... the placed is probably the train station in Kirkwood, MO in southeast St. Louis county. I'm probably 4 to 5 and my sister is probably 2-3. My grandmother on my mom's side lived in Kirkwood and we lived in north St. Louis county but visited often. I can kind of remember my dad taking us to the train station at times to see trains and I'm assuming this was probably a passenger train/loco. Anyone have any idea what the loco might of been from the limited amount of it that you can see? Sumner
It would have been Missouri Pacific. I have posted photos of the Kirkwood MoPac depot in other threads.
Cool photo! You look like you're in hog heaven but your sister has that "why the bleep am I here" look on here face. Some of MoPac's 2-8-0's and similar had the pilot wheels set far enough forward to be just out of the frame to the left, clear of the cylinders.
Thanks guys. I remember the station pretty well as we went there into my teens and went right past it going to my grandmother's house. I might of ridden my bike down to it. Looking at a current map of Kirkwood (haven't been there since the 60's) I think my grandmother lived at W. Woodbine and S. Clay about 1/2 mile south of the station. Looks like the lot is now a church parking lot and basketball courts. Looking down at the street level views I'd swear the sidewalk along Woodbine is the same cracked and un-level sidewalk I remember trying to roller skate on. When I was very young I also remember we rode the train out of there west to maybe Columbia or Jefferson city to either my much older cousin's wedding or it was someone's funeral (big difference) for the weekend. Brings back memories. Sumner
Thanks for the photo and taking the time to look. I know basically nothing about steam engines so don't know what to look for other than what I can see in the area of the photo. Above I put the same area next to each other. The left side looks really close. On the right there are differences but I don't know if there were variations of the same engine. I also think the year (1949) might be off. Probably 1948 as I was born in '44 and my sister '46, so '48 might make more sense. Sumner
Sumner, Good sleuthing. I just had to do another search. What do ya think? Scott rail archive.net, Richard Leonard's Collection
Thanks for looking. It looks closer but for those bolts/plugs. Also wonder if the lead trucks are too close. Go work on the layout Sumner
Sumner, I wish, my good arm's in a sling with a bum shoulder. Got nothing better to do than surf rail history. Scott How about this one? Just noticed the pipe that's not in your pic.
Hope you are past that quickly.... I'll be down in Phoenix next week to get a small Basal Cell off my lip. My wife for some reason wants me to still look the best I can so not having the local guy here cut it off. We will be making the trip there. Time to see her mom in a home also. Sumner
Sumner, Dang it, stumped again! The devils in the details. Well I hope your trip to AZ is goes well. Scott
I think the loco is the Alton & Southern #12. A 3 cylinder 0-8-0 and its still at the St Louis Museum. The crosshead, guide bars, motion bracket and visible portion of the Walschaerts gear looks right. https://locomotive.fandom.com/wiki/Alton_&_Southern_No._12 It was retired in 1948 so it is possible it was out of service when the photo was taken. If you're going by the museum is there any chance we could get another photo to compare then and now ? The museum is well worth seeing , I've been there myself. There is some pretty cool cars there too. I can't remember what the car was but one had duplicate instrumentation in the engine bay to assist with maintenance ........ why don't cars have that now ???? Kirkwood is a really nice suburb, nice houses, lush green grass and cute squirrels running around everywhere.
308, I think you found the match! Light ends of the cylinders and painted driver edges match as well. Now I can get back to regularly scheduled activities. Scott
I think you did also. At first I was thinking if it was the St Louis Museum and before that across the river in E. St. Louis how could there be a picture with my sister and I next to it. Then it dawned on me that my dad was a semi train buff and took us to that museum. I have memories of it but thought they were from when I was older but I'll bet now that is where that picture was taken and not at the train station in Kirkwood. The museum isn't far from there. I blew that area up and yes it definitely looks the same. Can't believe that you came up with the answer from the other side of the planet good work . How did you manage that? Sumner
Ummmmmm , got lucky I'd say. Although I've been to the museum in 1994 and 2004 (?) I had not seen the 0-8-0 either time. I agreed with r_i_straw about no lead truck so it should be an 0-6-0 or 0-8-0 ....... it couldn't be a DM&IR 0-10-2 because that had a multiple bearing cross head. Because it was at Kirkwood I searched the museum roster and there was an 0-8-0 ! I find it easy to recognise steam loco parts after after being a railfan and helping dad build his live steam C&O 2-8-4 for a few decades. We worked with copies of original blue prints. When you have to study original drawings to actually build something about the same weight as a car it becomes more like building a small locomotive than assembling generic live steamer parts. That K4 tender drove me mad because I was assigned to paint it ....... fortunately we decided this prior to dad having built the tender tank. I offered to make jigs to drill the rivet patterns too and after a lot of aspirin and swear words realised the Alco and Lima K4's had slightly different tenders. I guess I'm a rivet counter now .... in a non bad sense of the terminology.
