Vintage Trains

Oh yeah, vintage trains. Or locomotives, as they call them in Par-ee. These are old-timers, but in both cases they were in use at tourist destinations. 

First up is this shot of the 1246 from the Canadian Pacific Railway; as per Wikipedia, No. 1246 was built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in Montreal, Quebec in June 1946. It rolled out of the Shops on June 29, 1946 as the fourteenth member of the Canadian Pacific Railway's (CP) G5c class. It was initially assigned by the CP to operate in Alberta and Saskatchewan in Western Canada, and it travelled for 655,773 miles during its revenue career between July 1946 and March 1958. Despite having a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement, No. 1246 was primarily used for freight service, and records only show the locomotive hauling passengers for a combined total of thirteen months. The G5c was overhauled for the sixth and final time by the CP at Winnipeg, coming out of Weston Shops on June 15, 1958. However, the locomotive never operated for the CP again after the overhaul. Yeah, yeah, that loco is great, but how can they compete with that display of beautiful lawn mowers?? Meanwhile, In June 1967, Canadian Pacific 1246 was transferred to the Green Mountain Railroad (GMRR) with the intention of restoring it to operate on their trackage. The locomotive was restored in 1969, and it was modified with a visor headlight and a mounted bell above the smokebox, and it was given a nameplate with the lettering “F. Nelson Blount” to pay tribute to Blount's passing two years prior. No. 1246 was used by the GMRR to pull multiple excursion trains between Bellows Falls and Chester. You can read more about the locomotive if you click the Wikipedia link above.

This next one is dated "July 1965", and shows a beautiful steam locomotive - somewhere. Looking for a train with the number "1880" was frustrating, because steam trains were a big deal in 1880, and it was hard to find this specific example. But, finally, I got it - it's from the Black Hills Central Railroad! Hey, Wikipedia, do my work for me! The Black Hills Central Railroad is a heritage railroad that operates in Keystone, South Dakota, United States. The railroad was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 5, 2003.

It currently operates the 1880 Train on the former Keystone Branch of the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) between Hill City, South Dakota and Keystone, South Dakota. This railroad line was originally built by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) to serve mining and timber interests in the Black Hills. It reached Keystone on January 20, 1900 and was later used to haul equipment for carving nearby Mount Rushmore.

The Black Hills Central Railroad restores early twentieth century-era locomotives and train cars and has been featured on television shows such as the Gunsmoke episode "Snow Train", General Hospital and the TNT mini-series Into the West. It also appeared in the movie Orphan Train.