Sisters....of sorts. Sitting in front of the locomotive restoration and maintenance facility in Rusk, Texas, you see a pair of Baldwin steam locomotives that have handled the lion's share of the tourist trains over the last few years. On the right is Tremont & Gulf Railway #30, a 2-8-2 Mikado Type built in 1917, and which hauled forest products on the Louisiana short line for nearly 40 years, before finding a second life on the Magma Arizona Railroad, serving the mining industry. She was acquired by the Texas State Railroad in 1974. On the left, we find Southern Pine Lumber Company #28, a 2-8-0 Consolidation Type, also built in 1917 for the US Army as #645. She's just one of 2 remaining examples of a type known as "Pershing" engines, named after the famous General "Blackjack" Pershing. They were designed for service in Europe in World War I, but fortunately, this engine never crossed the pond, serving at Camp Claiborne in Louisiana. After World War II, she was sold to......wait for it.....the Tremont & Gulf Railway, where she acquired the number 28. So she actually served during the steam era with #30 on the right, thus making them "sisters", of sorts. In 1955, she was sold to the Southern Pine Lumber Company, whose livery she carries today. The engine was donated to the Texas State Railroad in 1973, but it would be a couple of decades before she'd operate there. Until recently, this engine was numbered TSRR #300 and sported a really gaudy red, black and gold paint scheme. Fortunately, the current operators of the TSRR have seen fit to paint her in a more authentic scheme.
