with other locomotives at the water column and coal tower

NG501022

with other locomotives at the water column and coal tower

Facilities

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, another L-2, and H-6 no. 1876; getting a tank of water is H-6 no. 6380; and resting quietly before the call to duty is J-1 no. 5206. This was in early 1953, when steam still held down secondary passenger runs in all directions and a substantial percentage of the freight runs east, west and south. Along with Riverside roundhouse in Cincinnati, Bellefontaine was the last outpost of steam maintenance on the system, its doors remaining open to the iron horse until February 12, 1956 (Riverside catered to steam for a little over a year longer). The engine terminal here has survived in the face of such adversity as a boiler explosion on the 4922 in 1942 which killed three men and badly injured two others, a disastrous fire in 1943 which destroyed most of the old roundhouse and gutted 23 locomotives, and the scheming of more than one official desiring to close it as a major maintenance point - to say nothing of the demise of steam, the core of its existence for so many years. Today it is one of the largest diesel shops on the system, maintaining 229 EMD road freight units and a supporting cast of EMD and Baldwin yard engines.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Apr-53

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engine terminal

298

J-1b

#5206

Alco-Schen

Bellefontaine, OH

See NG501022a