(erielack) "Phrom" our postcard collection

["Lynne" <LKRanieri_@_comcast.net>]

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   The recent thoughtful comments about the death of Ray Ruff reminded me of this postcard in our collection. I would like to ask for help once more, please, to write a short caption for this so I can submit it to our local paper for the weekly historic photo.

I am on the local historic preservation commission, where we monthly address questions about tear-downs and rebuilds. I hope that the weekly historic photos encourage people to consider how our lives are enriched by history. Perhaps the railroad-related images you all have helped me with will spark a bit of that same nostalgia for the railroad.

I would like to describe this postcard image to the layperson (such as myself!), so ... 

1) If I understand this all correctly, the Phoebe Snow was the name of ... an engine? Lots of engines? When did the Phoebe Snow first appear?

2) I gather the advertising campaign came about to trumpet the new, cleaner way to travel, in a train with an engine fueled by coal. Is that correct? 

3) What was the fuel that was used to generate steam before? Wood? If so, was coal really so much cleaner? 

4) Wasn't coal known as a fuel source as far back as when the first steam engines were built? If so, was it just not used because of accessibility?

I would also like to describe the tower man's job to the readers and I need help with that, too, please. We have in our collection pictures of the Millburn tower along the tracks and our town historian very briefly described to me what it was like inside, as he was sometimes allowed to go in there. 

1) I gather from what I see in this image, that the tower man was able to shift the tracks with the levers, thereby redirecting rail traffic if need be. Is that correct?

2) I only know of the one tower near here. How frequently were towers found along the rail? What determined where they were placed?

3) Did the tower man also control the signals? 

4) When did they stop using tower men -- or have they stopped? If so, what/who does the job now, when a train has to be rerouted?

Thank you *so much* for your patience with my questions.
Lynne

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