In October of 1940 photographer Bill Witbeck recorded this view of a small crane as it filled the tender of Gulf, Mobile and Ohio steamer #261 with coal. The crane still carries the reporting marks of its former owner, the Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad. The GM&O itself was the result of the recent merger of the GM&N and the Mobile & Ohio railroads.

David Price tells me that the location is the Capitol Yard in Jackson, Mississippi. He speculates that the sign under the locomotive’s cab window reads “Save Coal” (an appropriate policy I think for the time).

I really love this scene . . . indeed, I’m considering adding such a “facility” to the model railroad that I have under construction. And I think I’ve located the perfect spot for it.