While visiting the Gulf Coast, we happened upon the Foley Railroad Museum in Foley, Alabama, which I'd never heard of. It's a small but active depot-based museum run by volunteers, with a few static displays and a large model railroad. I thought the Kentuckians among us might be interested in this:
Behind the locomotive are two boxcars and a caboose.
The building has a display of various models...
and a large O gauge (3 rail) layout which is very impressive.
And that's about it for railroad museums on this trip.
That's a very nice looking SW-1. I wasn't even aware that was preserved, let alone that this museum exists. Guess I'll have to add this to the bucket list if I ever make it that far down South.
ReplyDeleteI know very little about the L&N, but it struck me as suspicious that a full-sized railroad would have a switch engine with such a small number as 13. So I can't vouch for how authentic it is.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, Penn Central had a GE 44-tonner numbered 9999, so I suppose anything is possible. According to rrpicturearchives, it is an authentic L&N locomotive. It worked at the harbor in Pascagoula, MS and was later sold to Silcott Railway Equipment Ltd and worked in Fort Wayne, IN for a while before going back home to the South and being preserved.
ReplyDelete-Matt Maloy
Randall,
ReplyDeleteIf you recall there is an L&N 3627 Galt House dining car in the IRM collection.
Ted Miles, IRM Member for 2020
Yes, Ted, I remember the Galt House well. It's actually 2627. And back in the good old days we (operating crews) could get take-out lunches at the kitchen door of the diner. It's a real jewel.
ReplyDeleteA lot of switchers seemed to end up in low numbers, maybe because it made sense to start the number groups with smaller engine classes. In many cases types like the SW1 were also the first diesels that railroads tested the waters with. On the other hand some railroads gave their flagship engines the low numbers, which is what I would do. And I think C&NW numbered everything in the order they bought it.
ReplyDelete