An undated newspaper photograph of steam locomotive pulling passenger cars. In the inset, upper right, is a railroad conductor and an unidentified little girl. The original photo is from the collection of the Historical Society of Schuylkill County, Pottsville, and a better copy can be obtained from them. It was presented as part of the “Looking Back” feature in the Pottsville Republican, January 12, 1980, along with the following text written by Joseph M. Hanney, vice president of the society:
The railroad steam locomotive will always be a dramatic part of the country’s history.
While the railroad’s prime duty was to haul coal, passenger service criss-crossing the county, and in an out of the area between major metropolitan areas, was a thriving business.
Excursions to picnic areas, larger cities, and even faraway Niagara Falls, the latter leaving mainly from the 12th Street Lehigh Valley Railroad Terminal, were a treat of the times.
The dreams then of many little boys was to be a locomotive engineer watching the tracks ahead from side-window seat, while pulling huge levers and blowing the steam whistle.
The poor fireman, with a sweaty red kerchief around his neck, constantly swinging his shovel between the coal-tender and the fiery boiler, was looked on in some lesser degree.
The smiling, happy face of the unnamed little girl above in the inset can tell 1,001 stories, as the conductor gives his signal to the engineer ahead with his word “Bo-o-oard.”
The article also noted that the Historical Society of Schuylkill County is located at 14 N. Third Street, Pottsville, C. Tyson Reilly, president; Robert Scheer, curator. “Historical items and memberships welcome.”
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