Mystery Picture

[NW Mailing List]

photo-shopping was not that unusual even back in the steam days, a good 
photographer/darkroomist, artist could do all the manipilating you can 
today on the basic level.
If the railroad wanted a good PR picture they would do it.
This picture may have been about the tank cars, but we know N&W 
synonymous with coal, so theres something about having the tank car 
train. Its possible the train was staged, possibly a real delivery but 
set by the photo crew and the railroad for a photo op.

-Lynn-
On 12/27/2012 10:38 PM, nw-mailing-list-request at nwhs.org wrote:

> Subject:

> Mystery Picture

> From:

> NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

> Date:

> 12/27/2012 12:51 PM

>

> To:

> NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

>

>

>     I was over at my son's house on Christmas Eve and went downstairs 

> to see his tree. While there, I noticed he had a picture of a train 

> hanging over his fireplace mantle. The room was kind of dark and there 

> were some tall decorations on the mantle hiding some of the picture. 

> As I looked at the picture, it seemed that I somehow should know where 

> it was taken.

>     I went closer trying to recognize the location but it didn't hit 

> me at first. It seemed familiar, but, I just couldn't place the 

> location. I then got involved in conversation with my son and other 

> family members, but, I kept getting drawn back to the picture. I moved 

> in closer and removed some of the decorations that were obscuring the 

> locomotive. That's when it hit me... this photo has been printed in 

> reverse. The road number was wrong (5123), plus, the throttle linkage 

> and air pumps were on the wrong side.

>

>     I then asked my son if he had a mirror where we could look at the 

> picture in reverse. He did have a large wall mirror close by, so, we 

> took the picture down. As I held the picture in front of the mirror, 

> it hit me like a ton of bricks! This picture was taken about three 

> quarters of a mile north of the station at Cloverdale, Va.

>

>

>

>     What a find! But who and why did someone print the photo in 

> reverse and go to the trouble of renumbering the engine and 

> re-lettering the tender? My son said that his father in law had given 

> him the picture and that it was a copy of the same picture his father 

> had at their old home-place. His father in law said that someone had 

> been able to scan the photo and had copies made for him to give to 

> several children.

>     Some of you may remember that years ago, Vanishing Vistas produced 

> some large format color post cards of N&W trains. They made one very 

> similar of a tank train just north of the siding at Cloverdale. For 

> some reason, I didn't buy it at the time. I tried to contact Vanishing 

> Vistas earlier this year, but, have heard nothing from them.

>     If any of you have any knowledge of the correct photo taken above 

> or where I might find a proper copy of the photo, I would like to hear 

> from you.

>

> Jimmy Lisle





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