Your reports and pictures are most welcome. Highly competitive rates are paid, especially if exclusive to The RM.
RESTORED 64 years after being withdrawn, former Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) 2-6-6-2 Mallet Number No. 1309 has been in use on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad at Cumberland, Maryland around 200km west of Washington DC since late 2021.
The loco was the last steam loco built by Baldwin for use in the USA.
With works number 74278, it left the factory in Philadelphia in November 1949. The C&O bought 10 of the 2-6-6-2 locos (numbered 1300-1309) as an effective stop-gap as contemporary diesels were not powerful enough for the heavy coal trains on the company’s Appalachian lines.
However, even when new the C&O did not plan to keep the locos too long, assuming correctly that diesel technology would move on quickly and
