Standard Railroad of the World (Everything Else is Deluxe)
A bit of the "Standard Railroad of the World" came through on 'home rails' this evening. Caught in a snow shower just after sunset, NS 8102 (PRR Heritage) rolls west under the fading position lights at Tipton, PA.
The title is a jab at the fact that, despite proclaiming itself as the being the standard, it had a lot of things that were quirky and nonstandard compared to most other railroads--Belpaire fireboxes, left hand lead locomotives, an aversion to compound mallets and superpower steam, brake cylinders with odd sizes, etc. Whereas chief rival New York Central had modern 4-6-4s and 4-8-4s working passenger trains, the Pennsy was dependent on double-heading its veteran fleet of 425 K4s 4-6-2s (a WW1 era design).
A continuously growing album of photos that IMHO reveal the awesome and seldom-seen beauty of the railroad world from the dimming of day to dawn's early light! From dusk to dawn, trains roll on! (I'm still finding gems of sunset-to-sunrise surprises!)
