BR&P steam locomotive pictures

My mother has given me many train-related gifts over the years. When I accepted these pictures for my birthday a few years ago I didn't think much of it except that she cautioned me "they were very expensive." I didn't ask how much, but it was unusual. While cleaning out my den today I decided to open it up and a few old timetables from the NYC and Burlington RRs kept me at bay and I saw lots of pictures of BR&P steam locomotives. There are about 20 side-profile shots of the locomotives, with no writing on the backs to tell me anything abou them. There are also 13 large photographs showing train wrecks with at least one involving a BR&P steamer, and at least one with a diesel.

She probably picked them up at a garage sale or something. Did they come from a book, or a collector's guide? Were they sold commercially by ALCO or Baldwin? They are going back into the folder where they came from but it makes me wonder what the deal is with them. They are cool, and though I know little about the BR&P I do know that the "R" is for Rochester, making it somewhat valuable to this Rochester-based kid!

Thanks for any help you guys can shed on them.

Ben, I'm surprised that no one else has responded thus far. A goodly number of the locomotive photos appear to be "builders photos"-photographs of the locomotive as they left the loco works before entering service. The giveaway is that there's no (or little) background in the photo so that the locomotive is highlighted.

Sorry I can't help you with the wreck photos. The best reference on the B, R & P is Paul Pietrak's volume of that same name. I'll dig out my copy later and see if any of the wreck photo's appear in Mr. Pietrak's book.

The BR&P was taken over by the B&O, I believe sometime in the 1930's. (Will confirm that later as well.) The railroad was roughly "Y" shaped splitting north of Salamanca at Ashford Junction to head for Buffalo & Rochester and was one of those rare railroads that actually reached all of its namesake cities.

My father briefly worked for the B&O out of Salamanca in the early 1950's so I'm very interested in this topic as well.

Aa3rt wrote:Ben, I'm surprised that no one else has responded thus far. A goodly number of the locomotive photos appear to be "builders photos"-photographs of the locomotive as they left the loco works before entering service. The giveaway is that there's no (or little) background in the photo so that the locomotive is highlighted.

Sorry I can't help you with the wreck photos. The best reference on the B, R & P is Paul Pietrak's volume of that same name. I'll dig out my copy later and see if any of the wreck photo's appear in Mr. Pietrak's book.

The BR&P was taken over by the B&O, I believe sometime in the 1930's. (Will confirm that later as well.) The railroad was roughly "Y" shaped splitting north of Salamanca at Ashford Junction to head for Buffalo & Rochester and was one of those rare railroads that actually reached all of its namesake cities.

My father briefly worked for the B&O out of Salamanca in the early 1950's so I'm very interested in this topic as well.

The B&O formally purchased the BR&P in 1930 and took over operations in 1932.

Yes, the photos are interesting. I tried to see if the future K&P #2 was included (as she was built by the BR&P) but I didn't see the 2-8-0 was in the photos.

I think you are correct in that they are builders photos. However, the fact that I have so many suggests that they were originally offered to the public in some format (how else would they have come to be available to my mother of all people?)

They most likely aren't originals. They were sent to various officials on the RR and then those would have made their way out to friends and family that didn't get tossed. Those who have purchased the negatives may have been making prints also - see Alco builder's photos that are currently available.

As for the wreck shots, those look like latter-day prints made of prints from back then. Those are widely available - see ebay.

Have you identified everything in the wrecks yet?

Benjamin Maggi wrote:I think you are correct in that they are builders photos. However, the fact that I have so many suggests that they were originally offered to the public in some format (how else would they have come to be available to my mother of all people?)