raildata Wrote:
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> Thank you for the information and page scan.
> Interesting to note the caption mentioning it
> labored in Boston. Just to be sure I checked
> Edsons "RR Names" and Gene Connellys "Railroad
> Operations" and there is no other Union Ry &
> Transit Co other than in St Louis listed. The UR&T
> later merged and became TRRA.
>
I don't know if it's the same company, but there was a Union Railroad & Transportation Co. that was a well known "fast freight line" (essentially a railroad freight forwarder or express shipping service) in the 1860-1890s, prior to the establishment of the Railway Express Agency. A subsidiary of the PRR, this UR&T maintained a nationwide pool of boxcars, some with wide-tread wheelsets to travel across breaks of gauge in the Midwest (e.g. 4'10" "Ohio gauge"). Perhaps they had a freight terminal in Boston? The engine in question looks almost old enough to be from this era, so I thought I should throw this possibility out there for discussion.
-Philip Marshall