Johnny Cash album cover photo, what RR is this?

p51 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 31, 2014 5:57 pm

I had this album as a kid and wore the thing out playing it. I used to stare at the photo for hours. Back then, I had no idea what RR this was from...

I still don't. Any ideas?

artschwartz · **Posted:** Thu Jul 31, 2014 6:34 pm

My guess would be the Reading. Looks like a Wooten firebox on the engine, the engine number is in the series used on Reading pacifics, and the coaches look like Reading commuter cars.

p51 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 31, 2014 6:50 pm

Yeah, now that you mention it, it does have that look, doesn't it?
I tried looking online for a photo of Reading # 134 as the engine # looks like part of the photo, does anyone know what class that would be? A look at the head end of that class would get this nailed down for sure.

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:12 pm

Here's a shot of Reading 134; keep in mind the appearance of a steam locomotive often changed over time as it was cycled in and out of backshops, and the Reading was a company that may have done more such tinkering than average!

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/re ... 2/id/65195

If it is a Reading engine, and I'm one who thinks it is, it would be in the G1-sa class, built in 1916. Some of the details that stand out as typical of Reading practice include the cab design, the way the running board is stepped, the way the power reverse is set, and that delicate looking pilot that doesn't look too sturdy! The headlight mounted above center, and the bell above it are also common in other photos of the G-1s.

http://www.steamlocomotive.com/pacific/?page=pr

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/re ... 2/id/65193

The G1s went through a lot of rebuildings and restylings over the years.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3854049

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2880520

Don't you wish we had more Reading steamers around? I do.

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/pr120.jpg

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/pr121s.jpg

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3711255

Blurry photo, and a lot like the one above in terms of angle, but check out what looks like a light colored or polished jacket, and what appears to be some sort of locomotive cleaning device in the foreground:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3711257

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3711258

Bulby · **Joined:** Tue Nov 12, 2013 6:45 pm **Posts:** 258

If you rotated the (air tank?) on the pilot, I think you'd have a match. That's the only real difference I can make out.

artschwartz · **Posted:** Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:41 pm

Look in the Reading Company T&HS website under archives - steam roster. Pull up second photo listed for #134 (130-134 G1sa - Baldwin, 1924).

Wowak · **Posted:** Fri Aug 01, 2014 1:21 am

Yup, that's definitely a Reading G-1-S-A

p51 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 01, 2014 4:29 pm

Thanks, everyone, this has been driving me nuts for years!

artschwartz wrote:

Look in the Reading Company T&HS website under archives - steam roster. Pull up second photo listed for #134 (130-134 G1sa - Baldwin, 1924).

Other than the headlight position (which of course could moved in its service life), I agree that this appears to be her all right: http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/rdg134s.jpg
From the angle and the hogger leaning so far out, I'd bet it was a company photo. Would be neat to find the orignal photo someday....

Bob Davis · **Joined:** Sat Aug 28, 2004 3:25 am **Posts:** 1025

I thought it was rather amusing that the album cover shows a Reading train (probably what the cover graphics designer had on hand or was the first thing he found) when Johnny Cash's songs usually referred to railways further south (Hey Porter), in Virginia (Wreck of Old 97) or California (Folsom Prison Blues).

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 02, 2014 10:42 pm

Just a cool Reading Company photo that turned up on my Facebook page, which does happen to have two G1sas in it:

https://www.facebook.com/RailroadPhotos ... =1&theater

How many of us would like to walk into that photo now? I would.

G. W. Laepple · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 5:10 pm **Posts:** 1182

That's Green Street, Philadelphia, just north of Reading Terminal.

Richard Glueck · **Posted:** Thu Aug 07, 2014 8:35 am

Excellent detective work.
Another Johnny Cash album was released called "I've got a thing about trains", featuring him standing alongside the drivers of a static park locomotive.

And far from Cash, there was a "bubble gum" group called "The Ohio Express" (remember "yummy, yummy, yummy, I've got love in my tummy"?), who had their album photo taken on the pilot of LIRR G5s #35, at that time in Eisenhower Park, Garden City, New York.

Kenny L · **Posted:** Fri Aug 08, 2014 10:44 am

There's also this boxed set titled "Come Along and Ride This Train".

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JOHNNY-CASH-COM ... 1389603780

p51 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 08, 2014 11:03 am

There's also this famous shot of him and a park locomotive, which is NC&StL 576, a 4-8-4 at Centennial Park in Nashville. Oddly, I found out where this was taken less than 24 hours after I'd seen that very locomotive. Had I known at that time, I would have gotten a shot of me leaning onto the same spot!
http://ignacioreyo.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/johnny-cash-train20webb.jpg

co614 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 09, 2014 7:23 am

Lee, That shot in Nashville was taken when he was there to do a PSA for the American Freedom Train. We used that PSA very effectively to generate ticket sales months ahead of the AFT's arrival in many cities across the land.

He also did other radio PSA's which helped us a lot.

Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton also recorded " All Aboard America-Here Comes the Freedom Train" for us and it made it into the top 10 on the Billboard charts. We sold a ton of those 45rpm records from the AFT's souvenir shop.

Great memories.

Ross Rowland