Don't forget there was an article many years ago in Trains Magazine. Can't recall the name anymore but it was a group of photo's from 1948 taken of the Mainline. He was going to Pottsville but never made it past Pottstown!

One memorable photo was an I10 handling a coal train around Abrams yard. It had a thick smoke plume and toted an extra tender for more water capacity.

(there was also a photo of a Pacific that spun a tire around Phoenixville).

John Caples

Recall that article. He arrived in Pottsville shortly before the clouds opened up putting a damper on his photographic outing.

Hopefully he got a good lager after that !
Would the 4 unit F3's have been power on the main at that time? FT's?

The FA/FB and the F3 units were originally assigned to the regions to eliminate the need for pushers. Four unit sets were common on the Shamonkin (Locust Summit grade) and on the Newberry runs. Sat out Wednesday's blizzard
looking for dated photos of the K-1. Found all but one of the Reading Shop built Ks and a few Baldwin built Ks working east out of Tamaqua and across the Shamokin Div. in 1948. Between the photos and information in Tom's diesel articles on this site, by the end of 1948 road diesels ruled the coal and through freight traffic on the Catawissa and Shamokin branches. Three photos, July, October and November showed FA/FB and K-1 on the mains at Tamaqua; Tom's article states the diesel ran from Newberry to Tamaqua, where the K-1 took over. Lots of dated photos of the Ks east of Tamaqua in the late 40s and early 50s. As a result of this research, the layout's locomotive assignments will have to change to use the FA and F3 in the regions and the steamers east of the pusher districts. Timely question - Thanks Chris.