Steam & Excursion > Ebay Curiosities

You find some funny things in the railroadiana category on ebay. Presently, one seller has a paint chip from an Amtrak horn for sale. The auction title reads AUTHENTIC AMTRAK PAINT CHIP FROM HUURRITAGE UNIT 156's K5LA. It has been "bid up" to $ 1.56  This piece of paint has some significance to it that makes it very rare and valuable. Alas, I am not familiar enough with the unit that shed the chip to appreciate what the seller and potential buyer might see in it.

Another item has been for sale for some time now. It is a steel Baldwin steam number plate. The seller claims it is authentic, and in a sense it may have some provenance if it were indeed mounted on a locomotive. There is a lengthy story to go along with it it. However, it is obviously not a plate produced by BLW.

Listed under the title ANTIQUE BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS NUMBER PLATE INDIANA 7 RAILROAD STEAM ENGINE RR. I find the plate intriguing for a couple of reasons. 1. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to create a poor copy of a Baldwin plate. The typography around the outer rim, while in the proper position, employs a sans serif, condensed face and the large number seven in the center is also sans serif. The latter has been placed too high on the surface. 2. Even more interesting is the smokebox mounting bracket(s). Unlike the single centered boss on a typical Baldwin plate, a pair of ALCO style mounting units have been incorporated on the reverse. This seems to me to be a much more time consuming and costly form of mold construction and casting.

If anyone else has seen this plate and has too much time on their hands I would be interested in your thoughts. There are 29 days left on the auction affording plenty of time for in depth research and analysis. ; > )

Cheers,
Jack

 

That "BLW number plate" has been up for auction for months now. Probably something homemade that someone now thinks has some provenance to it.