Does anybody know anything about the serial Nos. of Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis RR Nos. 57-66, all Grant narrow gauge 2-8-0’s?
I have been trying to discern the serial number of Mason & Oceana RR 2-8-0 No. 7, depicted in Claude Thomas Stoner photo No. MO8. I think it may be Grant No. 1447. This photo appears in Steam and Thunder in the Timber by Koch at page 223, and in Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin No. 89 (1953) at page 88 + 10. The negative is at the University of Michigan Historical Library. [
quod.lib.umich.edu] Ann Arbor is a long way from anywhere that I expect to be. When the UMHL sends you a print, unfortunately I think it is made from a print scan; I believe that it is not made directly from the negative. This intermediate procedure probably deteriorates the sharpness of the print.
M&O RR 2-8-0 No. 7 was made by Grant Locomotive Works, Patterson, New Jersey. According to Railway Age, June 22, 1882, at page 346, this loco was built for the Denver & Rio Grande RR, but sold instead to the TCStL RR (which, for its short life, liked to call itself “the Grand Narrow Gauge Trunk”). The D&RG RR ordered 20 of these locos in a batch, expected to be its Nos. 220-239, but it finally purchased only eight, Grant Nos. 1433-1440, in November 1881. In the middle of June 1882, the Texas & St. Louis RR purchased two of the remaining 12, Grant Nos. 1441-1442. Also in the middle of June 1882, the remaining 10 proposed D&RG RR locos were obtained by the TC&StL RR, the latter’s Nos. 57-66.
After the TC&StL RR went bankrupt, these 10 2-8-0’s scattered, with TC&StL RR No. 63 eventually going to the White Pass & Yukon Route, its No. 53. M&O RR No. 7 was another of these 10 that were scattered. I don’t know what the TC&StL RR number was for M&O RR No. 7. The Grant serial numbers of these 10 locos have not been determined, as far as I know
Looking at the print that I got from the UMHL, the serial number on M&O RR No. 7 has four digits. The number looks to me like it is 1447, but there is some room for error, opinion, interpretation, etc. Based on known Grant serial numbers, it can’t be any lower than 1443 and can’t be any higher than 1498. The middle two digits look like they are identical. Also, the upper left quadrants of these two middle digits appear to have a diagonal edge, which only the digit “4” has. The right-most digit has a slanted edge running from top to bottom, which only the number “7” has. That’s as seen by the combination of my eyes and my magnifying glass. I wish I could see a print made directly from the negative. I can’t tell anything about the first digit, but it must be a “1.”
Maybe Grant put all 20 serial numbers for the 20 proposed D&RGW locos together, Nos. 1433-1452. But William D. Edson (who died in 2002) had worked on a Grant roster. He said that Grant No. 1444 was Richmond & Allegheny RR 4-4-0 No. 18, Grant No. 1445 was T&StL RR 2-6-0 No. 16, and Grant No. 1452 was Richmond & Danville RR 4-4-0 No. 70, all of which would conflict with a 1433-1452 run. In my opinion, at least Edson’s entries for Grant Nos. 1444 and 1445 are suspect – they are suspect clerical errors in 19th Century documents, carried forward. This last paragraph is all my speculation and my VERY HUMBLE opinion, of course.
Robert
