Steam & Excursion > Texarkana and the T&P

Ranking terminals on the T&P did not become hard until you decided who was #1. 2. or 3. It may be no surprise that over the years Dallas and Ft Worth handled more tonnage than others. But, it depended on what you measured. One would think that Texarkana would be a slam dunk for #3 because of all the Missouri Pacific traffic handled. It never was. Its highest ranking 11 or 13 depending on when it was measured. But, when it came to interchange of cars it was far and away #1 on the T&P especially during WWII and afterward. This explains its importance to T&P and why several photographers made it a part time home, especially when they could photo from a bridge across the yard to get what ever they wanted.

Roger Plummer was one of those men and he took hundreds of photos around the yards. These 3 are among some of my favorites. T&P 2-10-4 #612 takes its turn under the sanding tower while the tender of 4-8-2 #900 appears just to its right.

T&P and MP shared the engine terminal which was owned by the T&P and in picture #2 we have T&P 4-8-2 #902 getting both oil and water. Waiting by its side and over the ash pit is MP heavy 2-8-2 #1417 which will soon back up to the red devil coal loader.

Finally we have the garden tracks outside the roundhouse just full of T&P power: from right to left: 4-8-2 #909 with just applied white flags, 2-10-4 #612, 4-6-2's #715, and 706 wearing white flags, and a MP 4-8-2. The fire in 909 has apparently just been lit and is a little green yet.

Two passenger engines with white flags must have meant the MP was sending a couple of troop trains to Texarkana.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/15 13:49 by tomstp.

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Those are sure purty, Tom. Love the old steam shots.

You are welcome. I like shots of engine terminals no matter how small or big.