Mountain Thunder on Helmstetter's Curve

Mountain Thunder on Helmstetter's Curve

The distinctive Fireball symbol of the Western Maryland Railway on her tender, Locomotive No. 734 eases her
passenger train into Helmstetter’s Curve, near Cumberland, Maryland on this afternoon in early autumn.

The famous Fireball logo has in its center the words “Fast Freight Line,” but the railroad
also ran passenger trains from Baltimore into the far western reaches of Maryland.

That long-ago era is evoked by the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad’s “Mountain Thunder”
steam train, which operates on the old Western Maryland line from Cumberland to Frostburg.
The restored old gal was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1916.

This version of the image was created from an original Fujichrome transparency. The autumn colors
were nice, but somehow I thought old 734 belonged in a more “classic” treatment in toned black and white.

It is available as a custom printed photo note card and in gallery prints.

(On the other hand, that gold, black, and red Fireball and the gold Western Maryland in the autumn sun
might also appeal in the original Fujichrome colors. We’ll hold that one in the old roundhouse for now.)

©2014 Steve Ember