In 1946, The Bluefield was considering its options for adding to its fleet of modern steam power for freight service and decided to borrow locomotives off of other roads to test their performance on the Bluefield. One of the locomotives tried was a Reading T1 4-8-4, 2103. The T1 design was the result of a collaboration between the Reading Company and Baldwin locomotive works, and they were built by elongating the boilers of several of the Reading's large 2-8-0s and building a new engine around that key component. They proved so successful that the Reading built 30 total.
In this nighttime photo, 2103 sits alongside a Bluefield P4 Pacific and a class M Mikado, the night before her trial runs were to begin. Eventually, The Big 4-8-4 was deemed to long the drivers too big for the Bluefield. After her trials, she was stored temporarily at Mount Frigid before being returned to the Reading.
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One of two P5 Pacifics painted dark blue for the Bluefield Flyer, 2900 departs Williams Ridge in early April of 1945. She has just undergon...
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In 1946, The Bluefield was considering its options for adding to its fleet of modern steam power for freight service and decided to borrow...
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Here we see pacifics, 2900 and 2922 with their noses sticking out of the Mount Frigid roundhouse. Mount Frigid was a division point and ...