George Hart’s ex-Canadian Pacific 4-6-0 most probably spent most of its common carrier life plying branch lines in Canada. It continued in branch line service on ex-CNJ trackage out of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania in its retirement. It also saw a lot of mainline excursion running in the 1970’s and 1980’s. My first mainline encounter with the 972 was while I was still in high school, when a “Farewell to the Lehigh Valley” trip was run from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to South Plainfield, New Jersey. The well-travelled ten-wheeler was doubleheaded with Sam Freeman’s former FEC 4-6-2, and the duo is seen here crossing the Delaware river into Phillipsburg, New Jersey on a miserable rainy October day.
