| Near the end of its service, the 1912 Baldwin built 4-6-2 Pacific served the Western Maryland in an unorthodox manner as described by the unknown photogarapher on the back of the photo. "WM #204 (4-6-2) K-2 used to thaw frozen hopper cars at Port Covington, 1-14-58." As described on www.steamlocomotive.com by author John Bohon, "Two of the K-2's, 204 and 205, were selected for further duty as boilers providing steam used to thaw coal in hoppers before they were unloaded into ships at Port Covington, the WM port in Baltimore. The 204 was indeed used used as a thaw engine. There are photos of it in that service. The 204 lasted until about 1961 and was almost a complete locomotive. For WM fans this is the locomotive that truly got away. Located only a few miles from the B&O Museum so late it appears the railroad gave no thought to saving the 204 and simply scrapped it. What makes this even more interesting is that until retirement the 204 was considered by many on the railroad including management to be the belle of the road." |