone handled 100% of the book distribution. He personally took care of the advertising, billing, banking, packaging and shipping of every one of the some 24,000 books he sold!

In 1998 with his health beginning to fail, Prince was faced with the need to enter an assisted living facility,
meaning that his book distribution activity needed to cease. With substantial quantities of his books still on hand the
disposal of them presented Prince with a dilemma. All ten of his books covered railroads that were absorbed into NorfolkSouthern and CSX, so he wrote to the CEOs of the two railroads with the proposal that he donate the books (four titles to NS and six to CSX) to the respective railroads. Prince suggested that they in turn donate the books to libraries in the communities through which they operate and to donate them to employees upon their retirement. Records of this transaction at CSX were located, but not for NS. The CSX records document the acceptance of Prince’s offer, and the subsequent receiving of a total of 924 books in the six CSX-related titles.

And so the literary career of Richard Prince came to a close. While some of his titles went on to be reprinted
by Indiana University Press (with dust jackets!), the man responsible for their creation was now only peripherally
involved. Prince died in Omaha in December, 2002, survived by his wife, Frances, daughter Ann and his brother, John. He was buried there at Evergreen Cemetery.

Snippets of Early B&O History

Compiled by Robert L. Harvey

On page 88 of the July 23, 1908, issue of Engineering News, a two-page article appeared that was headed
“Reminiscences of Early Days in American Engineering: Recollections of the Late Randolph Brandt Latimer,” with
the following paragraph in the lead:

“As our readers know, some of the most notable work of the first generation of American engineers was
done in connection with the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio R. R. One of the engineers prominently connected
with the work was Randolph B. Latimer. He was born July 26, 1821, and lived to advanced years, dying on Dec. 24,
1903. In 1898 he prepared at the request of his son some brief reminiscences of his early experiences in engineering
work. We are indebted to this son, Mr. James Brandt Latimer, an engineer, of 209 Adams St., Chicago, for the privilege
of publishing the following ex-tracts from this paper….” [I have omitted the second paragraph of the writer’s
lead-in, which gives Latimer’s family connections.]

So begins what to me is a remarkable and fascinating set of recollections by an early engineer. Latimer was
adept with his pen and here are excerpts from his short memoir. - Robert L. Harvey

The First Railroad Strike
“My first recollection of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is walking out with my father on Sunday afternoons
to watch the progress of the work on the Carrollton viaduct, so called from its being on or near the Carrollton estate
of Charles Carroll, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, where the original line of the railroad crosses
Gwynn’s Falls.

“At this time almost all rough labor was done by Irishmen, of whom there were a great many in Baltimore….
About seven miles from Baltimore the line of the railroad first strikes the Elk ridge and a deep cut and high
fill is made there. Quite a large camp of la-borers were gathered at this point and some trouble started with the
contractor. This led to a strike being inaugurated, which in turn resulted in more or less rioting, and the militia of
Baltimore was called out to quell the disturbance.

“Some wag promptly christened the place where the arrests were made ‘Vinegar Hill,’ after the famous
place of that name in Ireland, a name which it bears to this day, and a street song was in everyone’s mouth with a
chorus which ran something like this:
‘I’m all the way from Vinegar Hill,
I never worked and I never will.’

“This, I believe, was the first railroad strike in America.”
[Vinegar Hill, County Wexford, Ireland, was the site of a decisive battle between a group of Irish rebels known as the United
Irishmen, and the British; it took place on July 21, 1798. As for present-day Vinegar Hill, Maryland, I can’t find any such location
seven miles from Baltimore on the original B&O. Possibly a B&O historian can help with the question.] RLH

The Famed Early Excursion to Ellicott’s Mills
“You have frequently heard your mother’s friend, Mrs. Lea, whose father, Dennis Smith, was one of the first
directors of the Baltimore & Ohio, tell in her inimitable way of their experience with a party which was taken to
‘Ellicott’s Mills’ and back behind the engine on its trial trip; how their clothes and umbrellas were ruined by sparks
thrown from the smokestack, they being seated in an open observation car, and how on the return trip when nearing
Baltimore they overtook Mr. Jenifer driving a fine horse on the turn-pike alongside of the railroad; how he, Mr.
Jenifer, challenged them to a race into town, a race which he won owing to the slipping of a belt on the engine.”

C&O Motive Power (Mules and Horses) Frightened by B&O Trains
“In the spring of 1837 I was sent to Harpers Ferry to assist Mr. John Small, who was resident engineer there.
I had had good drafting room experience in Mr. Knight’s office and at Harpers Ferry soon learned the use of the field
instruments — level, transit, theodolite and compass. [Jonathan Knight was the chief engineer of the B&O and a friend of Latimer’s father.] RLH

“I recollect going with Mr. Knight and an officer of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Co. to Point of Rocks to
arrange for building a fence to prevent horses and mules on the tow path of the canal from falling into the Potomac
River when frightened by trains on the railroad. The path was on the embankment between the canal and river, so
that when trains came along the other bank of the canal, animals in shying away from them had frequently fallen
into the river. This had led to complaints against the railroad by the canal, which was none too friendly to the railroad,
as it was looking on it as a dangerous rival. The question was finally settled by the railroad’s building a fence,
as before described.”

Origin of the Name “Gondola” for Coal Cars
“I neglected to mention that the bridge had been completed across the Potomac River and that trains were
running into Harpers Ferry at the time I first went there. A railroad — now the Valley Branch of the Baltimore & Ohio
— had been built for a few miles along the Shenandoah River, and Harpers Ferry was the terminus for both roads.

“The first bridge was not a success and was afterwards replaced by another one, the construction of which
was under my charge. At this time Harpers Ferry was a thriving, prosperous town. The United States Government
maintained a large arsenal and factory for small arms there, and it was the emporium for the rich valley of Virginia.
Up to the time of the opening of the railroad and [Chesapeake & Ohio] canal there had been considerable traffic in
coal carried on the Potomac River. The mountaineers were a sturdy, enterprising race. Timber was plentiful and
quite a business had grown up in building flat boats, called “Gondolas,” as a satire on the Venetian pleasure boats,
which were loaded with coal and floated down the river to Georgetown, where the boat and its cargo were both sold
and the boatmen returned generally on foot. The cars first used on the railroad for the transportation of coal were
named after these boats “gondola cars.”...

An Experimental Roadbed Construction
“The line west of Harpers Ferry [for which Latimer was the resident engineer] was graded for double track.
For a short distance the track was laid with two large timbers, hewed in the woods near by, laid longitudinally, then
across ties on top of these, after which two smaller longitudinal timbers were laid on and spiked to the cross ties and
the rails spiked to these last timbers. The whole thing was filled in with fine crushed stone. This was, I believe, experimental, as only a short distance was laid in this manner.”

The “Grasshoppers”
“When I was on construction from Harpers Ferry to Cumberland — 1839 to 1843 — the so-called “Grasshopper”
locomotives were in universal use. These, as you no doubt remember (having seen two of them which were
used as switch engines at Camden Station when you were a school boy), had vertical cylinders and boilers, the piston
rods working on walking beams like a paddle wheel steam boat.”

Various Rail Sections Used
“Several sorts of rails were used, at this time, a “U” rail, so called, as the “T” rail is now, from the similarity
of its section to that of the letter U inverted; also an “H” rail, so called from a supposed similarity of its section to the
letter H. This rail was intended to be reversible, so that when one side was worn down it could be turned over, and
what had been the bottom turned into the top and an equal amount of wear obtained from it. This was soon found to
be impracticable and the “T” rail adopted which is in service to the present time.”

In mid-1884 the B&O decided not to extend the railroad on to Cumberland, and Latimer was laid off, with
the promise of being rehired when times got better and the line continued on to the west. He and a fellow engineer,
James Randolph, then went into the mercantile business at Patterson’s Creek, Maryland. The business was so successful
that when the B&O in 1847 again picked up the work of building on to Cumberland and invited Latimer to return
to his position, he turned the offer down. His partner Randolph, however, went back to the railroad and eventually
rose to be the chief engineer, then fin-shed his career as a consulting engineer.

Thoughts on Being a Pioneer Engineer
“When I started with the company, no engineering work of any such magnitude had ever been attempted in
this country. What private engineering work had been done was on canals and highways. Harbor and fortification
work had been supervised by the officers of the engineer corps of the army. There was no school or college in the
country except the West Point Military Academy where engineering was taught, and that school had been opened
only a dozen years when work on the Baltimore & Ohio was first started. We had no text books and no past

experience to guide us. Each of us kept private notes and worked out his own formulas. The winter that James Randolph
and myself spent at Sir John’s Run, he and I tabulated a vast quantity of such notes and formulas. It was from
such work as this that Trautwine and Charles Latimer compiled text books for the use of young engineers.” [John C.
Trautwine’s book, The Civil Engineer’s Pocket Book. was a bestseller; it went through several editions and at least 21 printings.]

RLH

Samuel Spencer Postcard Follow-Up

by Dick Hillman

In the Winter 2007 issue of the R&LHS Newsletter your editor advised that the article about the Southern Railway’s president, Samuel Spencer had generated knowledge of the existence of a postcard depicting the wreck in which Spencer had been killed. This rare postcard is now in the collection of the Southern Museum in Kennesaw, Georgia thanks to the generosity of R&LHS member Jim Sheppard who made the donation. The postcard now creates an interesting question. Previous descriptions of the wreck in which Spencer died, state that an all-consuming fire resulted from the collision. However the image on the postcard depicts wreckage untouched by fire. What really did happen?

A Porter Lost and Found

by John H. White

Preserved locomotives can usually be easily located. Some have moved around like unwanted children,
while others rest comfortably in one place for decades. A small Porter 2-4-0, originally the Port Huron & Northwestern
Railroad’s D.B. Harrington, was relocated several times since its completion in 1878. Three years later, it was sold
to Cody and Moore Lumber Company in upper Michigan. It was resold to three other lumber lines before ending
up at a cannery in Glen Haven, Michigan in 1878. It stood outside this plant for four years as a stationary boiler. Its
last owner decided to preserve the now aged steamer as a public display. And so off to a park in Traverse City, Michigan it went in 1933. The Harrington would remain there for another 32 years but only as a loan by its owner, D.H.
Day. By 1965 Mr. Day decided the loan had run its course and began casting about for a buyer. In July of that year
the Cedar Point Amusement Park, nearly Sandusky, Ohio, purchased the engine for possible operation on its tourist
railway. After closer consideration this plan was considered too costly. The engine was given a cosmetic restoration
and placed on display.

While not the D.B. Harrington, this 2-4-0 is almost identical to it. John H. White collection.

In 1981 the owner of Cedar Point, thinking the old veteran deserved a more dignified resting place, offered
the engine to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford accepted the offer a few months later. The donor
volunteered to pay for a second and more complete cosmetic restoration. It was sent by Cedar Point directly to
a repair shop in Navarre, Ohio just a few miles south of Massillon, in early 1982. Rather little work was completed
over the next eight years, for reasons we cannot explain. At the same time the Ford Museum was rethinking its
exhibit plan. It wanted to reach a younger audience and began to divest itself of many older objects; a large public
sale was held. Another nineteenth century locomotive was now considered redundant. In 1990, the little Porter was
deaccesioned and title was given to the Port Huron History Museum. The Harrington was never exhibited nor even
housed at Dearborn as some publications have claimed. Today it remains safely in storage at Port Clinton. One day,
when funding is available, it will again be on display. Meanwhile, I am happy to have located this long lost Porter.
Special thanks to the former Curator at the Ford Museum, Randy Mason, and to his successor, Marc Greuther, as
well as T. J. Gaffney of the Port Huron Museum.

Help Needed From Researchers
In my earlier columns, I have presented short discussions of relevant topics. For this issue, I want to assume
my earlier role as a professor who assigned homework and research topics to advanced students. So here are two
“assignments” in visual form. These are legitimate inquiries, since I have not had a chance to dig out the answers.
Please send me a letter or email with your findings, and they will be published under your byline. My address and
email is in each issue of Railroad History.

Saint Louis & Iron Mountain 4-6-0 No. 40 is a beautiful example of a turn-of-the-centruy design. The workmanship
in the intricate striping is quite remarkable and shows the level of craftsmanship and pride at that time in
American manufacturing. At the top of the cylinders is the builder’s name, Grant, whose works were in Patterson, NJ.
As was common for this period, Stevenson inside valve gear was used. However, a close inspection of the rear driver
shoes an eccentric crank driving some accessory near the firebox, possibly a pump. I do not recall seeing this before
and am quite curious about its function and design. Those of you who have background information on Grant products
may be able to determine this, along with the date of construction. (Photo Collection of David Price)

This November 1947 photo shows a more modern ten-wheeler, MP No. 303, assigned to subsidiary New
Orleans, Texas & Mexico (Louisiana portion of Gulf Coast Lines). It was built in 1903 by Alco Dickson of Scranton, PA, but was rebuilt with a superheater and piston valves. However, its lightweight drivers, with small circular counter
weights, were never replaced. I have seen only two examples of this design and both came from Dickson. Again, I
would like to have more information about the advantages of this shape, as well as which builders used these and for
what period. It is probably that simplified fabrication was the primary motivation for use. (Photo Collection of Arnold Menke)

Comment on the Use of Digital Image Software
The use of modern digital software has come under criticism from some publishers after many photographers
and editors have used it to make drastic changes in contemporary photos. However, the top photo (of St.L &
IM No. 40) shows how this software can also be utilized in the rehabilitation of an old copy negative of a deteriorated
builder’s photo. I believe this software offers the best way to recreate the original image, and give it another century
of lifetime as a record of the early years of American railroading.
I would like to hear from those who have had experience with this process and agree with its usage. Also,
I am interested in hearing from those who have collected deteriorated railroad images (prints, negatives, or printed
page) and would like to have them restored in this manner.

Introducing the Pullman Palace Car
This collection of articles from the late 1860’s and 1870, which report on the introduction of the Pullman sleeping cars,
may inspire you to book a sleeping car trip soon. As one article noted, “the luxuries of travel have been so increased that these berths and state-rooms are engaged in some instances weeks in advance.” Many thanks to Steamdome for sharing these gems with us. DCL

City of New York, built by Aurora Shops, C.B. & Q Railroad, 1866 Collection of Steamdome

From the Cincinnati Commercial, November 11, 1870 -

New Cars on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

At twenty minutes past 3 o’clock, yesterday afternoon, a small part of gentlemen assembled in the depot of the
Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad for the purpose of making a short excursion on the Marietta and Cincinnati Road
to a point known as Madeira, a few miles beyond Madisonville.

The excursion party consisted mostly of railroad men, among whom we noticed Mr. J.W. Pillsbury, Mr. G.B.

Gibson, General Passenger Agent for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Captain Peabody, Master of Transportation,
and Mr. McKee, of the same road. Appropriating one of the cars in waiting at the depot, the party were soon being
whirled over the smooth rails of the road, enjoying themselves in the meantime in a general manner. Leaving the
Indianapolis and Cincinnati Road to connect with the Hamilton and Dayton, the train swept around the city, passing
Brighton, Cumminsville and Spring Grove, to where the Marietta Road leaves the Hamilton and Dayton and cuts off
to the right. Making one or two short stops, the train soon arrived at Madeira, where the excursionists disembarked
and waited for the through train, which, in due time, made its appearance. Re-embarking, we found ourselves ushered
into one of the finest sleeping coaches we remember to have ever had the pleasure of inspecting. Furnished in
magnificent style, with heavy Brussels carpet, rep silk window curtains of a drab color, soft cushioned seats, covered
with fine velvet plush, mirrors which reflected and re-reflected, the car is a marvel of attractiveness. The wood work
throughout is of oiled walnut, set off in excellent taste with silver and gold plated metal.

Entering the car at one end, you pass through the gentlemen’s washroom into the general sleeping department,
which accommodates forty-eight sleepers. Here one of the berths was opened out and made ready as though
for retiring. The bed clothing is of the finest quality, and the curtains, which make the berth a private affair, are of rich,
heavy damask. Opening into this apartment at the other end is a state-room very desirable for a family, and by means
of a passage way leading around it, you immediately enter the ladies’ toilet room, which is fitted up in a manner that
will enable a lady to make a most complete toilet.

The coach is heated by means of steam pipes, connecting with a stove in a separate apartment at one end, and
extending around the inside of the coach in places scarcely observable. The means of lighting up are very convenient.

The coach rides exceedingly easy, being set on the best of springs and resting on twelve wheels. The outside
of the coach is very attractive, also, and in the center on the side appears the name of the car - “Oakland”.

The Baltimore and Ohio railroad are having eighteen of these elegant Pullman coaches constructed, and they
will be placed on the road immediately on their completion. One of them will be attached to every through train. No
old sleeping coaches are to remain in use on the road, the Directors having contracted with the Pullman Car Company
to take them off their hands.

From the Railroad Gazette - May 21, 1870

A Magnificent Train

Last Thursday, at noon, a train of the Pullman Palace Car Company’s cars left this city for Boston, where it is to
receive a party of eminent residents of that city and vicinity for transportation to the Pacific Coast and back, on a pleasure excursion - a little picnic, you know, from the Atlantic to the Pacific - from Faneuil Hall to the Golden Gate and
the Yosemite Valley. This excursion, be it understood, is made for pleasure, a journey of 7,000 miles or thereabouts
made for the fun of the thing! and in summer, too!! and by rail!!

Well, such things have become so common of late that we have almost ceased to notice, not to say wonder, at
them. This one strikes our attention because it extends from the farthest East to the farthest West, and also because the
train in which it is to be made is remarkable for the number and character of its cars.

There are eight in number, the St. Charles, the St. Cloud, the Marquette, the Palmyra, the Revere, and the
Arlington, most of them entirely new. Of these the St. Charles and St. Cloud are commissary cars, each with seats
at table for twenty-two and berths for twenty, an elegant and convenient kitchen, wine closet, etc. The Palmyra and
Marquette are drawing room cars worthy of this name, with rich sofas, curtains and carpets, an elegant cabinet organ,
writing desk and book-case. The Revere and Arlington are hotel cars, much like the commissary cars, with kitchen,
cooking range, china closets, dining rooms, and some sleeping berths. Besides these is the baggage-car, which is handsomely finished, and has half its space divided into closets for storing provisions, ice, etc., and the smoking car. The
latter is decidedly a novelty, not only in its comfort and elegance, but in some of its accommodations. Among these is
a veritable barber’s saloon, with hair-dressers in attendance. In one end of the car is a neat little printing office, from
which a journal, called the Transcontinental, with contributions from the excursionists, and genuine dispatches from
the Associated Press, is to be issued daily during the trip. Only a bath room is needed to make this car complete.

The train is one of four to be run on the Union Pacific line by the Pullman Palace Car Company, the cars being
similar in all respects to those described.

The Palmyra and Marquette were built at Hannibal, Mo.; Revere and Arlington at Aurora; St. Cloud and St.
Charles at the Northwestern Works, in this city [Chicago], and the smoking and baggage cars in Detroit.

The total cost of the train was about $175,000.

All the cars are supplied with Miller’s platform coupler and buffer, Ruttan’s ventilating apparatus, and some
with Baker’s hot water heaters. All are supported on Hebbard car springs.

Altogether, it is probably the finest and most completely appointed train ever seen, and all travelers may
make long trips with all the comforts (barring sea-sickness) attainable on first class steamers.

From the New York Times, April 18, 1867 -

Comfort for Travelers - Pullman’s Palace Sleeping Cars

The party invited by George M. Pullman, the proprietor of the Palace Sleeping Cars, to test the practicability
of establishing a line of hotel cars between New-York and the Rocky Mountains, left here [Albany, NY] this morning
by a special train, which was made up of the grand hotel car “Western World”, the first of the kind ever constructed;
a commissary car, and an elegant day car furnished by Mr. Chittenden, of the Central road, and which will run
through to the Rocky Mountains.

The party consists of Mr. T.C. Durant, Vice President of the Union Pacific Road; Messrs. Sidney Dillon, John
Duff, Oliver Ames and Carter, Directors of the Company; Col Seymour, consulting engineer; Hon. James Brooks,
Miss Brooks, Mr. W. Brooks and Miss Tracy; Hon. Henry J. Raymond and son; Mr. and Mrs. Seth Hale; Gen. G.H.
Simpson, wife and daughter; Dr. White, Mr. and Mrs. G.F. Main, and Winthrop Gray.

The “Western World”, which will take the party to the West, is the best equipped sleeping-car yet built.
While at Albany it was visited by thousands of persons, and the opinion was expressed that if the Central Board
would arrange for running such cars as Pullman’s “Western World”, neither the Legislature nor the people would
object to increased rates of fare. Such cars will some day run through from New-York to San Francisco.

From the Jersey City Evening News - June 11, 1869

The First Through Car to California

The first through car direct from this city to California left here at 5 o’clock last evening, on the New Jersey
Railroad. This car is intended to run the whole distance to Sacramento, and is the first of a number being built for
the accommodation of the through passenger traffic. This car is a “Woodruff Silver Palace Sleeping Car,” built by
Harlan Hollingsworth & Co., for the Central Transportation Company, who run their cars by contract over all the
principal roads of the country. The interior of the car is fitted up in the same elegant and comfortable style peculiar
to the cars of this Company, and furnished with all the conveniences that can be introduced into a railroad car. It
is divided into ten sections as sleeping apartments, each with two berths and two entirely closed state rooms, with
was bowls and water closets. The twenty berths in the main apartment are hidden by elegant curtains and the
bedding is of the best material. When not in use the berths can be closed up and emerged into seats the same as in
other passenger cars. At the side of the car fronting each seat is a small mirror which being moved up reveals behind
it a lamp, and each seat is also provided with a small table for card playing and other purposes. In all respects
the car is one of extreme comfort. Its cost was $15,000. It goes by the way of Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne to Chicago,
thence to Omaha by the northwestern railroad and then by the Union Pacific Railroad to Sacramento. The car is
under the charge of Mr. Phillip Harvey, said to be the oldest sleeping car conductor in the country.

From the New York Times, May 30, 1867

Fort Wayne Road - New Accommodations

We visited on Saturday morning, at the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad depot grounds, on
Madison-street, the sumptuous new silver palace car “Altoona”, the latest of the Central Transportation Company’s
new coaches for their through line to New-York by Pittsburgh and Allentown. Our readers are already well informed
of the leading features of this shortest of all the routes to the seaboard, in dispatching on its through trains four times
each week one of the se sliver palace cars for day and night use. Thus the passenger taking a place in the car in this
city is not required to leave it until reaching the Jersey City Ferry, after a run shorter by two hours than can be made
over any other route, this being, moreover, the only line on which this advantage of through cars is offered. The

desirableness of this system will be appreciated without any detailed explanation, relieving, as it does, the fears and
annoyances of travelers - the timid, the unprotected, or the merely luxurious - from the evils of changing cars under
the pressure and rush for seats, the securing of sleeping berths in advance of arrival, and the crowding of cars en
route. The space, whether berth or state room, paid for here by the traveler, is as exclusively his, throughout the trip
from the lakes to tide-water, as if it was his state-room on an ocean steamer.

The silver palace-cars have deserved their name from the superb solidity and elegance of their finish. There
is nothing garish and merely showy, but all is rich, permanent and for use. The “Altoona” in this respect is superior
even to all its predecessors, and combines qualities that render it one of the most perfect sleeping-cars or saloon-cars
for day use ever put on wheels. It has one quality, like the others in the line, which charms the railroad men - extreme
lightness, compared with other prominent styles of sleeping-cars. These silver palace cars weigh only eighteen tons,
or less than half the weight of some of the more recently built cars on other roads.

By means of the silver palaces thus dispatched four times a week over the Pittsburgh route, the luxuries of
travel have been so increased that these berths and state-rooms are engaged in some instances weeks in advance.
Each car goes through in charge of its own special conductor, in whose care ladies and children travel securely, and
protected against inconveniences and perils of the system of changing cars.

What is this thing called visual culture they keep talking about at the Center for Railroad Photography & Art?
And how can it help us make sense of visual materials about railroads?

Visual culture has been around as a formal academic endeavor for about 25 years, and informally ever since
people began looking at anthropological questions.

One of the visual culture specialists, Nicholas Mirzoeff, a professor at New York University’s Steinhardt
School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, says that visual culture is “not just a part of your everyday
life, it is your everyday life.” That is because anyone with sight is bombarded daily by images. Our society uses and
produces images at an ever increasing and staggering rate. And everything we see or have seen or may see in our lives
is visual culture.

Now, where do railroads fit in? Ever since they came into existence, railroads fascinated people, and they still
do. They became a fundamental part of the visual landscape—visual culture.

They were so beguiling that artists, photographers, illustrators, toy makers, sculptors, and even floral arrangers
made them into two-dimensional and three-dimensional visual works. Last summer in Madison, Wisconsin, at
Cow Parade 2006, artists designed one of the 101 fiberglass cows with a railroad theme (Moo Choo-All Aboard).

But those of us who are interested in railroad photography and art have not fully incorporated our interest
into the world of visual culture and visual culture studies, although we have begun.

That, in a nutshell, is why the Center has embarked on an ambitious new project, an Internet archive called
railroad heritage.org, as a part of its mission to preserve and present significant images of railroading.

An initial web portal—a collaborative effort—will be available for viewing in June, funded by the North
American Railway Foundation. The University of Wisconsin Library has agreed to host the first 1,000 images. Lake
Forest College is providing content and staff for scanning images. More collaborators are being contacted.

A slide show about the project is at www.railroadheritage.org. When images are available, the portal will
replace the slide show at the same URL. By making the images and meaningful descriptions available, in a systematic
manner, the Center expects to boost public and scholarly ability to explore the railroads visually. The captions will put
the objects into wider American and historical cultural contexts.

Building on the partnerships of the Center’s first NARF project, “Representations of Railroad Work,” successfully
completed last September, railroad heritage.org promises to make an even larger contribution to increasing an
awareness of the broad scope of railroad visual culture. The web portal, which will allow images to be added and text
edited at many institutions, offers a new digital model for the railroad heritage community to share resources.

Drawing from institutional and private collections from around the country, the Center will coordinate this enterprise,
bringing this colorful heritage to a single site on the Internet.

The visual culture approach allows us to widen our view—shedding light on the many ways railroads have
touched our lives. From celebrating the engineering marvels—magnificent bridges and tunnels, powerful steam
locomotives and sleek streamliners—to uncovering the self portraits of workers and their friends, and showing the
striking travel posters promising scenic destinations—railroad images make up a visual culture that is rich, colorful,
and sometimes candid. Everyone has experienced the railroad. Images created by enthusiasts, railroaders, artists,
marketing departments, engineering firms, and others have captured these moments.

The Center for Railroad Photography & Art’s online visual culture program can provide an important resource
to photographers, collectors, and scholars alike,” according to Carson Burrington, executive director of the
Center. “We are excited by the prospects.”

Visual culture includes sheet music and patent drawings. This illustration of a man getting off the train is from the cover of I’ll Be in My Dixie Home Again To-morrow, a song published in 1922.                 John Lawler submitted the drawing of “floating draw-bridges” for a patent granted in 1874; the bridges (two were required for two channels) spanned the Mississippi River between Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and Marquette, Iowa.

Southern California Chapter Program Features Pacific Electric

The March meeting of the Southern California Chapter featured a program on the Pacific Electric, based on the
slides in Chapter Vice-Chairman Joe Bodino. The program generated a large turnout, and Chapter members are looking
forward to another presentation of Joe’s work at the April meeting, where the topic will be Southern Pacific’s Taylor
Yard in Los Angeles. On February 24, the Chapter enjoyed a tour of the Metrolink Operations Center and of Union
Pacific’s (nee Southern Pacific’s )West Colton Yard. [For those interested in learning more about the history of rail operations in Los Angeles, I highly recommend The Southern Pacific in Los Angeles, 1873-1996, by Larry Mullaly and Bruce Petty. Golden West Books and The Los Angeles Railroad Heritage Foundation, 2002] DCL

New York Chapter Studying the New York, Susquehanna & Western

During January, February and March, the New York Chapter enjoyed programs on the New York, Susquehanna
& Western, Denver & Rio Grande Western narrow gauge freight service in the 1960’s, and former New York Central
business car 3, NYC Lot 2047.

Focus on the Susie Q was through a commercial film on the railroad, which was modified by the insight and
comments of Jim Guthrie.

The program on the NYC business car was presented by car owner Lovett Smith, who presented a DVD showing
off the car, and told of some of the problems of keeping the car in operation. Lovett’s punch list includes three
pages of basic annual items and seven pages of special items for this year.

The New York Chapter meets every month in the Williamson Library at Grand Central Terminal in New York
City.

Southeast Chapter Member Lyle Key Reports on European Rail Trip

The February issue of the Southeast Chapter’s newsletter, Southeast Limited, featured the first installment of a
report by Lyle Key on his trip with his wife to Scotland and England, where they enjoyed extensive rail travel. Lyle’s
report is well written, and includes six color photographs. If you’re interested in rail travel in Europe, and would like
a copy of the article, just drop a note in the mail to: Southeast Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, P.O. Box 43534, Jacksonville, Florida 32203-3534. [Those interested in European rail travel should also check out the tours and excellent guides to overseas railroading published by Editorial Advisory Board member George Drury. You may reach George via his website, www.georgedrury.com.] DCL

Chicago Chapter Learns About Milwaukee Road Alcos

The Chicago Chapter enjoyed a program presented by Ted Schnepf, who once worked for the Milwaukee
Road, focused on the congregation of Milwaukee Alcos in and around Winona, Minnesota. Winona also saw many
Alcos from the Chicago & North Western, as well as the Green Bay & Western.

The Milwaukee Road had track in no less than five directions from the Winona-La Crosse area - to Menomonie
and Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and its Twin Cities main line directly out of Winona; and the manin line to
Milwaukee and Chicago south out of town. Out of LaCrescent, on the west side of the Mississippi River, below Winona,
a line ran down the west bank of the river into Iowa; and a secondary line plodding across the southern tier of
Minnesota went to such exotic places as Zumbrota, Albert Lea, and Pipestone, before eventually winding up in South
Dakota. The Chicago & North Western had its line across western Wisconsin, through Minnesota and South Dakota,
all the way to Rapid City and filled it with so many Alcos tha it became known as the Alco Line. Finally, the 250-mile
Green Bay & Western, which was 100% Alco-powered, from Kewaunee and Green Bay, Wisconsin, terminated at
Winona, coming over the Mississippi on the Winona Bridge Company’s very short line - so short, it didn’t even have a
locomotive to its name.

Southwest Chapter Briefing

At the January meeting, board members re-elected the current officers to continue in their posts. Harry Bean
as Chairman, Charles Zlatkovich as Vice-Chairman, Robert Kelly as Treasurer-Membership, and Ronald Dawson as
Secretary. The Southwest Chapter is continuing its affiliation with the Railroad and Transportation Museum of El Paso
and with the Paso del Norte Streetcar Preservation Society. The SW Chapter continues to be responsible for the care
and keeping of the city’s steam engine, ex-SP 2-8-0 No. 3420, as well as its own rolling stock including several freight
cars, two cabooses, and a heavyweight Pullman. All rolling stock is stored at the Phelps-Dodge Refinery. The chapter
meets monthly on the second Wednesday at Avila’s Restaurant in El Paso at the corner of Montana and Yarbrough
Aves. The meeting consists of a short business meeting followed by a program. Attendance at monthly meetings has
increased and averages 20-25. For further information, contact Ron Dawson, Secretary, at 915-626-5605.