I've been trying to sort out the information about this engine no. 35 in this postcard:



Now, we are lead to believe that this engine is the one currently displayed in St. Joseph. However, accounts differ as to the 35's background. Most say this "35" had never been so numbered during its service life. So that means the engine in the postcard here must've been scrapped. Depressing, but now about the "no. 35"...

It is said to have been built for the Hannibal and St Joesph, and through merger came under the Burlington Route. It was said to have been built in 1892 by Burlington's shops, but the Hannibal and St Joesph was merged into the Burlington in 1883. Another source says the engine was built in 1882 by Baldwin.

So I was wondering if someone, perhaps someone from the museum, could help clear up the engine's history. When was it actually built? By whom? Did it ever look anything like the 35 in the postcard during its service life?

jayo -

Here's what J. David Conrad has to say about the Burlington 4-4-0 in St. Joe:

Built by the CB&Q's Aurora Shops in 1892 for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad as their number 66. Renumbered in 1898 to 666. The H&StJ was merged into the CB&Q in 1901 and the engine became Burlington number 359. In 1933 it was renumbered as 35.

Les

So then, when it was bought in 1883, it remained an independently operated subsidiary until 1901...

So at least it operated on the... wait, is that 35 lettered for the Burlington and Missouri River? If it is, then this other 35 is almost completely unrelated! Well, that is rather disappointing, but no surprise I guess, considering that SP made V&T's Genoa stand in for the Jupiter, and what other railroads have done as far as old-time stand-ins....

The 35 in the earlier posted photo is the original and was built by Manchester. The 35 that exists today is the engine described by J. David Conrad - the 1892 Baldwin, which was modified to "back-date" it to resemble the Manchester. It is a larger engine than the original.

So then the current 35 was built by Baldwin? Or was it maybe built by the CB&Q using Baldwin supplied components? And when was the B&MR 35 built?

JAYO, LISTEN to J. David. He is in a position to know the facts. The locomotive is a Baldwin product.

Note from my earlier post; built in the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy's Aurora Shops.


Les

Burlington Bulletin #44 and #45 both cover the original locomotive No. 35 and the replica. The publications state that the original locomotive No. 35 was built by the B&MR Plattsmouth shops in 1881 when it was photographed as shown at the top of the original post in this thread.

The information does not say the locomotive was built by Manchester, but I think it looks mostly like a Manchester 4-4-0 of that era, with perhaps the exception of the drivers. If the company built the locomotive, they must have used Manchester parts. It says it was scrapped in 1903.

The Burlington Bulletin #45 devotes about 25 pages to the replica No. 35, plus some information on the original.