A few CVRR pictures and some other related pictures....

[Rufus T. Firefly]

A slight divergence...........to ~1927 (according to the card/photo).

[MurphOnMillerAve]

They sure look serious, though I can't quite read the older gentleman.

And I love the neckties and dress-clothes, worn I assume for the photo-taking moment, not as regular hobby playwear. Yet, they could both be doctors who work-off their tensions when at home, as hobbyists, after a hard day at the office .

Interesting tone, overall. Also, interesting to me, considering the hobbyists' attention to very pleasant detailing, is that the station has no parking lot, it seems, though there is plenty of available real estate for one if the field is abbreviated or eliminated. Oh well, as a friend of mine once wisely advised, "It's his layout; he can do whatever he wants." That to me is one of the key features of our hobby - the creative freedom to do what we want with our layouts and/or craftwork.
Murph

[Rufus T. Firefly]

And I love the neckties and dress-clothes, worn I assume for the photo-taking moment, not as regular hobby playwear.

There was a time when you were not fully dressed w/o a tie.

[Tom Dempsey]

Considering what was commercially available in 1927, that is an impressive display of work ethic.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Considering what was commercially available in 1927, that is an impressive display of work ethic.

Almost makes me question the date; looks like a roundhouse maybe behind the older man?

Some real scratchbuilding on structures.....

[up148]

And I love the neckties and dress-clothes, worn I assume for the photo-taking moment, not as regular hobby playwear.

There was a time when you were not fully dressed w/o a tie.

I had a grandfather who wore a white shirt and tie while working in his garden, sometimes no tie if it was really hot during the week. All that got dirty was his hands. My grandparents were not wealthy people by any stretch, but this was the dress of the day.

BH

[Rufus T. Firefly]

This photo was being sold as a CVRR engine; I can't read Cumberland Valley on the tender....and the back was labeled as CVRR, but the CVRR never had any engines on the roster with numbers over 100. This appears to be a PRR H6 with the narrow Belpaire boiler to me and that number of 1898 seems not unreasonable for the PRR in the time period.

I passed on it......

[rogruth]

Rufus,
That makes sense.

[John Webster]

In the 1927? photo there is a large camelback bottom center. The detail that caught my eye was the set of Armstrong switch levers under the younger gent's left hand. Were they a commercial product? If not they represent a lot of hand work.

[healey36]

A slight divergence...........to ~1927 (according to the card/photo).

Maybe it's just me, but it looks like these guys live next to a cement-plant...the entire layout, structures and equipment appear to have a 1/16-inch of fine dust all over it.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Interesting observation, Healey. Perhaps the layout shares a basement with a coal furnace and coal chute?
Murph, a boy who lived in just such a house.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Here's a blast-from-the-past, a cobblestone roadway (or is it simply good ol' Pennsylvania brick, or so-called "Belgian-block") we used to jet down as boys, in the 50's, on our bikes, wanting (can you imagine) all the rattle and bone-jarring shake and bump of the journey down this hill. Its name was CenterStreet, in Duquesne , PA.

(Can you imagine trying to model this roadway on a train layout! )

Later in life , once we got our drivers' licenses, it was an obligatory early self-testing of our fledgling skills to navigate the short journey up and down this street , especially in the rain or snow.
On one such mission, a best friend (I had several) and two other of us headed down the hill and by the second dip , his brakes went blank on his 54' Pontiac . We reached the bottom with a load of luck in our hearts and a great deal of adolescent howling as we barreled thru the intersection just as the light changed green for us .
Wow.
On another occasion, same car, same friends, we got a flat tire half way down Center St. We knew there was no way we dared try to jack the car up and change the tire (traditionally my job) on that road surface, so we limped to the bottom of the hill and pulled over on the level intersecting avenue and replaced the tire with the spare.

I enjoyed that road. And I liked changing tires for my friends.
Murph

[Rufus T. Firefly]

A recent acquisition -- CVRR #80, a narrow Belpaire H6

What a cheery looking group of feller's,

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Working in, on, near, and around such a loud, heavy beast must have quite an effect of one's mood and smile-a-bility, eh? Reaching in somewhere to put a squirt of this-or-that , or tighten this-and-that , deep inside huge moving parts, must give one a special perspective, as opposed to being a tourist to one of those engines.

P.S. Speaking of not underestimating one of those engines, have you ever stood on that pedestrian footbridge that goes from the mall in Steamtown, PA, over the yards, and into the area next to the roundhouse? Well, if you did, I am positive you did not do the jackass move I pulled by standing on that footbridge OVER the steam engine as it passed below. Quite the face-full.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Working in, on, near, and around such a loud, heavy beast must have quite an effect of one's mood and smile-a-bility, eh?

Well, as you and others have noted, virtually nobody in photos and RPPCs from 100 years ago is smiling or even vaguely expressing anything close to happy, let along any emotions at all.

I was just happy though to be able to acquire this and another real CVRR engine photo,