Chicago & North Western E7A #5015-A boards at DeKalb, Illinois with train #2, the eastbound Kate Shelley '400' on the morning of December 28, 1964. Roger Puta photo.
This train, which originally connected Chicago and Boone, Iowa entered service in the fall of 1955 after the C&NW discontinued operating Union Pacific's City streamliners.
The train was named after Catherine "Kate" Shelley, an Irish immigrant who came to the United States soon after she was born and eventually settled in Boone County, Iowa.
She lived a quiet life for many years until July 6, 1881 when she heard a C&NW train crash into nearby Honey Creek (a single locomotive out checking track conditions), the result of flash floods caused by the day's severe thunderstorms.
She knew an eastbound passenger train would be passing through the area soon and rushed on foot - and through bad weather - to the local Moingona depot to warn of the washout and wrecked locomotive.
Her heroic efforts saved the passenger train from impending disaster and led to the rescue of two of the crew involved in the washout. She was praised by the railroad, local community, and eventually became a national heroine.
https://t.co/ndmOXFyG9u
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! 🎄🎅Seen here is Baltimore & Ohio 2-8-8-0 #7157 on the Indiana Branch (ex-Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh) near the small community of Cloe, Pennsylvania during a late fall snowstorm on December 2, 1954. This line, which ran from Punxsutawney to Vintondale, contained a heavy concentration of coal mines. Bob Collins photo.
https://t.co/cOKLmQKTLm
I'm so chuffed to share that I was received the James E. McLean Distinguished Research Paper Award at MSERA 2023!
Big shout out to my advisor, Dr. Sarah McKenzie for her help with my project!
Seems like yall are into this 4DSW research so I guess I'll keep it up!
@ua_edreform