Folks - The Southeast Missourian newspaper website has a nice "Railroads Historical Gallery" that I'd not noticed until this morning. While it's only 16 photos, many of them are ones that I've never seen before. There are two Cape Girardeau Northern locomotives and a CGN caboose, C&EI train running in flood water in the early 1900s, and a couple of MoP photos for good measure. http://www.semissourian.com/gallery/7921 The C&EI train is the first photo I've ever seen of one of their trains from the Yoakum era. Jim James and Manny, I'm thinking some CGN motive power would look good on your layouts! Best Regards,
That was great! A good mix of Frisco in there along with the local lines and the MoPac. My how times have changed. Today's trains NEVER go through flood waters of any kind. They had steel cahonies (sp) back then! Nice. Very nice indeed.
Nice, Chris. I'm one step ahead of you. I'm turning a Roundhouse 2-6-0 into a CGN loco and posing her on a diorama of the Goodhope Street underpass. You should look for a book called Cape Girardeau, City of Roses. Lots of cool photos. I really like the little steamer working the ferry. There's a layout in the 2012 Great Model Railroads depicting Kansas City in the 1890s( Manny, you should enjoy this layout) and there's a loco that looks very similar. I want one. Thanks again for the link. Jim
It's not a matter of a lack of cahonies (sp) regarding running today's trains through flood waters - it's a matter of traction motors. They don't work real well when submerged in water. Ken
You're exactly right, Ken. The damage when water gets in the traction motor windings is permanent and expensive. Besides, blindly moving a train through flood waters is not always an intelligent thing to do regardless of motive power.
Jim, et all, I have multiple MDC 2-6-0 kits which are getting Cary Pittsburgh Boilers modified to fit them. I have the old article from 40+ years ago where 50" Mantua drivers replace the big MDC's and the body is adopted to the frame. These engines, two of which will be built, will be for the S.A.F&N, which had only 4-4-0's, 2-6-0's and one Rodgers style 4-6-0 very close to the Mantua version. Since the article is 40+ years old and is NOT being republished for profit, can I post up the conversion article here? I don't want to violate any copyright laws. If someone wants it, I can email it to them as well. Chris, I will look at that layout. I wish I had a huge building, like 30x30 to work in for a layout. Then I could do the SA&AP down to Corpus Christi/Port Aransas which had an identical train/ferry set-up and a huge train bridge across the bay. If I had enough room for the S.A.F&N, then I could also model the very first tunnel ever made in Texas. That would be a joy.
Just what I would expect from boxcars with power, but that's for another thread, another time, another forum...
The photo gallery was created by my new friend at the Missourian, Sharon Sanders as result of some of my requests for photos. She is in the process of adding more, including aerials showing industries served and the trackage in the Cape area.
