found some old pictures today

[Chango Malo]

Not of me, I wasn't born yet. Not for another 10 years.
The engineer on this locomotive is my Grandfather. Photographs taken by his brother Bill. I didn't know I had these, found them in an old book of my Grandfather's I finally pulled off the shelf to read. Reading a book he had owned is always an adventure, he tended to write a crapton of notes and thoughts in the margins. It's like reading a review as you go along complete with all kinds of extra info and suchlike.
Well, except for his western novels, those apparently were sacred. Non-fiction though was fair game.

Anyways, these two photos were stuffed in there, nice and safe. Good thing the book was printed on good glossy stock, didn't mess up the photos at all. They're prints made from slides, all processed by my grandfather and uncle Bill.

 

[judson]

definitely cool...reminded me of an old electric model train engine that my grandfather gave me as a kid....looked just like that

have no clue where it is today....

where and when was that, do you know?

 

[Chango Malo]

definitely cool...reminded me of an old electric model train engine that my grandfather gave me as a kid....looked just like that

have no clue where it is today....

where and when was that, do you know?

first one is in the Richmond St. yard in Painesville, Ohio. Second is north of the S curve at Swine Creek. Both taken on June 8, 1956.

 

[Howard2k]

Those are great shots. Very nice.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

first one is in the Richmond St. yard in Painesville, Ohio. Second is north of the S curve at Swine Creek. Both taken on June 8, 1956.

Good year,.... good year....

 

[sonar1]

I love those huge “big boy” type locomotives.
Standing next to one at the Golden, Colorado railroad museum was awesome.
HUGE castings! Like the Titanic on rails.

 

[Chango Malo]

I love those huge “big boy” type locomotives.
Standing next to one at the Golden, Colorado railroad museum was awesome.
HUGE castings! Like the Titanic on rails.

That's not a 'big boy'. That's a Baltimore and Ohio RR EM-1. Much more betterer.

 

[JTM45]

Man those are cool, I remember seeing a couple old locomotives run when I was a kid, it was rare to see them but man they are cool

 

[Pop1655]

Very cool!

 

[KTM]

Great photos! Very cool that you found those. Steam engines are impressive.

 

[Soul Tramp]

Like the old sailing ships, steam locomotives conjure feelings of man's greatness and mastery of a time when there was still much mystery in the world.

 

[slug]

Outstanding! I love old b&w photos. Especially street scenes and industrial subject matter. Thanks for posting.

 

[Olds442]

that is some serious Americana going on right there.

congrats, just like you are @cjpeck , your grandfather was a bad ass!

mucho respecto.

 

[Sct13]

wow what a great family find...!

Love those steam beasts....

 

[Sct13]

can you see how many wheels on that front bogie....

Tha'ts either a 2-8-8-4 or a 4-8-8-4

big engine.....

 

[Chango Malo]

Oh, I've got tons of slides from my grandfather and uncle bill. Not many prints at the moment, but slides are easier to store anyways, just make sure it's freakin' dark...
A friend of mine picked up a slide scanner to convert his family's slide collection to digital. At some point I'll probably borrow it and convert the stuff I have. There's tons of stuff from the late 20's up through the 80's. Stuff from when my grandfather worked for the B&O and uncle Bill ran on the Pennsy. Those two guys had a helluva rivalry going. I used to go over to Horseshoe Curve by Altoona with my grandfather. He loved to 'watch the damned pennsy burn their junk up' grinding up the curve even though it was PennCentral by then. It was still the Pennsy to him. Hell, he didn't like the NYC much better, but did say nice things about NYCentral steam engines, particularly the Niagaras, he thought those were great engines even if "the commodore screwed the pooch tryin' to get fancy with the firebox, should've left well enough alone"... Still, I got to hang out on summer weekends on horseshoe and other great places like Sandpatch grade, Williamson yard, and lots of others. There was nothing like eating a ham and cheese on horseshoe curve and watching a string of old F units struggle uphill with a traction motor on fire. Good times...

can you see how many wheels on that front bogie....

Tha'ts either a 2-8-8-4 or a 4-8-8-4

big engine.....

B&O EM-1, so a 2-8-8-4.

 

[Sct13]

Awesome! Wow great history there.... I have video on the history of the B & O somewhere, lots of great footage.

 

[Chango Malo]

Pulled out a small reel of B&W 8mm film and ran it over to transfer to digital. I think this is about the best I can get it on this equipment. Not bad for 64 year old film stock.
Anyways, again my Grandfather is the engineer on the helper pushing on the end. The fireman on that trip was Earl Hensel, you can see him sticking his head out the cab window as they pass the camera. Earl was a Korean war vet, had some lingering 'issues' but was a great guy when I was as kid. You could count on him for a little pogey bait every time.
First shot is a coal drag being shoved up the grade just in front of the Swine Creek bridge a little south of Middlefield. The second shot is them backing the helper back to grab the next train, Bill moved a few hundred feet up the line. Most likely he had run into Middlefield to grab a beer or two at the winkie bar and didn't have time to walk all the way back up to the S curve.

 

[KTM]

Wow, very cool! If only that had sound, I love the sound of a steam engine running hard. I live near railroad tracks and a train actually passed by as I watched this. The sound of it was a let down.

 

[Sct13]

Amazing ... thanks for sharing !!

incredible machines, nothing like steam power