Steam & Excursion > Southern Green and Gold in 1952

Southern PS-2 1364 at Louisville, Ky in May, 1952. Look at all those spokes in the main driver!
Photo by E G Baker, my collection. -JH

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That's a proud but tired veteran near the end of her career (The Southern would officially dieselize in June 1953). The 1364 was built by Alco in 1911, and therefore had over 40 years under her belt when she was caught at Louisville in 1952! Interestingly, the 1364 was built in the same year as the 4501 left the Baldwin shops in Philadelphia. Given the date of the photo (May) and the unkempt appearance of the engine, one wonders if she has been pressed into service to handle traffic associated with the Kentucky Derby, which was held on May 3, 1952.

Scott Griggs
Louisville, KY

Scott, the 1364 was one of the regular locos assigned to Southern's St. Louis passenger train which was pulling that day. There is a scene of this train in the new B&O Classics video which covers the K&IT in 1952 as part of the show.
-JH

Here's a shot of the Louisville to St. Louis train taken a few months later, as #1234 was on the point during the station stop at Huntington, Indiana, on August 24, 1952, from a slide in the Blackhawk Films collection.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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I think SRHA's Ties Magazine had an article a while back which showed that Southern Railway staged its last steam run after this passenger train was discontinued because it did not want the last steam run to be an ancient steamer on a secondary passenger train.

That color picture really conveys the oily and grimy condition that is lost in black and white photos. It also is a good reminder of what steam locomotives really looked like in regular operation when they were past the time where railroads babied them with regular washing's. It's quite a contrast from the post of the Frisco 1522 a few posts up.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/17 12:05 by wingomann.

Thanks for posting the photo! Note the smoke deflector on the smokestack. There was a very tight clearance tunnel on this line between Huntingburg and Louisville, which might help explain some of the buildup. It was not a very long tunnel and I believe the only one on the line, thus the locomotive was not equipped with the long smoke duct back over the boiler as was found on the Southern engine assigned to the CNO&TP.
Charlie