Two Spot

October 28, 2010
Flagstaff, AZ

Bob's working on a model railroad layout of a 1940s logging town and camp, so when we saw that this was on display in Flagstaff, we decided to stop and check it out.

This is a Baldwin 2-8-0 locomotive, purchased in 1917 for logging and spent its entire career in the Flagstaff area. It is now restored and kept in very good display condition between the rail yard and Route 66 in downtown Flagstaff.

The canvas water bags hanging out the windows rubbed off the numeral 5 and so it became known as "Two Spot".

Oh, yes, in case you didn't know, Flagstaff is in the pines. Ponderosa pines to be exact and there are lots of them. It's hilly, just under 7000 feet elevation with the San Francisco Peaks on the horizon.

We actually knew this train was here because there is a geocache at this location and since Bob likes looking at vintage logging train-stuff, it was logical to attempt to find it.

This was geocache find number 52 for us and it's been fun and challenging looking for caches in unfamiliar towns.  We tend to look for ones that are small to regular size, so we can leave something, and in areas where we can find parking for the RV, or near campgrounds so we can unhook it and go look.

We have picked up a geocoin and moved it a bit further east (it is heading to North Carolina from California and we could move it one state further) and picked up another in Texas that wants to go to a border state, so we will drop it off when we get home. 

Geocoins are about the size of a silver dollar and are tagged with a note telling where it is going, and where it's from.  Many are commercially made and some are hand-crafted.  They are similar to travel bugs, which are not coins, but something else that is tagged to be moved, usually in a specific direction or for a specific reason.