This is not Thomas the Tank Engine but an older, very distant cousin. No. 9501 of New York Central subsidiary Kanawha & Michigan was a 2-8-2T type, belonging to class HXa. She was built by Alco's Brooks works in 1902 with builder's number 26254. John F. Boose of La Grange, Illinois, photographed her in Dickinson, West Virginia, on October 18, 1935. Reportedly her original number was 556, and in the 1936 NYC renumbering she became 7180. By 1940 she no longer appeared on the system roster, and no further details are available regarding her specifications. Interestingly this tank engine, designed to run in either direction, has no pilot on the boiler end but there appears to be a "cowcatcher" pilot on the bunker end, suggesting that normal practice was to run bunker-first. The New York Central acquired the K&M, a West Virginia coal road, through its ownership of the Toledo & Ohio Central.