Rupert and Maureen wrote:
>
>
> A couple of historical questions -
>
> In "Railroads of the Black Hills" is a photo on pages 22-3 of a Burlington
> train in the Black Hills "around 1900". Behind B&MR loco #346 (renumbered to
> #1232 class H-4 in 1904) is a Burlington baggage car numbered 7XX labelled
> "Adams Express Company". Does anyone know anything about this company? Was
> this a forerunner to the REA?
>
> The following car appears to be a Burlington passenger/baggage car which is
> named as opposed to numbered, and bears the words "Chicago and Denver
> Limited" between the baggage door and the car end. Any suggestions?
>
> Close examination suggests that this photo was retouched or faked as the
> wheels of the loco and tender are on the outside of the rail instead of on
> top! Judging by the variation in colour, the loco and tender almost appear to
> have been added later.
>
> Rupert
> Auckland NZ
>
Rupert
Adams Express was one of several express companies that were consolidated into
Railway Express Agency during the USRA take over of the railroads during WW I.
I don't know anything about the "Chicago and Denver Limited" but the bagg-mail
is identified by Bill Glick in his "Passenger Cars of the Burlington" as
"Illinois" with no later number so it may have been gone by 1904.
This is a not very good B&W printing of a colorized photo. The photo is by
William Jackson and he did colorization of his photos. While he took great
photos he was an artist first and he was not above "improving" a photo if he
felt like it. I have a picture he took of the Georgetown Loop with three
trains painted in and where two mountains come together to form a notch he
painted in a mountain peak.
Kenneth Martin
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