Hol:
Thank you very much for the background on my grandfather. R. Wright is how I
had heard him referred to as well, but didn't know whether that carried over to
his professional career or not. Unfortunately, I never really knew him. He
died in 1966 when I was only 5.
Someone else on the distribution list sent me a picture of engine 31 from your
book, and it is definitely not the same headlamp. The headlamp I have looks
much more like the one on engine 38 that we found on the Internet. The
headlight is definitely electric. My older cousin thought the headlight came
off a second hand locomotive that the FW&D purchased from another railroad.
Sorry the picture didn't come through. Here's a copy of it. It's about 24"
tall and 19" deep. I really appreciate any insights you could provide on what
locomotive this came from.
Thank you very much,
Chris
On Aug 15, 2011, at 7:44 AM, HOL WAGNER wrote:
>
> Chris:
>
> I met your grandfather (known on the railroad as R. Wright Armstrong) several
> times in the early 1960s when I was a very young man researching FW&D
> equipment in the Fort Worth general offices for my 1970 book on the subject.
> He was always friendly and helpful to my efforts, and I have always been
> impressed that he took seriously the idea that a high school student could be
> researching a detailed study of the motive power and other equipment of the
> C&S and FW&D.
>
> As to the headlight you now have in your back yard, I have to question
> whether it is in fact from FW&D 31. As Ken Martin has noted, the 31 was a
> small 0-4-0 switcher, one of a pair ordered by Gen. Grenville M. Dodge and
> built by the Cooke Locomotive Works in the spring of 1888, the other as
> Denver, Texas & Fort Worth No. 19, eventually becoming C&S 501. As Ken noted,
> the 31 was retired and scrapped in 1906 and in all likelihood never received
> an electric headlight. The rather well known photo of the 31, reproduced in
> "The Colorado Road," was handed out by the railroad itself, along with a view
> of engine No. 1, as examples of the road's early motive power. It shows the
> 31 equipped with the large box-like kerosene headlight with which it was
> almost certainly equipped for its entire life. You say the lamp in your
> possession is similar to one in a photo of FW&D 38. The 38 was a second-hand
> Union Pacific locomotive acquired by the "Denver" early in the 20th Century,
> and it lasted into the 1940s. Outfitted with an electric headlight in the
> early Teens, it was subsequently fitted with a newer, more modern headlight.
> Both of these electric headlights -- as with the vast majority of locomotive
> headlights powered by electricity (Burlington's famous homemade "cuckoo
> clock" headlights being a notable exception) -- were round or cylindrical,
> with illuminated number boards on each side, either flat on the cylinder or
> jutting outward on "wings." So if your headlight is a big (close to 3 feet
> tall), boxy affair with a kerosene lamp inside and an exhuast vent on the
> top, then it could indeed be from FW&D 31. If, however, it is a smaller
> cylindrical headlight illuminated by a single light bulb in the concave
> reflector, then it almost certainly was never mounted on the 31, and the fact
> that it was manufactured by Buda would seem to date its manufacture to the
> early 1900s, as electric lights were replacing oil lamps.
>
> The link to the photo of you headlight was not in your message, so I can't
> tell what it looks like.
>
> Hol Wagner
>
> To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
> From: chris.a.kay@comcast.net
> Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2011 21:03:35 -0600
> Subject: [CBQ] Help finding the history of FW&D engine 31
>
> > My grandfather, Robert W. Armstrong, was a VP of the FW&D railroad. One of
> > the souvenirs he collected was the headlamp from engine 31 of the FW&D. I
> > can't find a picture of this engine nor any history about the engine. I did
> > find this picture of engine 38. The link is here:
> >
> > http://www.yesteryeardepot.com/FWD38.JPG
> >
> > I believe the headlamp on engine 38 looks like the headlamp I have
> > installed in my backyard. Here's a picture of the headlamp I inherited from
> > my grandfather.
> >
> >
> >
> > I would really like to know more about the history of the engine and the
> > headlamp. The headlamp came with a plate on top describing the manufacturer:
> >
> > "Buda-Ross"
> > Headlamps
> > Mfd by
> > The Buda Co
> > Chicago
> >
> > There's not much on the Internet about the headlamps or the Buda company.
> > Any information about engine 31 or the headlamp would be greatly
> > appreciated.
> >
> >
> > Thank you very much,
> >
> >
> > Chris Kay
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
CBQ-digest@yahoogroups.com
CBQ-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
CBQ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
|
