name of the French people. He indicated that in making a gift of this locomotive to a United States museum the French Railways were happy to show once more their feelings of gratitude toward the United States, the U.S. having given them this locomotive at a time when the French were surmounting grave post World War II difficulties.
More than 1,300 almost identical U.S. Mikados were painstakingly designed, expertly built, and shipped across the Atlantic in great freighters to the home-land of General Charles DeGaulle during and following World War II. Perhaps one or two hundred of them are still burnishing the rails of France today. The orders for these locomotives were filled by Lima, Baldwin, American, Canadian, and Montreal locomotive builders. The design was based on the Green Bay & Western 2-8-2, but modified for French application. For the most part the design adhered strictly to American locomotive practices and tolerances incorporating, of course, French limitations. The only obvious external differences are lack of bell, pilot mounted headlight, hook and buffer couplers, and left-hand running configuration.
The donated locomotive is a "Liberation Mikado" class 141Rf, road number 1199. This 2-8-2 locomotive is from the Baldwin Locomotive Works and was built during 1945-47, exact year not known. The photo on page one is a sister engine to the PSRMA donation, and the Baldwin builder's photo came from the collection of H. L. Broadbelt. It is identical to number 1199 excepting the Association locomotive has Box-Pox drivers. The 1199, which also features cast bed frame and roller bearings, is still in service and has seen more than 1,629,000 kilometers of service since its construction. Delivery to the nearest port of embarcation for this oil burner can be any time after June 1, 1971.
Very preliminary arrangements have begun for shipping the locomotive by ship from France directly to San Diego or possibly Los Angeles. Actual costs will be about $20,000, but it is expected that many of the services will be donated. Plans are being formulated for a combination fund raising and publicity campaign that may be National in scope. The International goodwill that can result from this monument to French and American friendship certainly will benefit PSRMA, San Diego, and the United States, Report, of course, will continue to provide the details as this massive project gets under way.
As with all other locomotive donations to PSRMA, this one is the result of many, many efforts from one member. In this case, it was the work, time, and patience of PSRMA President H. Chalmers Kerr, Jr. that has resulted in PSRMA's biggest "prize" to date.
SOUTHWEST CORNER
Now that the final railroad-operated passenger train (see photo on page 1) has arrived in San Diego, and the government-sponsered National Railroad Passenger Corporation has taken over all passenger service in the South-West Corner, what are some of the changes that can be looked foreward to in the future?
Amtrak, nee Railpax, has caused some immediate changes here in San Diego, one of the few cities in the nation to receive improved service on May 1. For the first time in a long while Southern Pacific and Union Pacific cars have come in and out of San Diego depot in regular service. They are being incorporated in the tri-weekly San Diego-to-Seattle western corridor run. It is now possible to board a car in San Diego and arrive in Seattle 35 hours later...on the same car.
The two daily San Diego-to-Los Angeles trains are still using the same Santa Fe equipment, and look the same as the pro-May 1st trains. However, these trains have been running consistently on time, a result of a contract provision between the railroads and Amtrak that gives passenger trains priority over freights.
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