Laudable Locomotives March 21 2026
I have a small batch of scans featuring some old locomotives in vintage photos; people seem to like those, so here we go!
First up is this October, 1963 image of a beautiful steam locomitive. I originally labeled this as a "mystery loco", but then noticed that the red rectangle on the side of the cab had words (hard to read on this jpeg, I admit). "Torch Lake"... well that's specific! The Quincy & Torch Lake Railroad (Q&TL), an affiliate of the Quincy Mining Company, was a 3-foot-gauge shortline railroad located at Hancock in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, not far from Torch Lake. It... was designed to take copper-bearing rock from the Quincy Mine downhill to a mill, and return coal uphill to power mine operations. The line was reactivated in 1937 as World War II-era demand for copper caused the mine to reopen. The mine and the railway were shut down permanently in 1945.
Here's a vintage photo of the engine, from the Henry Ford Museum website - the museum acquired the locomotive in 1969, and you can still enjoy a train ride, pulled by this venerable machine. It’s currently the oldest operating steam locomotive in the U.S. and one of only two locomotives built by the Mason Machine Works left in the world. COOL! Read a bit more about it HERE.
Next is this unusual photo of a nice miniature train, with a film crew in action. The slide was labeled, "Colo. RR Museum, Johnny Cash", and is dated "August, 1974" . Johnny Cash?? Sadly, he's not in this picture, but... on November 22, 1974, CBS ran his one-hour TV special entitled "Riding The Rails, a Musical History of Trains". Most images that I've seen from this TV special show full-sized locomotives, so I really don't know why this very nice miniature was used. Maybe because of weasels.
Facebook had this behind the scenes photo of Johnny taken while filming the program. "How much longer do I have to sit here, fellas?". "No more than two hours, Mr. Cash". Johnny looks heavenward and shakes his head.
I hope you have enjoyed these Laudable Locomotives!
1 comment:
1) It's kind of refreshing (or shocking?) to see one of these old steam locomotives looking kind of beat up and grungy. We being so used to seeing bright, shiny, pristine, Disneyland locos here on GDB. This is a 'working horse', not a 'show horse'! If you use your imagination, you can see a face on the front of the Engine, like Casey Jr... or Thomas. And he's smiling!
2) Interesting, that the wood/coal tender is part of the engine itself, not a separate car. Looks kinda strange actually.
3) Another engine with a face! This one looks kind of sly, or sneaky. I suppose they used footage of this train for a couple of seconds when it wasn't noticable that it was not a full-sized train?
4) Great Moments with Mr. Cash! He does have sort of a Lincoln vibe. Shirtless guy is either rummaging through a makeup kit... or he's puking his guts out... into the makeup kit.
A perfectly cromulent "anything goes" Saturday, Major. Thanks.
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