Chasing Trains - Big and Little
Last month we reported on the beginning of the
restoration of Union Pacific Big Boy # 4014. The
March 2014 issue of Trains Magazine has an article which
reports another WWII era locomotive being restored.to
operating condition.
A group in Wasilla
Alaska is restoring Alaska RR 2-8-0 # 557 for service.
The 557 is one of the few remaining of 2,120 class
S-160 locomotive built for the US Army Transportation
Corps in 1942-1945. The 557 was built by
Baldwin in 1944.
These engines were by Baldwin
Alco, and
Lima and were shipped to
power short roads like the Alaska and for military use
all over the world during WWII'
In the early 1940's I
can remember several of these engines dead in tow
passing both east and west through
Wilkinsburg and
Edgewood.in route to
various military theaters.
Many of these engines served in England prior to D-day
and in various European Countries after WWII.
Thanks to my Nephew , I have run across a real asset for
the ferroequinologist.This
is a tear off desk calendar titled A YEAR OF TRAIN
TRIVIA.by Sellers Publishing
Co. of South
Portland Me. and the B&O
Railroad museum in Baltimore.
It is available locally from
Barnes and Noble Each daily page has a photo and
brief description of a railroad subject.