Wednesday, June 13, 2018

1876 Jarrett & Palmers Transcontinental Express Train CPRR Henry Small 2 Photo's Gold Medal Award

From: "Mark Baker Enterprises" mark@goldrushpaper.com

Just listed on eBay and thought you might like it! ...
1876 Jarrett & Palmers Transcontinental Express Train CPRR Henry Small 2 Photo's


CPRR Transcontinental Express Train, Jarrett & Palmers, 1876
CPRR Transcontinental Express Train, Jarrett & Palmers, 1876

CPRR Transcontinental Express Train, Jarrett & Palmers, 1876, verso



"June 4, 1876 Jarrett & Palmers Transcontinental Train CPRR Henry S. Small Engineer Express Run Photo Two cabinet photographs, ... Engineer Henry S. Small bust photo image ... , no photographer I.D. other photo has 2 images pictured of the medal front and back illustrates Engine no. 149 CPRR, Jarrett & Palmers Transcontinental Train. back side Presented to Henry S. Small by Jarrett & Palmers, June 4 1876. ... back of mount advertising Bradley & Rulofson San Francisco. H.S. Small was the lead engineer on the express run of the Jarrett & Palmer from Ogden to Oakland Train. In 1876, only seven years after the Golden Spike was driven, a train pulled out of the Jersey City Station of the Pennsylvania RR early on the morning of June 1, 1876 and began to speed west along the tracks. All the way to California the mainline was cleared for it. Other trains went onto side tracks for it. Water, coal and supplies were readied for fast loading onto it. Shifts of engineers, firemen, brakemen and conductors were stationed at strategic points along the way to relieve the tired crews with a stop of only a few minutes. As the train raced westward word spread over the telegraph wires that paralleled the tracks. The message was terse, but compelling: 'The Lightning Express is on the way.' Stopping for only the shortest times possible to change equipment and crews, load fuel and supplies, running fast day and night, the train arrived in California on June 4. The trip took just 83 hours and 39 minutes from Jersey City to Oakland — that’s 3 days, 11 hours and 39 minutes. To the amazement of just about everyone, despite a washed-out track in Utah, equipment problems along the way and the vagaries of long distance travel, much of it far from railroad maintenance facilities or major cities, the train actually beat its estimated time of arrival by almost 12 hours. Four of the five railroads involved in the trip exchanged locomotives from time to time along their segments in order to avoid mechanical failure from running the engines hard for long periods of time. But the entire final 875 mile leg of this incredible journey—that part over the Central Pacific’s track — was pulled by a single engine — Central Pacific locomotive #149, called the “Black Fox” — a powerful and fast McQueen Locomotive Works 4-4-0 unit. Although other engineers spelled him, the Black Fox was driven most of the way from Ogden, Utah to Oakland California by Henry S. (Hank) Small, one of the Central Pacific’s most experienced engineers. He pushed #149 and its train very hard over the last, long relay of the journey west. That section of track included the Great Salt Desert, the Humboldt Sink and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. For his endurance and devotion to his job, he was awarded a gold medal by the trip organizers and royally fêted in San Francisco. ... cabinet photo front and back of the Gold Medal and Portrait photo of Henry S. Small."

—calf.covers


Henry Small
Henry S. Small, CPRR Locomotive Engineer