Photos, videos and docs of Alan Mays, with the keywords: "tracks"

Clear the Track for Merry Christmas!

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 16:48:10 +0000

"Clear the track for Merry Christmas. HBG."

A Christmas postcard illustrated by H. B. Griggs (HBG).

Addressed on the other side to Mr. Paul Cadwallader, Sharonville, Ohio, R.R., and postmarked in Cozaddale, Ohio, on Dec. 16, 1910.

Handwritten message: "Hello Old Boy. How are you? Why don't you write. Have been very busy with my entertainment and did not have time. HRB."

Chicago and North-Western Railway Station, Des Moines, Iowa

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 04:38:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

This early postcard nicely captures the hustle and bustle of trains, cars, and wagons at a railroad station in Des Moines, Iowa, during the early twentieth century.

Building signs provide some additional details. Below the sign for the "Passenger Station, Chicago and North-Western Railway" is another one that indicates that the "American Express Co." was based there as well. Barely visible signs on the brick buildings on the other side of the railroad cars identify one as the factory for "Garr Scott & Co " which manufactured threshing machinery, and another--the tallest building in the distance--as the Grand Hotel.

John B. Martin, Bicycle Trick Rider, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, ca. 1903

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 04:40:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

The Lancaster City Directory for 1903 listed John B. Martin (1875-1906) as a bicycle repairer and gave his address as 421 N. Prince Street, so it seems likely that this business card with the same information dates to about the same time.

I haven't uncovered any information regarding Martin's career as a trick rider, nor have I found any reference to the athletic grounds and banked bicycle track that he operated on Prince Street.

Martin died on March 19, 1906. He was only 30 years old and left behind three young daughters.

David Bachman Landis of Pluck Art Printery printed Martin's business card.

J. B. Martin, Wheels to Hire

Martin the Trick Rider.

First-Class Bicycle Repairing. Athletic Grounds in the Rear.

Come and see the new banked Bicycle Track.

421 N. Prince St., Lancaster, Pa.

Half square north of the P.R.R. freight depot.

Streetcar Chicks with Rooster Conductor for Easter

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 06:03:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Easter Greetings" postcard dating to the early twentieth century.

Berchtesgaden Salt Mine, September 17, 1962

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 14 Jan 2018 03:43:03 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A looking at the camera photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

Sign on the wall behind the train: "Salzbergwerk Berchtesgaden, 17.9.62" ("Berchtesgaden Salt Mine, 9/17/62.")

Twenty-four riders on a mine train are peering intently at the photographer's camera in this souvenir photo from the Berchtesgaden Salt Mine in Bavaria, Germany, on September 17, 1962.

For a similar photo from a different mine, see Hallein Salt Mine Tour, near Salzburg, Austria, July 31, 1962

Engine Number 30 at the Grangers' Picnic, Cumberland Valley Railroad Yards, Williams Grove, Pa., 1916

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 07:10:57 +0000

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Caption on the front of this postcard: "C.V.R.R. Yards, Williams Grove, Pa."

Printed on the back: "14546 - Pub. by A. M. Deichler, Lancaster, Pa., for J. Hurst Est., Mechanicsburg, Pa."

Postmarked Mechanicsburg, Pa., Aug. 30, 1918, and addressed to Miss Grace Hoy, 730 S. Duke St., York, Pa.

Handwritten message: "Dear Cousin, Expected to see you at the Grove but failed to see you there. Such a crowd of people I never seen as was there on Thursday. All well. Hope this will find you all the same. Emma."

A photographic version of this scene appeared in "Grangers at the Grove: Annual Farmers Exhibition Ended Nearly a Century Ago," a newpaper article by Joseph Cress, which was published in The Sentinel (Carlisle, Pa.), Sept. 5, 2015. "Engine Number 30 arrives in Williams Grove during the Grangers' Picnic in 1916" was the caption of the photographic version, which was provided by the Cumberland County Historical Society.

Mount Washington Club Membership Card, August 23, 1938

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 17 May 2017 19:24:22 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"This card entitles Name: ________ to a day membership in the Mount Washington Club on the Top of New England, White Mountains, N.H. Date of ascent: Aug. 23, 1938."

As Wikipedia reports, Mount Washington is the "highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288.2 ft (1,916.6 m)," which certainly qualifies it as the "Top of New England." The unnamed original owner of this card evidently visited the mountain on August 23, 1938, and may have taken a ride on the Mount Washington Cog Railway--depicted on the back of the card--to get to the top.

Locomotive 1524 and Its Crew

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 19:04:28 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

An unused real photo postcard, date and location unknown.

Cornwall Railroad Company Pass, Cornwall, Pa., 1895

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 07 May 2015 22:09:48 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Cornwall Railroad. 1895. Good during current year. Unless otherwise ordered. Pass: Howard Boyd, secy. & treas., Phila., Newtown, & New York R.R. Wm. C. Freeman, president. No. 193. Hosford & Sons, N.Y."

Printed on the back: "This pass is not transferable, and the person accepting and using it thereby assumes all risk of accident and damage to person or baggage."

Miniature Railway, House of David Park, Benton Harbor, Michigan

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 21:09:22 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Miniature Railway, House of David Park, Benton Harbor, Mich. 14."

A miniature railroad at an amusement park that was operated by the House of David, a religious commune in Benton Harbor, Michigan, whose members also performed in touring bands and played on baseball teams.

Check out another view of the Miniature Railway, House of David Park, Benton Harbor, Michigan.

Broadway Limited, Pennsylvania Railroad

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 18:34:58 +0000

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Printed on the back of this postcard: "The Broadway Limited, the Aristocrat of the Rails, is America's foremost train. It makes the daily run over the Pennsylvania Railroad between New York and Chicago in 20 hours; Philadelphia and Chicago in 18¼ hours. Direct connections in new Union Station, Chicago, for Pacific Coast and points West."

As Wikipedia explains, "The Broadway Limited was a passenger train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad between New York City and Chicago. It operated from 1912 to 1995." The illustration on this advertising postcard comes from a 1920s painting by Harold Brett entitled Speed and Security. It shows the Broadway Limited traveling over the Rockville Bridge, which crosses the Susquehanna River a few miles north of Harrisburg, Pa.

Labor Day Parade, Cumberland, Maryland

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 16:06:58 +0000

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Caption on front: "Labor Day, Cumberland, Md." Printed on back: "C. E. Gerkins, Cumberland, Md."

A real photo postcard of men marching in a Labor Day parade along Baltimore Street in Cumberland, Maryland, circa 1900s or 1910s.

The sign for "J. Gross, " a clothing store with an address of 169 Baltimore Street, is visible on the building at left, and a close examination of an enlargement of the photo reveals that "The Kenneweg Co., Wholesale Grocers" occupied the building on the right.

The steeple that's visible at the far end of the street belongs to the historic Emmanuel Episcopal Church, which--as Wikipedia points out--was "built on the foundations of Fort Cumberland, where George Washington began his military career."

Merry Christmas, Metropolitan Philadelphia Railway Association, 1955

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 20:59:09 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Motorcycle Mama and Papa

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 06 Oct 2019 16:44:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of things they won't let us do any more.

In this undated photo, dad is smoking a pipe as he and mom pose with little Sidecar Susie.

Working on the Railroad All the Live-Long Day

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 16:05:07 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A tools photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

A real photo postcard showing a group of men working on railroad track maintenance (workers like these were sometimes called "gandy dancers").

The man on the left is using a track jack to adjust the height of a rail. The man next to him is posing with another tool, probably a sledge hammer. The boy in the middle is carrying a bucket. The fellow on the right is sitting on some sort of long bar—maybe a claw bar for pulling spikes—that appears to be wedged under one of the cross ties.

I Am Pushing on the Lines

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 19:29:14 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Original caption: "I am pushing on the lines. Will show you a full line of samples about...."

With written additions: "I am pushing on the lines. Will see you about next Saturday if plans pan out O.K. Shall I bring a trunk? Store's not open Sat., so if you come home, come to end of line, [or?] phone from square."

A salesman normally would have used a postcard like this to notify potential customers when he'd arrive at their location to show them samples of his merchandise, but instead the sender of this card has altered the message to arrange a time to meet a friend or relative.

To My Valentine

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:50:54 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Flowery train Valentine postcard.

Miss Clara Wagner with Her Motorcycle at Coenties Slip, New York (Back)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 21:44:42 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

The back of an advertising postcard postmarked April 22, 1911, Elmira, N.Y. Printed by Blanchard Press, New York.

Message (a printed reproduction of a handwritten note):

Dear Boys:

Miss Clara Wagner, the most successful and experienced lady motorcyclist, always uses the Eclipse Coaster Brake. Miss Wagner states that "The perfect security I felt in my brake equipment contributed largely to the pleasure." As she had numerous occasions to test it, and it was not found wanting.

That's good evidence.

Eclipse Machine Co.

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For the front of the postcard, see Miss Clara Wagner with Her Motorcycle at Coenties Slip, New York. For a similar postcard advertisement, see J. C. Ferguson Using a Morrow Coaster Brake at the Hotel Astor, New York.

Miss Clara Wagner with Her Motorcycle at Coenties Slip, New York

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 21:44:44 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Miss Clara Wagner with her motorcycle at Coenties Slip, New York, using the Eclipse Coaster Brake. 30206. Photo only by A. Loeffler, Tompkinville, N.Y."

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According to Wikipedia, "Clara Marian Wagner (1891-1961) was the first documented woman motorcyclist who became notable as an endurance racer and was sponsored by the Eclipse Machine Co., a bicycle company, for using its braking products. In 1907, Clara, aged 15 years old and the daughter of the Wagner Motorcycle Company (1901-1914) owner George Wagner from Saint Paul, Minnesota, became a member of the American Federation of Motorcyclists (FAM). Clara put the company's motorcycles on the map by achieving a perfect score in a FAM 360 mile endurance race from Chicago to Indianapolis in 1910, aged 18, but was denied the trophy because she was female."

In the early twentieth century, the Eclipse Machine Company published a series of advertising postcards like this one that featured exaggeratedly large women and men with correspondingly huge motorcyles and bicycles in ordinary-sized settings at locales in and around New York City (in this case, Coenties Slip is "a historic pedestrian walkway in Lower Manhattan"). The postcards were advertisements for the various types of motorcycle and bicycle brakes that the company manufactured.

For the message on the back of this postcard, see Miss Clara Wagner with Her Motorcycle at Coenties Slip, New York (Back). For a similar postcard advertisement, see J. C. Ferguson Using a Morrow Coaster Brake at the Hotel Astor, New York.

New York One-Price Clothing Company

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 18:36:40 +0000

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"Compliments of New York One-Price Clothing Co., Westfield, Mass."