Photo of Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 #2705 in regular service taken at Peach Creek, WV:

http://abpr2.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi? ... anColl.jpg

No date on the photo but the 2705 already has a replicated oval number plate on her smoke box door. Possibly the original had been sold by the railroad to a collector, the railroad thinking that the Kanawha would not run again. Or, the plate might have been "liberated" by someone. Sister C&O #2789 at HVRM also sported a similar replicated number plate but one day a visitor stopped by North Judson and offered it to the museum. A trade was arranged and the 2789 today has her original number plate back in place. Does the 2705 at the B&O Museum still have this replication?

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, Indiana)

I'm reasonably sure that she has an "authentic" looking C&O number plate. Unfortunately she is missing the number board on the engineer's side. She also apparently ran in passenger and/or express train service, as she has a steam line connection, and the air signal hose.

Kevin -

Due to their roller bearings, the C&O regularly used a number of the early Kanawha's in passenger service, where they replaced older steamers. Included was the roads premier "George Washington" through eastern Kentucky. They also handled mail-express trains, locals, and other first class trains, in addition to special excursions and military passenger moves. This lasted until the railroad started putting EMD E8 passenger diesels into service in 1951-52 when the passenger 2-8-4's were returned exclusively to freight service.

Les

There was a report going about that the B&O Museum was burglarized shortly after the well-publicized break-in at the Strasburg RR, and shortly before the storm that collapsed the roundhouse roof. I noticed the 2705 plate missing from the Museum's 2705 around that time; ditto the upper number board, but it seemed to me that "fell off" or whatever long before. The Museum denied that any such burglary had occurred when I inquired. I guess I gotta check again as I drive by today and see what's on there now. Of course, by now, between this thread, the use of replicas by museums, the IRM's Frisco 1630 Russian plate on eBay thread, etc., who's to tell which plates are real and which are replicas?

Update:

As of 2:45 this afternoon, C&O 2705 currently sports a sheet-metal number plate similar in appearance to the one in the photo at top, but with faded painted numbers replicating the cast-number fonts, not the painted numbers seen in the photo linked at the top of this thread.

The engineer's-side number board is still missing, though a clue as to its fate might be discerned from sister C&O 1309, sitting in front of 2705 with its engineer's-side number board mount leaning forward at perhaps a 60-degree angle.