Item #7507
14"x17" original painting, mixed media, matted and framed. Signed lower left. 1989. The last steam locomotive constructed by a major locomotive builder in America was the Nickel Plate Road's Number 779 (February, 1949). The Lima Locomotive Works of Lima, Ohio built 7,752 steam engines in its lifetime from 1874 to the late fifties. Number 779 was the last of 80 "Super Power" steamers that hauled freight trains at passenger train speeds with no let up from the end of the depression through the Second World War and the Korean Conflict. It is important to know that all of the diesel demonstrators and their sale forces from General Motors could not penetrate the ranks of the 700s until parts became scarce in the late fifties.
A typical performance of the 700s would be to roar through the Indiana and Ohio countryside at over 60 miles per hour sounding like a runaway machine gun while announcing to all, "Take cover I'm coming through!"
Six of the Nickel Plate 700s are preserved. Numbers 759 and 765 were restored to operating service for excursion service in the eastern part of the country. The Number 779 is shown here in its heyday, blasting through Hammond, Indiana, showing its usual style. It stands today on display as a reminder to the citizens of Lima, Ohio of their livelihood "in the good ole days."
