I recently acquired this item and would like some information. It is a cast brass or bronze plate measuring 6 x 6 x 3/8 inches and weighs 9 lbs. It is clearly a reproduction, and may have been produced to raise money for the restoration of loco 819 in the early 1980's. On the back are cast letters "CBRHS". If anyone can verify this, or provide different info, please let me know. ALSO, I would like to know how the original item from which it was reproduced was used. any information will be greatly appreciated. Kent Loudon
Oops. Wrong forum. This is the St. Louis-San Francisco RY forum. You want the St. Louis Southwestern RY. I'll move this topic over to the SP (Includes the SSW). CBRHS is the Cotton Belt Rail Historical Society. A Google search should turn up something, hopefully a home web site.
The Cotton Belt's L1 northerns had these Gin Saw herald medallions mounted on their cylinders. A friend of mine in the Dallas area has one of these. I'm sure CBRHS had them made as a fund raiser for the restoration of L1 #819 at Pine Bluff. The restoration of L1 #819 began with its removal from a Pine Bluff park on December 1, 1983. The locomotive was moved to the Cotton Belt's shop where restoration work was completed by early April 1986. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ssw_819 for a description on the restoration. There is a photo of this cylinder medallion on this Wikipedia page. The article on Wikipedia was mostly written by a CBRHS member who was and still is deeply involved with the Arkansas Railroad Museum and the 819. And I'm the same person (SSW9389) who edited the Wikipedia article and has written a Cotton Belt book. Ed Cooper CBRHS #114 Cotton Belt Chapter
Thanks for the info, and I appreciate the fact that it represents part of a Cotton Gin. I plan to give it an authentic appearance with black background. There is currently an original for sale on eBay at close to $3000! I probably paid too much, so I am wondering how many of the repros were made, and what might be a reasonable price for one. Kent
