Train no. 472

NG503004

Train no. 472

Steam M&E Train

This is no. 472, the opposite side of the run previously pictured, just east of Arlington Avenue on its way out of Indianapolis. The eastbound grade stiffens somewhat in this vicinity, and the engineer has throttled well back to compensate for the inertia of a 17-car train. The straining engine is no. 5373, a J-1 whose presence in this territory was almost as unfamiliar as that of the P&LE 2-8-4s. Of course, the Big Four had known J-1 power for many years before the time of this action, but the 5373 was one of those rare, well-preserved specimens originally assigned to the Canada Division and maintained at St. Thomas, Ont, and hence known as a "Canadian" engine. She was transferred to the Big Four along with sisters 5363 and 5371 (the 5363 and 5373 arrived together on January 25, 1955; the 5371 preceded them by a few months). Time was then running out for steam passenger power, but the "Canadians" put in some good service before the dieselization of all passenger trains in early 1956. The 5363 and 5373 were honorably retired (the former at Shelby Street on March 16, 1956, and the latter at Bellefontaine on February 6th of the same year), but the 5371 met with a violent death when she hit a truckload of acid on December 16, 1955, while handling no. 473 at Greenwich, Ohio.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Summer, 1955

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367

J-1d

#5373

Alco-Schen

Arlington St., Indianapolis, IN

See NG503004a