Re: C&S Photos on eBay: surprising pilot?

Posted by John Greenly on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/C-S-Photos-on-eBay-tp8859p12664.html

Ah, sure enough. I just found this same photo of No 67 (credited to the Ronfor collection) in the NG Pictorial vol. VI (p.158)- I should have looked there in the first place.  It gives the date as ca.1900 and points out that the pilot is very rare for this early date.   The photo caption describes this as a "strap metal" pilot, and looking more carefully I think I do see that the bars are flat, not round boiler tubes as I had assumed.

This loco looks otherwise so pristine that now I'm wondering- is it possible that these engines were actually originally supplied by Baldwin with these strap metal pilots that were later replaced with wood by the railroad?  A following photo in the book (p.160) shows 67 in 1923, and it had been "changed back", as the caption says, to a wood pilot.   But what if it wasn't wood in the first place?   Does this imply that the change was made later because wood pilots were preferred by the C&S, or maybe just that 67's metal one got damaged and wood was what the C&S had handy to replace it with?  The metal one is very nice looking, but it does look rather light and delicate.

John