We spent most of the day at the highly acclaimed Henry Ford Museum in Greenfield (near Dearborn), Michigan. Ford loved to collect the latest technology of his day and days past - and steam locomotives formed a major part of the exhibit. The engine pictured here is a 1941 Allegheny - among the largest and most powerful of their day. They were designed to haul freight; mainly coal and iron, in trains up to 1.25 miles long. The engine and tender weighed over 600 tons! A six-foot person would be about even with the C&O logo on the front. Top speed was 60 mph. Diesel-electric engines soon took over and all 60 locomotives in this class were retired after only 15 years of service.
I was born in 1951, just as steam engines were nearing the end of their era. I remember moving from the San Francisco to central Orange County, California in 1953 and taking the steamer to get there. I still have the small wooden suitcase my parents gave me to hold a few toys and books during the trip. As I was just two years old at the time, the engine must have made quite an impression to have remembered the trip so vividly.
Tomorrow, we turn homeward-bound...
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