J. Craig Thorpe (American, B. 1948) "Ohio Locomotive" Signed lower right. Original Oil painting on Paper.

Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation.

This painting originally appeared on the Fleetwood Legendary Locomotives of the 50 States Ohio Commemorative Cover postmarked June 12, 1995.

During the predawn hours of June 12, 1905, engineer Jerry McCarthy received a call imploring him to make up time on the Pennsylvania Special's much-publicized inaugural run. McCarthy was assigned to engine No. 7002 and given the formidable task of shaving time off the next leg of the westbound trip. Because the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway (a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad) was locked in a speed war with its rival, the New York Central, a timely run was imperative. Both companies were vying to trim their Chicago-to-New York schedules to 18 hours. While McCarthy was pulling out all the stops with No. 7002, switch-tower operators compared timings and estimated his train's speed along a three-mile stretch between AY Tower and Elida, Ohio. Although they concluded that the engineer had achieved a world-record speed of 127.1 miles per hour, it is now believed that this finding was speculative at best. Nonetheless, McCarthy was traveling at a tremendous clip and did indeed make up a sizable amount of time on the lagging Pennsylvania Special's maiden run. In this painting, No. 7002 is steaming across flat lands in western Ohio. This storied E2-class 4-4-2 engine was built in the Pennsylvania Railroad's Juniata Works in 1902. To avoid confusion with its similarly-named Pennsylvania Limited, the Pennsy in November 1912 renamed the Special to become its flagship Broadway Limited -- a name it has held ever since.

Image Size: 14 x 12 in.
Overall Size: 18 x 15 in.
Unframed.
(B15099)

- By registering to bid for this auction either in-house or online and/or placing a bid in this auction the BIDDER/BUYER agrees to all the terms and conditions of Helmuth Stone Gallery Auctions.

- Due to the size of our gallery not all items are out for preview at one time. If you plan on coming to preview any lot(s) we recommend letting us know prior so we can have them collected and prepared for your preview.

- All silver, gold and/or jewelry lots or invoices containing said lots MUST be paid for via WIRE TRANSFER, no other forms of payment will be accepted.

- All items are sold as-is where-is and no guarantees are made of any kind. All sales are final; no refunds will be given under any circumstances.

- All artwork is listed and sold per section (10) of our terms and conditions, please read over all definitions of authorship prior to bidding to better understand artwork listings.

- Helmuth Stone Gallery provides condition reports as a courtesy to our clients and assumes no liability for any error or omission. Any condition statement is given as a courtesy to a client and is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Descriptions are our opinions and should in no way be construed as a guarantee of any kind as to age, condition, mater. The bidder assumes responsibility for ensuring that the condition of the item(s) meets with their satisfaction prior to bidding. The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections, or the effects of aging.

- Online images can sometimes be low quality due to the uploading process, original high-resolution images can be requested via email at HelmuthStone@gmail.com

- We recommend looking into shipping quotes prior to bidding, shipping quotes can take up to a week or more post-sale as we host our auctions through multiple online platforms and shipping can become backlogged, if you would like a list of local shippers please email us directly.

- Our auction catalogs are hosted through multiple online platforms along with phone and in-house bidding. Bids placed on other platforms are not shown through this catalog. Because of this, even if it appears you are the only absentee bid or bidder on a lot, you may already be outbid or may have placed a bid equal to another bidder. Therefore, we always recommend bidding live.

- Unless otherwise stated in the description, all items are sold without additional documentation or COAs. If any supporting documentation is available an image will be available online via the catalog listing.