As the saying goes, every picture tells a story and that is true for postcards as well. This is a terrific shot of a train that I assume to be on the Ulster & Delaware RR in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The train is passing through a narrow pass known as Stony Clove Notch. The card is postmarked 1906. Now, here's a detail scan of the train. What is unusual about it?
Note that the loco isn't pulling passenger cars, it's pulling flat cars loaded with passenger cars. But why? Why not just ship them coupled to the loco? Ahhh...the story to this postcard is that the Catskill Mountain area was served by both standard gauge and narrow gauge railroads. These are narrow gauge cars being delivered by a standard gauge road to a narrow gauge road, possibly the Catskill & Tannersville or Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain.
For more information on Stony Clove, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stony_Clove_Notch
For more information on the Ulster & Delaware RR and the Sony Clove & Catskill Mountain RR, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_and_Delaware_Railroad
For more information on the Catskill & Tannersville RR, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catskill_and_Tannersville_Railway
