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July 1941. "Logging train. Spalding Junction, Nez Perce County, Idaho." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
looks like an oil burner, not much smoke and no coal in the tender.
The 2-8-2 wheel arrangement for steam locomotives is called a Mikado in reference to an order placed for such locomotives by Japan in 1897. This title was a tough sell during World War II, so it was renamed MacArthur for the duration.
From the NPRHA website
http://www.nprha.org/NP%20Locomotive%20Card%20Scans/1618.pdf
Built March 1907
Scrapped June 1958
No word on the eventual fate of this particular workhorse but the engine was one of a large series built for Northern Pacific by ALCO (Brooks) in 1904-05. Some of them were still on duty when the last steam engines were finally retired from the roster in 1958.
"Keep your hand upon the throttle and your eyes upon the rail”
-- Life’s Railway to Heaven
The first flatcar is loaded with telephone/telegraph poles ready for use. Note the bottoms are dipped -- probably creosote. They look to be about the same size as the poles along the right-of-way, so the might be for the railroad itself.
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