GIFT IDEA: If you have a railroad buff in the family, a great
gift for Christmas would be the 2008 Salamanca Rail Museum
calendar. In fact, the cover features a train owned by a man in the
Bradford area.
“A private backyard railroad, the Foster Brook & State Line
operates a Lima-built Shay locomotive,” the caption reads for the
cover shot.
“This tiny geared engine weighs just over 12 tons. The owner,
Douglas Kuntz, runs the engine on occasion for invited guests who
ride along in an open car or hauls a loaded log car for show,” the
caption continues.
A story about this train was featured in the October 2006 issue
of Train Magazine, according to the calendar which refers to it as
“a little steam engine.”
This is one of those cases where the train is pictured going
through the forest but it’s impossible to tell its exact size. It
appears “normal size,” compared to the trees, for instance, but
there are no people in the frame to indicate the height.
There are other highlights inside for the train lovers. February
is graced by a photo of the last passenger trains on the Baltimore
& Ohio’s former BR&P lines which ran in October 1955. The
locomotives were photographed in August of that year at East
Salamanca on a National Railway Historical society fan trip.
One of the more interesting photos show a pair of scenes from
the deep part of winter. One of the engine is encrusted with snow,
evidence of having bucked heavy snowdrifts in the winter of 1926.
Also pictured are railroad tracks cleared for service, creating a
virtual tunnel through the snow banks. The caption tells of another
track still buried in the accumulation. An insert photo shows the
impressive snowplow used to clear the tracks.
Another photograph shows three women “preparing a locomotive for
its journey” during the era of World War II. “During the Second
World War, American women played a vital role in the armed services
and in the wartime work force,” the caption reads. The photo had
been featured as the cover of the June 1944 edition of the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad magazine.
Calendars are available through the Salamanca Rail Museum
Association.
