Two photos of Linndale. The first is of the coal dock and the second is captioned "Linndale Terminal and Yard looking West from Park Street". Lawrence Baggerly Collection.
Roger, that certainly is a strange looking coaling tower with what appears to be an excessively tall elevator enclosure. I will not describe where my ribald imagination wandered off to.....:tb-wacky: The more meaningful question is that you have labeled the photos as Big Four, yet there is a four-track mainline to the right of the yard that appears to have a catenary system. I know nothing about Linndale or its location, but the only catenary I'm aware of in Ohio during this period was the New York Central's through Cleveland Terminal. Was this the case, or was there another system that I'm not aware of....?
The locomotive in the first photo looks clean and shiny (notice especially the domes). It also has bright striping on the foot boards and drivers. The second photo indeed shows catenary. This was the west end of the Cleveland Union Terminal electrified zone. Power was exchanged here before continuing. Use of the electrics ended in 1953 if I recall correctly. There are many tracks here, but the mainline was actually two tracks. A few miles farther west the Big Four joined the LS&MS two track mainline coming from the shore of Lake Erie. The lines then split again at Berea with the Big Four heading south to Columbus, Cincinatti and St. Louis. The LS&MS headed more to the west toward Toledo and Chicago.
Thanks Mike. Since posting my question, I was wondering if the catenary could have been part of Henry Ford's Detroit, Toledo, & Ironton. Though I assume the DT&I never came this far east.
I am enjoying learning about the Central's "lines west" through Roger's photos. As "dirty" as those coaling towers would be considered in today's "green" world, there is something magnificent about them. Maybe it was because they "fed" all of those great NY Central steam locomotives which have now passed on. :tb-sad: That's a good looking Pacific in the first photo.
