Frisco steam fans will recognize immediately the locomotive on which these three builder’s plates is placed. The Cyrillic characters and serial number are a dead giveaway that these plates belong to one of the Frisco’s Baldwin Bolsheviks, and in this case number 1621. The third builder’s plate, the heart-shaped plate from the Locomotive Firebox Company of Chicago, is a curiosity. Heart-shaped?? It’s a bit different than the Lima diamond, the ALCO rectangle, or the Baldwin disc to be sure. The fact that it has been bolted onto the smoke box as opposed to the Baldwin plates, which are held in place with rivets, is an indication that this is an “after market” appliance. Frisco steam fans know that the Locomotive Firebox Company’s Heart appears on the other Frisco classes so-equipped with this appliance. This morning, quite by accident, I discovered a Locomotive Firebox Co. advertisement from 1931 which proclaimed the Company’s slogan, “The Heart of the Locomotive”. It all makes sense to me now.
