Nostalgia & History > B&O 421, a 2-8-2, on a fan trip -- Part 2 -- Bill Howes

Bill took these three in Lester, OH on May 17, 1958.  This was the last B&O Steam powered fan trip.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/20 13:13 by MartyBernard.

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Bill took the first two in Cleveland and the third in Warwick, OH..

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I first went to Warwick seven years later and saw none of the steam era facilities. Thanks for posting these images. From what I was told this was the last B&O excursion to use B&O steam.
Bob

This is great.  Really enjoyed it.

Great shots.  Interesting to see what Lester looked like in those days.  Much more foilage today, like so many other places.  Also neat to see the long-gone steam era facilities at Warwick.  This was widely reported to be the last fantrip using a B&O steam engine, and perhaps the last steam operation on B&O.  It was not the last time the 421 was under steam, as already noted here.  For some reason, the 421 was fired up in 1959 at the Cleveland roundhouse.  There are pictures of the 421 under steam in 1959, in Willis McCaleb's B&O Trackside book.  It seems a mystery why, speculation has been that the roundhouse needed some heat.  

cr7998 Wrote:
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> Great shots.  Interesting to see what Lester
> looked like in those days.  Much more foilage
> today, like so many other places.  Also neat to
> see the long-gone steam era facilities at
> Warwick.  This was widely reported to be the last
> fantrip using a B&O steam engine, and perhaps the
> last steam operation on B&O.  It was not the last
> time the 421 was under steam, as already noted
> here.  For some reason, the 421 was fired up in
> 1959 at the Cleveland roundhouse.  There are
> pictures of the 421 under steam in 1959, in Willis
> McCaleb's B&O Trackside book.  It seems a mystery
> why, speculation has been that the roundhouse
> needed some heat.  

Stagner's book and other sources say this fantrip was the last USE of B&O steam on a train.  Thus it could have been in steam for heat or another reason, but the reports said it was kept on standby with a few others but never saw service again.
Greg