One of My Dad's Favorite Things: Locomotive No. 2776 at Eyman Park



Locmotive No. 2776 at Eyman Park
Photo by Senath Rankin, 2010


Almost thirty years before Julie Andrews made the phrase popular with the song she sang in The Sound of Music, my Dad, Richard Post Rankin, put together a photo album he titled, “My Favorite Things.”

Dad was an Ohio State law school student in 1937 and an avid photographer, and in this album of his own photographs he captured three things: planes, trains and Ohio State football.

(Oh! And just for good measure, he added a few shots of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, as she appeared on the Palace Theatre stage with her fans of feathers. But that really is another story!)

It’s hard for me to say which one of these things he loved the most. Dad was a pilot and part owner of a private plane. He attended all of the home and many away games of the Ohio State football team, from his student days until his death in 1971, and some of my happiest and strongest memories of him have something to do with OSU football.

But today, September 16th, is the 50th anniversary of the dedication of Locomotive No. 2776 in Eyman Park. And this blog post is about commemorating Dad’s love of trains and specifically how this man’s passion was the impetus behind No. 2776 finding its final home in Washington Court House.

In a 1990’s article in the Columbus Dispatch about restoration efforts for No. 2776, reporter Don Baird wrote that one day Dad called Earl Dunaway, who worked for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, to ask if an old locomotive he’d seen at a Columbus railroad yard could be secured for Eyman Park. And Dunaway is quoted as saying, “When they released that thing to Washington Court House, I caught all kinds of h-e-double-l from railroaders in Columbus.” They were upset because they hoped Engine No. 2776 would end up on display in Goodale Park.

The dedication for No. 2776 (Friday, September 16, 1960 at 2 p.m.) was considered by many to be the signature event during the weeklong 1960 Sesquicentennial celebration in Fayette County. As emcee for the dedication, Dad said, “It would be impossible to thank everyone who assisted in securing the locomotive and placing it in the park.”

Here’s thanks to you, Dad, for sharing one of your favorite things with the whole county.

I would love to have readers post their memories of the train being moved into Eyman Park: how temporary tracks were built from the regular railroad tracks across the street and into the park to move the engine into its present location; any memories or photos from the dedication ceremony; or photos of the train.