Berkshire in Terminus

A hard charging Berkshire with a southbound time freight arrives in terminus, pulling past Terminal Station on the Mountain Division Line. This was the newest class of locomotive on the Bluefield until a couple of Norfolk and Western class As and a J showed up to help out with heavy high speed assignments. These Berkshires were mostly used for high priority mail and express and perishable trains. Later on, the Js took over the mail and express, leaving the Berks to haul high priority freight. The Bluefield Berkshires were slippery engines, but a well seasoned engineer could get good work out of one. The railroad also leased several Berkshires from the Nickel Plate, ever purchasing two of them when the NKP dieselized. 

Rebuilt 2900 at Williams Ridge.

 One of two P5 Pacifics painted dark blue for the Bluefield Flyer, 2900 departs Williams Ridge in early April of 1945. She has just undergone a rebuilding in which she had added an elesco feedwater heater along with other modernizations. Although she was the lowest numbered P5 on the roster, she was at this point the most modern. The rebuilding and added modernizations raised her tractive effort from 46,892 lbs to 47,500 lbs.