Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
Unlike some shop cats, we haven’t been lying down on the job. Plenty to come in 2025… 🐈⬛
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👀 Coming (really) soon….
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🛠️🧑🏭 Building up to a new documentary release with these fine folks. Stay tuned!
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Convenience recently brought us to visit Western Maryland No. 202 in Hagerstown, Md., the only surviving mainline steam locomotive from that railroad. These days, it's sparking up some controversy in the preservation community as the City of Hagerstown considers where the locomotive's next stop will be — continued display and possible cosmetic restoration at the City Park Train Hub museum, where it has been since 1953, or relocation to the @westernmarylandrail in nearby Cumberland for a proposed restoration that could see it operating over the same rails it was built to ply.
⬇️ What's your take on the matter? Sound off with your respectful comments below. ⬇️
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📣 Ever wondered what it's like to chase steam on the mainline — or WHY?
Coming to Pennsy Productions later this month, a deep dive into the art, or perhaps the madness, of the mainline steam excursion chase, as Reading & Northern No. 2102 plies rails it hasn't known for half a century. Take it from the dozen railfans we spoke to from all corners of the United States: it is anything but straightforward.
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There's plenty MO to come this year.
Watch this space like a HAWK.
www.americanloco.org
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#ThrowbackThursday — Today’s photo comes from a collection of privately owned slides from the dying days of steam in and around Milwaukee, Wis.. Most of them are captioned with flowery descriptors of late steam and early diesel — except for this one: “Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 type on freight near Milwaukee.” That was all the introduction the Milwaukee’s 4-8-4s needed.
Let’s introduce them anyway. This one, No. 204, came from Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1937 as the fourth of 30 class S-2s. The S-1 preceded this class by seven years, originally consisting of one locomotive numbered 9700, later 250. In 1938, No. 250 was duplicated by the West Milwaukee Shops, becoming the second S-1 No. 251 and the last steam locomotive built there. Following was another order 10 of S-2s, built in 1940 by Baldwin, and finally the 10 S-3s, arriving from the American Locomotive Company in 1944, and also the last steam locomotives ever built for the Milwaukee Road. That made for a total of 52 locomotives.
Evident in how early and often they ordered these locomotives, the Milwaukee, like many roads of the time, embraced the Northern. They equipped them with the latest technology of the time — firebox circulators, exhaust steam injectors, one-piece cast frames, roller bearings and more. With their 74-inch drivers, they were equally capable in freight and passenger service, but freight was where they saw the lion's share of their work. Most of them were coal burners working in the eastern half of the system, but select engines were converted to burn oil and sent to the west.
Postwar dieselization came in droves on the Milwaukee Road, and the Northerns, modern as they seemed, were no better off than the rest of the steam roster. Retirement came for the first of them in 1953, and by 1956 there was not one 4-8-4 left in service on the railroad.
Two were saved, both of them S-3s: No. 265, displayed in the Illinois Railway Museum, and No. 261, whose status can go without saying thanks to the Friends of the 261.
Why Milwaukee? This collection of slides originated from various photographers associated with Kalmbach Media, the original publisher of @trainsmagazine3026, Model Railroader and other special interest publications. Most of them were sold this year to Firecrown Media, and after these publications relocate to Chattanooga, Tenn., Kalmbach will become defunct after 90 years in business.
Milwaukee, Wis., was the home of Kalmbach — as it was for its founder and namesake, Al C. Kalmbach, who took this photo.
@FiredUpTrains collection.
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The Most Riveting Stories in Railroading
"The story tellers, gathering attention into their tales, spoke in great rhythms, spoke in great words because the tales were great, and the listeners became great through them."
- John Steinbeck
Pennsy Productions has built a strong reputation for quality since our founding in 2018, and through our videos, we tell the most riveting stories in railroading. How do you save a railcar from scrap in your own backyard? What does it take to restore a mainline steam locomotive in the 21st Century? What can a new rail preservation initiative do to keep in tune with the ever-changing times? How does a passion for railroading blossom, and why do so many share such a passion? We're exploring these questions and countless more — and you'll be hard-pressed to find content like ours anywhere else.
If you like what you see, climb aboard and subscribe!