MNCW posted:Hi Everyone and Happy Switcher Saturday!
I'm pinch-hitting for Rich Murnane who can hopefully sleep late today! I told Rich I would not be running my errands this morning, but a small New York snow storm is forcing me to post this early so I can now run my errands earlier than I wanted...so please keep our topic bouncing along the tracks while I run in and out!
I bought a new (used) locomotive this week and I thought I would share that with everyone that I have not already blabbed it to. Good that I don't have access to Top Secret info!
As many of you know, my Pennsylvania Railroad prewar switchers are pretty important to me. However, as a youngster, I also had another locomotive that I was interested in and that's the B&O Dockside locomotive. A family friend passed down the HO version to me which I ran for many years and I guess it left an impression on me.
Recently, I found a Right-Of-Way (3 Rail O Gauge) B&O Dockside that was being sold (thank you eBay) and I jumped on that opportunity. I remembered that in 2011, OGR's Allan Miller said that Right-Of-Way "Made the best 0-4-0 Dockside thus-far offered in O scale." Santa also sprung for an amazingly immaculate copy of the Sagle/Staufer book, B&O Power, which has some good info on these locomotives. My little Dockside #97 is probably the most quiet switcher that I have. It too is pretty immaculate and I would guess it probably has very little hours on its small drivers.
Here's a rather classic shot of a B&O Dockside loco switching on Pratt Street at The Baltimore News in 1948:
Baldwin built 4 of these locomotives, class C-16, numbered consecutively #96 to #99, for the B&O in 1912. Unfortunately, the B&O did not preserve any of them.
Here are some pictures of my Little Joe (as they were also known as):
I also found a Live Steam version of a Dockside (no, I did not buy this one!):
Feel free to let me know if you are a Dockside fan and what you think of my new addition !
Have a great weekend everyone and post those spectacular switchers!
Tom
Great find, and quite appropriate for your railroad if you consider that two of the C-16s worked the yards in Philadelphia. The other two were, of course, working the docks in Baltimore.
I still love my little MTH Docksider, which I bought new upon its release in a set in December 1999. It remains my favorite little locomotive.
