WHEN COAL WAS KING: Pacific Coast Railroad Engine No. 16

In the last days of steam locomotives, Pacific Coast Railroad Engine No. 16 spews black smoke as it travels near Maple Valley. The Maple Valley Highway (SR 169) can be seen to the left of the tracks. The engine is pulling a string of empty hopper style cars south to Black Diamond. There the cars would be loaded with coal at the Mine #11 wash plant, which continued operations until 1990. Engine No.16 was built in 1910 by the American Locomotive Company, at its Brooks plant located in Dunkirk, N.Y. The engine initially served the Columbia & Puget Sound later renamed the Pacific Coast Railroad. The engine, which weighed over 64 tons, was sold for scrap in 1953. This photo by Albert Farrow likely dates to around 1940. Albert Farrow, one of railroad photography’s unsung heroes, passed away in Auburn in 2003. Farrow was a locomotive engineer for Northern Pacific and later Burlington Northern. In the 1930s Farrow helped form the first Rail-Fan group in the Puget Sound area. Farrow also took a multitude of railroad photos over the years: steam, electric, interurban, early diesel, logging, and mainline. This photo appeared in the book, “Ships and Narrow Gauge Rails: The Story of the Pacific Coast Company” by Gerald M. Best.