I have always liked trains, but I am new to this. The St. Louisan raced a car (1915 Cadillac V-8) from Indianapolis to Terra Haute, IN, on August 29th, 1915 at noon and the car won. The time for the car was 72 miles in 77 minutes. Apparently the train (engine) in the early 1950's painting of the event is not correct. I read somewhere where it stated the engine would have had a "square Belpaire firebox," which the painted train does not have. So the first question is what was the engine on this train? Secondly, pictures were taken, and apparently some moving pictures will also taken, possibly by one of the local newspapers, and no one can find any of the pictures? Maybe they got thrown out, or maybe they are stuffed away in someone's attack (a dream), and long forgotten about. My question is, with all of these train experts out there, why hasn't someone from Indiana gone on a search for these photos?
Thank you
Jim Greene
Found this :
CadRocketI have always liked trains, but I am new to this.
Welcome to the forums! There are a lot of knowledgeable people here, and they can usually answer any questions you may have.
I hope you get the answer that you are looking for.
York1 John
I'm suprised the name of the railroad's not mentioned in the news article. If it was the Pennsylvania that would certainly settle the question about the locomotive having a Belpaire boiler.
Cadillac beats Train
aboard!
Same me, different spelling!
MiningmanCadillac beats Train https://www.tribstar.com/community/historical-perspective-in-search-of-harry-o-mcgee/article_c3d8ff89-be4b-5d54-b302-3b1cb9746ce2.html http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/m/mcgee/mcgee.htm
Almost sounds like at trip on I-70 today (I-70 parallels the route of the 'National Road' from Baltimore West). The only thing missing is the Indiana State Police pulling over the 'speeder'.
Also missing are the Interstate Rest Areas with the 'Truck Parking' spaces all filled and the entrance and exit ramps of the Rest Areas having trucks parked on both sides of the ramps 'resting' the Electronic Log Books.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Thank you for all of the newspaper articles. I believe the Louisian was a subsidary of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Not mentioned in the article were the sections of the "National Road" where the Terre Haute Indianapolis & Eastern occupied the middle of the road, where the tracks remained until the end of interurban service in 1940 under Indiana Railroad.
Vandalia RR
No shortage of newspaper articles on this famous race. No mention of the type of engine that was pulling the St. Louisan, or what happened to all of the photos taken of the race.
Thx
Apparently the Vandalia line was a subsidary of the PRR
Jim
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