Wanswheel- Benjamin Franklin Yoakum was Chairman of the Frisco in 1904 and later purchased over 1300 acres of the Bethpage Tract in Farmingdale, New York.
Miningman, yes, your turn.
112-Pound Melon Grown in Texas
Whole Flat Car to Be Used to Ship Fruit to Long Island
FARMINGDALE. N. Y., Sept. 7. [1912] Some day next week a flat car will be shunted down the Long Island railroad tracks as far as Farmingdale. On it, braced on two sides, will be one watermelon the biggest ever grown in Texas. It will be delivered at the summer home of B. F. Yoakum, head of the Frisco lines. The melon Weighs 112 pounds, so a dispatch to Yoakum says…
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fyo01
Benjamin Franklin Yoakum was a giant among men and a true inspiration to all of us. I urge others to read his bio. He was and still is correct in extolling the virtues of living outside the city in smaller farming communities and commuting to work if necessary. He would easily fit in to today's society. This guy did it all!
This steam locomotive wheel arraignment, signifying its name, was very popular in the United States with many railroads operating large fleets of them. One railroad in particular identified itself, especially by the rail fan community, and also by its service with these locomotives. Now for some reason, a real anomaly, up here in Canada, despite having thousands and thousands of steam locomotives of every type including the largest fleet of Northerns by a single railroad, there were only two of this popular type ever operated in Canada. They were specifically identified as the right match for a particular service on a very important railroad that was neither of the two dominant roads Canadian National or Canadian Pacific. They went on public display in this city before entering service and were the signature locomotives for this railroad and city. Sadly neither were saved when the end came. Stripped of their tenders, some parts removed, they went to scrap within days of retirement. I have actually heard "stories"(?) that rather than being cut up they were pushed straight into blast furnaces! So what was the locomotive type, the railroad that owned them and what was the city. Bonus for the service it spent its entire operating life in.
Hamilton ONT was the home of the only 2-8-4's built in Canada, TH&B's class As built in 1928 by MLW. According to some sources, built by MLW using Alco blueprints from a C&NW order, since Lima did not have a Canadian partner. Built to climb the Niagara escarpment.
Sydney & Louisburg also had a 2-8-4T tank locomotive built by Alco (Schenectady) in 1899.
Yes ..the only Berkshires in Canada were the 2 TH&B locomotives road numbers 201 and 202. They were put on public display downtown with platforms and steps leading up to the cab. Lots of hoopla. Don't think the 2-8-4T counts as a "Berkshire" as that name did not exist in 1899..the trailing truck did not support a huge firebox and it was not a 'superpower" design.
Alco did supply the blueprints from a C&NW order that, fortuitously, was just completed. Lima had nobody licensed in Canada. The New York Central (73%) was the majority owner of the TH&B, through its Michigan Central subsidiary, plus direct ownership. They tested Mikes and their own NYC Berks up the escarpment and it was decided the superpower Berks were the only loco's capable of handling the task.
Although they were famous and legendary they were seldom seen by the folks and railfans as they spent almost their entire working lives doing the job they were built for...the heavy and fast late night departure and overnight "Starlight" named freight service. Now that was a famous train, terminating at NYC yard in Fort Erie. They would very rarely pinch hit for a passenger or other train ..If there were problems.
It is shameful that one was not preserved. Same goes for the 2 J1d class Hudsons that they purchased from the NYC. Saving one of the Hudsons would have been moist fortuitous but it didn't happen. I remember both the Berks and the Hudsons. For me as a youngster, the Hudsons with their high drivers and nice proportions plus that big tender were the greatest things on rails...that and the CN streamlined Northerns. Of course I didn't know they were Northerns, only that they were those beautiful green locomotives that didn't stop in town but came through at full speed.
Top pic is the Hudson in Toronto ...used for passenger service between Toronto and Buffalo... bottom the Berkshire on the TT in Hamilton.
Just to get back to Yoakum for a second....under his leadership the Frisco grew iin size enormously and then allied itself by combining with the Rock Island to form a 19,000 mile system the largest at the time. In the editorial posted by Wanswheel it is said that Yoakum "loomed over" Gould, Harriman and even Hill! Wall Street referred to the "Yoakum Lines". Seems to me we have not heard enough about this fellow. Also I would mention that the Frisco itself has to be one of the most overlooked lines by railfans. Locals and enthusiasts may disagree but a railroad of this importance never gets the coverage of SP, UP, and so on. This railroad was the heart of America!
Does anyone out there know what happened to the Frisco- Rock Island combined lines? That sounds like a real winner. History sure did not go that way. So what happened?
These 4 post WWII Alco-built engines were the last commercially built versions of a major dual-service type, but were the smallest and lightest of this type in the USA. Ten more of this wheel arrangement were built in a class 1's shop in the two years after these were delivered.
The Frisco-Rock Island-Chicago & Eastern Illinois combination wasn't a merger, but a stock arrangement that somehow skirted the Sherman Anti-trust Act. When SL-SF went bankrupt in 1913 following some years of low traffic (Frisco's traditional western outlet, the AT&SF, was aggressively upgrading its own lines) the receivership and reorganization ended the combination. Frisco did reasonably well on its own, lasting until the 1980 merger with Burlington Northern - the same year the Rock Island was abandoned.
File to enlarge map http://maps.bpl.org/download?image=06_01_011518&full=1
Significance of the big Frisco railroad merger, NY Times May 24, 1903
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9807EFDE1639E433A25757C2A9639C946297D6CF
B.F. Yoakum in charge, NY Times, NY Times, Dec. 8, 1905
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9905E7DC113AE733A2575BC0A9649D946497D6CF
Stories of friction in Rock Island, NY Times, Nov. 21, 1909
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C0DE4DC143EE033A25752C2A9679D946897D6CF
Rock Island to let go the Frisco Line, NY Times, Nov. 27, 1909
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F01E5DD1239E733A25754C2A9679D946897D6CF
Rock Island sells the Frisco Line, NY Times, Dec. 2, 1909
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D05E0D81630E733A25751C0A9649D946897D6CF
Terrific articles Wanswheel...answers all my questions on this. What a great read and all stuff I did not know about. A real find.
Now I got myself a day behind in packing! I'm too old for this packing nonsense.
rcdryeThese 4 post WWII Alco-built engines were the last commercially built versions of a major dual-service type, but were the smallest and lightest of this type in the USA. Ten more of this wheel arrangement were built in a class 1's shop in the two years after these were delivered.
It goes without saying that these were also the road's last steam engines.
Were not the last 4-8-4's built in the USA actually built for Mexico? And these were the smallest and lightest of the type built in the USA, as well as the last steam built new for the NdeM. And after they were built, the Reading built its 4-8-4 T1's in its own shops, which were the last 4-8-4's built in the USA.
Surely you mean REbuilt, if you mean the streamlined class K2s. (Not 4-8-4s, Dave, but looked a LOT like them...)
The four Alco locomotives had to be Rutland's (from 1946).
Rutland's four 4-8-2's (90-93) were among the lightest built, completed in 1946 by Alco. B&O built 10 more 4-8-2s in 1947 and 1948 at Mt. Clare shops - new frames, who knows where the rest of the parts came from.
Rutland's Mountains were effectively retired with the 1953 strike that also ended passenger service. One 2-8-2 lasted a while longer as a stationary boiler at Rutland.
Next?
RME, you're up!
Where and when did the longest train of pine lumber ever run in California operate? (Extra points for the number of cars involved, and the locomotive type)
OK, nobody liked that one.
How about this - describe the wreck in this song: http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/download_file.php?param1=7000¶m2=7360
1262 was actually 1282.
That's it, the "17th Street Wreck."
What train was the first to be named for an individual?
wanswheel What train was the first to be named for an individual?
I'm going to offer two possibilities:
Flagler Limited - Jacksonville-Miami - FEC (established around May 1925)
OR
De Witt Clinton - Detroit-Buffalo - MC (established around early-mid 1926)
Myron Bilas
Myron, with either of those you win. I had wrongly believed William K. Vanderbilt's description of a train inaugurated on Sept. 29, 1929.
wanswheel Myron, with either of those you win. I had wrongly believed William K. Vanderbilt's description of a train inaugurated on Sept. 29, 1929.
I guess NYC's publicity department didn't do their due dillgence when they boasted that the Commodore was the first train named after an individual. Most likely, the naming of a major NYC train the Commodore Vanderbilt signaled to the rest of the industry that this type of nomenclature was legitimate and acceptable, for about this time and beyond a slew of trains named after individuals were established.
New question coming up in a day or so...
When the Chicago-Miami coach streamliners were announced in mid-1940, the FEC train set that operated as the Jacksonville-Miami Henry M. Flagler was to be repurposed as the Dixie Route's contribution to this new service. As the name Dixie Flagler was applied right before the trains inauguration, what was the original name of this train as it was announced a few months earlier?
The Henry M. Flagler
daveklepper The Henry M. Flagler
Nope. The name Henry M Flagler was utilized when the FEC consist was used in Jacksonville-Miami service. When it was announced that the consist would be used as the Dixie Route's contribution to the new Chicago-Miami coach service, it was introduced under a different name. Im looking for that name. As I stated in my original question, the name Dixie Flagler was introduced near its inaugural run, so the name I'm looking for existed only for a new months.
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