Hello all, especially Jim K, with whom I have a few things in common. I think I can resolve some of the speculation on the approximate date of this photo. The green roofed home about in the center of the pic is 2002 German St. into which my family moved in summer 1950. At that time both 2002 and 2004, next door south, were both already completely sided in brown InsulBrick. The north side of 2004 in this photo shows that siding. The latest possible date of this pic can only be spring of '50. Probably the OP had it right about a '49 date.

2002 was owned by the Radov family, wonderfully nice folks who owned Independent Iron & Metal. 235 E 20th is the correct addy. The internet ref. to 23rd St. is just a total error. The red brick bldg. I believed contained their rag-sorting operation.

In 1952 I helped my brother on his E 18th St Dispatch route Parade St to State St. We watched the 1951 Centennial doings from in front of where he picked up those papers on Parade St. In '53 I had a route on 21st from German to State. He won a NY City trip on the NYC in '53 and I won a Chicago trip a year later on the NKP.

Living next to a 'junkyard' and RR was a real treat. That's Erie Crawford County Co-op at the left and one summer day we found there on this same siding an open box car with the fresh remains of a few broken watermelons. Across German St Guelcher Coal and a block-long lumber yard were served as well as a Johns Manville on Parade.

Sorry for the long-windedness; this pic unlocked a ton of memories for me. And I thank all of you for preserving them for all of us.

I don't find it at all surprising that a class outfit like the NKP would have selected a loco for such a display and given it a repaint for exactly that purpose. If in fact it was a loco just being outshopped after some work, all the more reason to freshen up the paint job. Some railroads had pride in their appearance back then.