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switchtender shanty in view
As this picture clearly indicates, the yards at Bellefontaine, Ohio, are largely set into a rural landscape of rolling fields and woodlands. The country backdrop, which is unusual in the environs of the principal terminals on the Big Four and for…
Train no. 96
In steam days, the blasting was prodigious whenever eastbound freights got within earshot of Bellefontaine. The sound effects reached their peak as the trains passed BN yard and the main yard office on their way to East yard, at the extreme eastern…
Train no. 96 going away
The scene here approximates that of two pages ago, with the camera again trained on the 3000 as she heads into East yard with no. 96 (this picture is a follow-up to the preceding one - same engine, same train, same day). It is interesting to note…
Train no. 446
Number 446's eleven cars are hefted upgrade out of Bellefontaine in the early morning by Niagara 6005. The train is passing BN yard (the boxcars on the right are on track 1). Of the three yards which constitute the freight terminal here, BN is the…
with other locomotives at the water column and coal tower
Outside the 28-stall roundhouse at Bellefontaine, a group of steam engines stands simmering in various stages of the cycle of between run activities. In a cluster and waiting to have their fires cleaned are, from left to right, an L-2, an H-6,…
Train no. 472 behind double header
Two J-1s, the 5329 and 5327, have to exert themselves mightily to overcome the inertia of no. 472's seventeen cars of mail and express leaving Bellefontaine. The condition of the eastbound main, blanketed with sand, testifies to the repeated efforts…
Train DSL-1
From Sandusky Street bridge, the camera looks down upon one of the busiest spots in the entire terminal at a typically busy moment. In the foreground, L-3a No. 3000 eases off the BN lead onto the westbound main with the 69 cars of manifest DSL-1, out…
Train CC-2 behind Mohawk, Lima switcher and switchtender shanty in view
This is the scene from the opposite side of Sandusky street bridge. on the eastbound main, CC-2, a fast freight between Cincinnati and Toledo, is whisked through town on its way to East yard by the 3064. The Toledo cars were set off in Gest yard, the…
Train no. 473 passing tri-color mast signal
Dual-service 4-8-2 no. 3022 dissipates excess steam at Bellefontaine station on a chilly spring morning in 1953. She is attached to no. 473, the Cleveland-St. Louis mail and express train, which was running on this occasion with nine cars. The rear…
2nd train MC-4, interlocking tower in background
First HC-4, an overnight pickup run from Cincinnati, is wrestled uphill past the high tower and the depot by engine 3026. Part of the train has been set out at Gest yard, and the remaining 48 cars will end their journey in East yard. In this respect,…
Train SLD-2, interlocking tower in view
Here's one that didn't make the grade. For some reason or combination of reasons - bad grade, sharp curves, heavy tonnage, slippery rail, lack of sand, high wind, worn tires, poor steaming, inexpert. handling, etc., etc. - the 3009 was unable to…
Train SLD-2 passing interlocking tower
This picture is a follow-up to the preceding one in that it was taken on the same day and of the same train. The consist, however, has undergone some change, and the power is altogether different. Standard operating practice at Bellefontaine on SLD-2…
Train DSL-1
The two geeps shown in the previous picture leaving town on SLD-2 are photographed here a couple of hours earlier on the same day as they arrived on DSL-1. Freight service north to Toledo was fully dieselized at the time because of the retirement of…
Train DSL-1 being switched by a Mikado
Until just recently, DSL-1 was handled at Bellefontaine in almost the exact reverse of the manner in which its eastbound counterpart, SLD-2, is still handled. As shown in the preceding photograph, the train was pulled past the tower on the northbound…
Train no. 303 about to leave at tri-color signal bridge
The blue flag has been removed, the signal has been received, the board is green, the gates are going down, and the engineer is reaching for the throttle - in short, all indications are that the elephant-eared 3149 is about to whisk the seven cars of…