Photo of the Week

This week we return home to Panama circa 1916. The location is the Mechanical and Supply Division Complexes next to the docks of Balboa Harbor. This locomotive is not a Panama Railroad locomotive, but a 5 foot gauge smaller working switch type locomotive perfect for work in the close quarters of this area. This locomotive is a Porter Locomotive, Class 401 - 440 acquired by the Isthmian Canal Commission (I.C.C.) from the defunct French Canal Company. There were a total of 40 of these locomotives built by M. K. Porter Company in 1883. The I.C.C. acquired 6 of these in 1904. A unique thing about these locomotives was they had a wooden cab and saddle tank boiler. The headquarters building of the Mechanical and Supply Divisions is seen behind the locomotive and shown below. This building we all knew as Section B in our years. Our parents would go there and pick up us kids our school supplies. This grand and historical building was demolished along with the Balboa Shops and Industrial Division complexes when the Balboa piers and docks were taken over by the Chinese to build the container port of Balboa. Thank heaven we have all these old photos to preserve our history.