Sixty-five years will have passed since the July 14th, 1959 retirement of Pennsylvania Railroad B6sb 5244. The little 0-6-0 was towed to the 46th Street yard, fire dropped, and she joined scores of dead Consolidations and other switchers. Her plates were removed, cleaned, painted, and affixed to a hardwood plaque with a small engraved tag, explaining the significance of the artifacts. This hung in the offices of the PRR, then Penn Central, until a few days prior to the infamous Penn central auction, when they mysteriously disappeared!
I first began this quest for the grail over a year ago and since have actually located artifacts removed from the 5244 by rail historians, with permission mind you, prior to the trip to Modena for scrapping. I have not yet located the plates. I have met many collectors of PRR number and badge plates, but haven't located these historic artifacts. A full article with pictures will be published in the PRR T&HS journal "The Keystone"* later this year.
The search goes on, seeking not to remove or acquire the plates for myself or anyone else, but to simply determine their recognition and future security. I would be grateful for any factual information, leads, original photos, contacts, which will lead this search to a successful conclusion. I do not believe they were thrown away or trashed.
If you can offer real assistance, please email me at: B6sb5244@gmail.com . Thank you for taking the time to read this and offer help.
*Yes, you should join and subscribe!
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File comment: Last seen image of these plates, published in Pennsylvania Railroad company magazine in the mid-1960's. Reminder.jpg [ 128.27 KiB | Viewed 6500 times ] |