Happy Labor Day 2018!

Mechanic on ladder servicing K4s engine, by Don Wood, undated photo, Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Collection

(Neg. 0391, Box 2, RR2016.18)

Happy Labor Day 2018 everyone! I'm sharing this photo from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. It's a photo by the famous late Don Wood of a machinist working on a Class K4s (4-6-2). It's not labeled, but it could be in South Amboy, NJ in the early 1950's because that was a place that Don frequented at this time. Either way, what a neat shot (like a lot of Don's photos).

Cambridge, MD Station on June 10, 1965, by John P. Stroup

From the Morning Sun book: “Trackside on the PRR Delmarva Lines 1965-1967 with John P. Stroup”

This is a photo of the Cambridge station on June 10, 1965, by John P. Stroup on Page 113 of the excellent Morning Sun book “Trackside on the PRR Delmarva Lines 1965-1967 with John P. Stroup” (2008, ISBN 1-58248-162-8). It's located on (roughly) the corner of Trenton Street & Market Street/Maryland Avenue in downtown Cambridge, adjacent to Cambridge Creek.

If you haven't read or own a copy of this book (or the other Morning Sun book “Pennsylvania Railroad Facilities in Color, Volume 4: Chesapeake Division" by Robert J. Yanosey [2009]), you need to buy it.

At the time of John's photo, the PRR had already sold the station to Trailways bus company & they were using it as a ticket agency & bus stop. It would change hands over the years & now is occupied by Charles C. Powell Realtors.

What I like with this shot is that you can see the PRR's freight station adjacent to the passenger station. Look at the "Railway Express" sign on the side of the building facing the passenger station! The PRR was using the freight station as a freight agency & the crew sign-up location for the trains running on the Secondary Track (down to only one crew at this time in the PRR's history).

Unfortunately, the freight station doesn't stand today, but it's neat to see things from the past. (Man - I wish I owned that "Railway Express" sign!).

Happy 4th of July 2018!

"Declaration of Independence," by John Trumbull, 1818

Happy 4th of July everyone! This the "Declaration of Independence," by John Trumbull in 1818 (oil on canvas, 12' x 18'). It was placed in the U.S. Capitol's Rotunda in 1826. What's interesting is this actually depicts June 28, 1776 (not July 4, 1776 as a lot of folks [including me] thinks is the actual date of this painting).

Phillips Delicious Soup Pirate

Phillips Delicious Soup Pirate

I find this undated Phillips Delicious advertisement (possibly in the late 1920's or 1930's?) just so darned cute. This young little lady (dressed as a pirate) is holding a can of "Pepper Pot" soup & they used a Phillips Delicious cardboard box as the "treasure chest." Inside you can see a can of "Vegetable" & also a can of "Chicken Gumbo" soup.

What's interesting: notice the cardboard box is actually labelled for their "Tomato Juice" & not for soup.

I'd love to know the actual date Phillips ran this advertisement.

PRR Cambridge, MD Val Maps

I thought I'd post two ICC Valuation Maps (or Val Maps) for the track approaching & in Cambridge, MD from 1923 & 1924. Basically, the ICC wanted the railroads to show what property they owned (including structures) & their general track layout. 

PB&W.DRR.v03.MD-68 c1923 Delaware Div Cambridge Branch 200g, PRRT&HS files

The first map is the approach from the south & it is from 1923 & it shows the wye at the Phillips Packing Company.

PB&W DRR.v03.MD-69 c1924 Delaware Division Cambridge Branch - Cambridge, MD, PRRT&HS files

This second map is downtown Cambridge in 1924. The 2 tracks on the top of the diagram (above the circled #1) go to the team tracks used by various industries that didn't have direct rail access (i.e., small seafood & agricultural jobbers, hardware stores, etc.). The track on the bottom right goes to Cambridge Manufacturing & Dorchester Fertilizer. The track going straight across the Maryland Avenue crossing & to the harbor (where it says, "end of track") went to E.M. Skinner, Jr. & Company (wholesale grocers).

The track didn't change much, other than there were sidings added around Phillips Packing Company &, in Cambridge, the yard had a few tracks removed & one of the team tracks actually became a siding for several companies (more on that on another post).

Modern-Day Cambridge Cannery Park

This is a really neat plan for the former Phillips Packing Company property in Cambridge. I love the fact that they're going to put pavers down to make it look like the track is still there. Awesome!

Here's a link to their flyer:

http://visitdorchester.org/wp-content/uploads/Cannery-Park-Master-Plan-Flyer-050818.pdf

Dorchester & Delaware Railroad Combination Car of 1874

Here's a really neat builder's photo of the Dorchester & Delaware Railroad's combination smoking, baggage, & mail car at Jackson & Sharp Works in Wilmington, DE in 1874 (the exact date is not known). This is from the Delaware Public Archives collection. She arrived in the D&D's 5th year of operations.

Dorchester & Delaware Railroad Baggage car in 1874, Jackson & Sharp Works builders photo, 

Delaware Public Archives collection.

I'd love to build this car as a display item (it's a little too early for my model railroad operations). Of course, that Bachmann American-type (4-4-0) still looks enticing as a “W. Wilson Bryn” stand-in. Although it would require a lot of re-working the boiler, moving the stack & headlight forward, replacing the tender trucks, yadda, yadda, yadda...

Dorchester & Delaware Railroad's "W. Wilson Byrn" on an unknown date, an unknown location & by an unknown photographer, Delaware Department of Transportation collection.

Bachmann Trains' DCC Ready (HO American 4-4-0) Pennsylvania Railroad 51005, Bachmann Trains photo.

I can always dream.