B&O Dockside Identification

[Jumijo]

Can anyone identify the square part with the white dots just above the foot board on the fireman's side?

 

[rcdrye]

That may be an array of low-voltage lights for warning motorists.  Pratt Street was also shared by WB&A interurbans before 1935 and other streets where the Docksides operated also had Baltimore Transit streetcar operations.  Assuming a 32V turbogenerator for the headlight, those look about right for 32V bulbs.  A "photo of the day" from 2016 shows something bright in the same position.

http://ctr.trains.com/photo-of-the-day/2016/02/bo-dockside-0-4-0t

[Jumijo]

Thank you for your reply, RCDRYE. Because I'm not a subscriber, I can't see the photo you have linked, but assuming it's the night switching of the Baltimore News building, I did notice several lanterns on the front of the boiler as well. Were low-voltage light arrays a common thing during that time period?

[rcdrye]

I don't know if arrays like that were common.  It has a homemade look to me. 32V has been a standard marine voltage for a long time, so I would think the bulbs were readily available in Baltimore.

[Miningman]

Tried posting the pic but did not work..sorry.

[rcdrye]

You can get at it without being a subscriber.  On the Classic Trains web site under "Subscriber Extras" is the Photo of the Day.  Click on that to get to the past photos of the day.  "0-4-0" in the search box will get you a few, including the Dockside.

I'll throw in my plug for subscribing.  It's a pretty good deal, full of good writing and lots of pictures you won't find anywhere else.

[Anonymous]

Wonder how many railfans use the Classic Trains Forum but don't subscribe to the magazine?  I'm certain there will be a few who will say it can be compared to a hobo who hops a free ride on a freight instead of paying for a ticket to ride the varnish.  I confess that I'm not a subscriber.  Despite the fact I'm retired and on a fixed income I could still afford to take out a subscription to CT but being from the old school (it burned down a few years ago remember) I want no less than a 100 pager!  Please note that I'll gladly pay up front for CT when it contains those 100 pages which translates of course into an increase in the price of the magazine to cover production. 

However, we are well into Century 21 and with so much material in the Kalmbach files (both prose and pix) and much additional submitted by railfans Everywhere West and elsewhere else as well, it would be so easy to include 100 pages in every issue of this excellent quarterly publication.  Better yet, start printing CT as a 76 page bi-monthly with the adjusted cover price to cover the cost for the additional two issues released on a yearly schedule.

Either way, I'll subscribe!  Until then, sorry, I'll just remain trackside and wave to the engineer or fireman, depending on which side of the track I'm on when the train shows up. 

A comment on the B&O Dockside.  When HO scale model railroading started to become popular after WWII there probably wasn't a Brass Hat who didn't have at least one of these attractive looking 0-4-0Ts on their layout.  Even the late great John Allen included one on the roster of his fabled Gorre & Daphetid! 

Manufactured by Varney, and advertised in Model Railroader, the Dockside probably can be considered the "Little Engine That Could"...and did...that helped Gordon Varney become solvent enough to continue investing in new products at the time.

I imigine Irv Athearn kicked himself in the caboose more than once for not having had the idea first to market an inexpensive little locomotive like the B&O Dockside that every GI could afford after just being released from military service who was returning to civilian life on a limited budget, busy starting a family, but also yearned to constuct an HO scale layout in his spare time as well.   

Look at period photos close enough and you'll see lots and lots of Athearn freight cars being switched or pulled by the Varney Dockside!  For Irv Athearn, it was no doubt a Dream Derailed indeed, and I bet Gordon Varney was seen laughing all the way to the bank at the same time! 

[BaltACD]

Jumijo

Can anyone identify the square part with the white dots just above the foot board on the fireman's side?

 

#98 earning is pay switching paper cars for the Baltimore News American plant on Pratt Street.

[RME]

How does the evidence 'square' with a metal panel studded with those glass 'reflector' cateyes?  A predecessor of the reflective prismatic (corner reflector) lenses used on things like automobile taillights?