A Collection of Cabooses

Here is a collection of cabooses we have come across on our vacations and excursions.

1894 Cooke 4-6-0 and 1909 Porter 0-4-0 in Griffin, GA

Ok, now these trains were an adventure to say the least. Before leaving for vacation I had typed out an itinerary to help me find where the trains would be (and because I'm a bit of a nerd). I use the locomotive steam train database to see if anything is near my route. Most of the time they are in parks (#Heritage) or by the chamber of commerce or whatever. Our first stop was a 1906 Baldwin in Macon, GA.

Now these particular trains were supposedly at a museum that was now defunct. What that meant I didn't know. I put the address into Google maps, but it didn't help at all. Just showed me some trees.

Then I hit the aerial view:

My Trip to the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, MD

So for the first part of my vacation this year, me and my travel companion Sarah decided to do spring break in Washington DC. However, on every trip I must have at least one day that is trains related so we took a short trip up the Amtrak to Baltimore for the B&O Railroad Museum. (There were steam trains at the Smithsonian as well. You can check those out here.)

The trains on display were situated in the roundhouse, beginning at the early years of steam, through the Civil War to the turn of the century.

1851 Wilmarth 2-2-2T "Pioneer"

Sometimes you come across something which is truly a gem. This was one of my favorite finds on this vacation. This train was actually damaged by fire when J.E.B. Stuart was on his famous cavalry raid of Pennsylvania in 1862. In Chambersburg, PA, Stuart set fire to the Cumberland Valley Railway's depot, machine shops, and the roundhouse where the Pioneer was stored. However, the train was only out of service for three months.

1848 New Castle Manufacturing 0-8-0 "Memnon"

In 1844, the B&O began using 0-8-0 type locomotives. One of the B&O's primary locomotive builders used this wheel arrangement because it produced maximum tractive effort by evenly distributing all of the locomotive's weight on its drivers. In 1848, the B&O purchased six 0-8-0 locomotives from outside manufacturers for its freight service. 

Trains at the Smithsonian

This was from my trip to the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington DC. There were three trains on display. Click the titles for more pics.

1831 Stephenson & Co. 2-4-0

1876 Baldwin 4-4-0

1926 ALCO 4-6-2

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