View of the Big 4 depot railroad station in Fairmont, Indiana. The one story wooden building is located next to the railroad tracks. A signal is mounted in the middle of the structure. Photo supplied by Robbie Blue
Nice photo, Roger. What strikes me about seeing photos of 100+ year old locos head on, is the small diameter of the boiler on top of a very wide frame, as if they would roll off if they weren't tied down. They seem toy-like compared to the massive boilers fifty years later.
The train is headed south . I can't find the engine #, of course you have to be able to read it first . The last two # are 44 and maybe the first two are 72 .If someone can tell let us know . I have no doubt that it is a 4-4-0 . I would think the rail was 65 lbs. to the yard and that is small to be running 40 -50 mph . This is the home town of James Dean ,The movie actor . Some time in the early 60s we were north bound at 40 mph on a Sunday morning with about 60 cars of coal and two covered wagons . The crossing located at the location from where the photo was taken with the ,flasher's working , an auto drove on the crossing and stalled . It was clear that the engine had stalled and an old man jumped out with his cane and tried to shove it from the track . About this time the man behind him jumped out and tried to help pull it from the track . The last I saw of the old man was he was clear of the train but was pushing back on the auto trying to remove it from the track . We hit the auto taking it out of the old man's hands knocking over the flasher post . I think the man stalled at the crossing jumped out but left the car in gear and that was the reason they could not push the auto from the track . The old man turned out to be James Dean's grandfather . A conductor told me that James would throw rocks at the caboose and he had chased him al over town but could never catch him .This conductor was a fast runner and I would tell the new men that I had seen him run along beside rabbits and feel of them to see if they were fat enough to keep . Well that is it for this time , LEW
Thanks for sharing your experience there at Fairmount, LEW. I like your sense of humor about the conductor. Thanks for the photo, Roger.
Charlie,you are correct . This photo was taken 1910-1920 and the operation was time table ,train order . Manual block did not come in until 1928 . LEW
