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Chicago and North Western 175 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() C&NW No. 175 sitting near the ruins of the Quincy Smelter plant on July 28, 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chicago and North Western 175 is a preserved R-1 class 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" steam locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in December 1908. The locomotive was used for pulling various passenger and freight trains throughout Wisconsin, until the Chicago and North Western (C&NW) Railroad ended commercial steam operations in 1956.
No. 175 was used to pull one excursion train in September the following year, before it was retired. In 1964, the locomotive was sold to Clint Jones. Jones had plans to use it on the Keweenaw Central Railroad for excursion service alongside Copper Range 2-8-0 No. 29, but restoration work was never completed under his ownership. No. 175 subsequently spent over four decades in outdoor storage in Hancock, Michigan.
In 2017, it was purchased by the Steam Railroading Institute (SRI), who moved it to their location in Owosso, Michigan. The SRI is currently rebuilding the locomotive to eventually have it serve as a running mate to Pere Marquette 2-8-4 No. 1225. No. 175 remains the only surviving C&NW steam locomotive to be equipped with Walschaerts valve gear.
Between 1901 and 1908, the Chicago and North Western (C&NW) Railroad ordered 325 R-1 class 4-6-0 "ten-wheeler" locomotives from the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and the Baldwin Locomotive Works. [2] [3] [4] The R-1's initially had drastically-limited route availabilities, due to their excessive weight and size, so the C&NW had to resort to upgrading their entire rail infrastructure to accommodate them. [2]
The infrastructure upgrades were completed in 1939, and the R-1's were permitted to travel all across the C&NW system, by then. [2] The majority of the R-1 locomotives were equipped with Stephenson valve gear, but the eccentric rods of the Stephenson gear were prone to wearing out from the greater size of the driving axles, and the internal valve gear was becoming difficult to maintain. [5]
With Walschaerts valve gear being reintroduced to the US locomotive market after 1904, the C&NW asked ALCO in 1907 to construct five R-1's with Walschaerts gear for testing. [5] [6] The railroad became satisfied with their improved performance, so the final thirty-five R-1's built throughout 1908 would be built with Walschaerts gear. [6] No. 175 was one of the last twenty-five R-1's to be built by ALCO in December 1908. [7] [8]
With the Walschaerts-powered R-1's being equipped with steam-heating and air signal line equipment, they were used to pull more passenger trains than most of the Stephenson-powered R-1's were. [8] The C&NW assigned No. 175 to pull commuter trains within the Wisconsin Division, and some of the trains led to Chicago, Illinois. [8] While the railroad received larger locomotives after 1908, including the H class 4-8-4 "Northerns", they couldn't replace the R-1's on many routes, due to weight restrictions. [4] [9]
More than seventy R-1's, including No. 175, were consequently kept in service by the time the C&NW ended commercial steam operations in 1956. [8] [9] [10] No. 175 spent its final years of revenue service as a switcher before it was retired. [11] [12] On September 24, 1957, following two weeks of preparation work, No. 175 was used to pull a four-car roundtrip excursion between Green Bay and Three Lakes, Wisconsin, and it was to help benefit and promote the National Railroad Museum (NRM) in Green Bay. [11] [12] [13] 186 passengers were on board the train, including executives from other nearby railroads. [11] [12] [13]
Proclaimed as "Old 175" during the occasion, No. 175 became the last steam locomotive to run under C&NW ownership. [11] [12] After the excursion, No. 175 was planned to be displayed at the NRM after a shed had been constructed on the property, but for unknown reasons, the locomotive was never moved to the museum. [11] [12] The R-1 was left in storage in Winona, Minnesota as back-up power for steam-heating usage. [8] [10] [14] By 1960, No. 175 was one of only two R-1 locomotives to remain under C&NW's possession, with the other being No. 1385, and the railroad was looking to sell them both off. [15]
Members of the Railway Historical Society of Milwaukee (later known as the Mid-Continent Railway Museum (MCRM) negotiated with the C&NW about acquiring one of the two R-1's. [15] Since No. 175 had a heavier weight from its Walschaerts valve gear, the railroad asked for more money for No. 175, so the Historical Society chose to purchase No. 1385, instead. [15] No. 175 was later sold on December 15, 1960, to the Winona County Historical Society, who had plans to put the locomotive on outdoor static display. [10] [16] [17] In late 1964, 20-year-old railfan and MCRM member Clinton Jones, Jr. purchased No. 175 from the Winona group out of sentimentality, having watched the locomotive pull iron ore trains as a young teenager. [18] Jones quickly had the R-1 moved from Winona to Calumet, Michigan on the Milwaukee Road (MILW) mainline. [18]
He began work to restore No. 175 to operating condition, and he had to consult with retired C&NW employees and study old blueprints and textbooks for information about the locomotive's mechanics. [18] Many of the locomotive's components were removed, and with the original tender being in poor condition, it was sold for scrap and replaced with a larger tender from a Northern Pacific (NP) 4-6-0. [10] Jones collaborated with Fred L. Tonne and Louis S. Keller to create an organization, and he planned to use No. 175 to pull revenue freight and passenger excursion trains on an old branch line. [19]
In 1967, Jones' organization acquired the Copper Range Railroad's abandoned 6.5-mile (10.5 km) line between Calumet and Lake Linden, Michigan, and they began operating a new tourist railroad called the Keweenaw Central Railroad. [19] Ex-Copper Range 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type No. 29 was the main motive power for their excursion runs. [19] No. 175 was planned to be used as standby power for whenever No. 29 would suffer a mechanical problem, but its rebuild under Jones' ownership was never completed. In 1972, the Copper Range filed for bankruptcy, and all of their remaining trackage was abandoned and mostly ripped up.
Consequently, the Keweenaw Central was forced to remove their equipment from Calumet, and Nos. 175 and 29 were moved inside one of the sheds at the Quincy Smelter plant in Hancock for storage. Afterwards, the Soo Line Railroad abandoned and ripped up the only trackage that connected the plant to the national rail network, and Jones could not afford to remove his two locomotives from the property by truck. As a result, No. 175 spent the next four and a half decades in Hancock. In 1979, the shed that was used to store Jones' locomotives collapsed from heavy snow, and No. 175 was moved outdoors. [20] While No. 175's boiler, frame, running gear, and NP tender were stored outdoors, many of the locomotive's other components were stored inside an undisclosed facility owned by Jones' new company, Mineral Range Incorporated.
In 2004, No. 29 was traded and moved to the MCRM in North Freedom, Wisconsin, leaving No. 175 the last remaining locomotive to be stored by the Quincy plant, which was now owned by the National Park Service (NPS). Around the same time, the Langlade County Historical Society of Antigo, Wisconsin made Mineral Range an offer to purchase No. 175, since they were looking for a steam locomotive to display at their heritage center, and No. 175 held historical significance at Antigo. Mineral Range turned down the offer, and instead, they sold them Ex-Union Pacific 2-8-0 No. 440, a locomotive that they had received from the MCRM in exchange for No. 29. [21]
In 2017, Mineral Range Inc. entered negotiations with the Steam Railroading Institute (SRI), and they made an offer to sell No. 175. [22] The SRI agreed to purchase the locomotive, and they subsequently made plans to restore and operate the R-1 alongside Pere Marquette 2-8-4 "Berkshire" No. 1225. [22] [23]
The SRI had previously been restoring Ex-Mississippian 2-8-0 No. 76, but that project was cancelled, since No. 76 was in poor mechanical condition, and it did not qualify for state grants, since none of the railroads No. 76 served had any cultural significance in Michigan; No. 175, being a C&NW locomotive, had operated for a number of times in the Upper Peninsula, so it would be more applicable for state grants, and many of its smaller components were still in good condition, as a result of being stored indoors.
In early 2018, No. 175 was disassembled, with the boiler, frame, and other components loaded onto four separate trucks. [22] The shipped components passed the weight and height restrictions of the Mackinac Bridge, and they were transported by road from the Upper Peninsula to the Lower Peninsula. [22] [lower-alpha 1] On June 5, the trucks carrying the components arrived at the SRI's location in Owosso, Michigan, and the scattered parts were publicly displayed for one week. [22] [24]
The boiler was lifted off of one of the trucks and onto the rails, where it was scraped, cleaned, painted, and marked to be inspected and to undergo an ultrasonic test. [22] [23] While most of the boiler was found to be restorable, the lower half of the firebox needed to be replaced. [23] The cab, air pump, one of the eccentric rods, and other parts were also found to be in need of replacing. [23] With the project estimated to cost $1 million to complete, the SRI applied for a large grant to be donated from the state of Michigan. [23] [25]
In August 2022, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) administered a federal Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant to be donated to the SRI, and the SRI subsequently launched a fundraising campaign to raise $400,000 to meet the matching requirement. [25] Once restoration work is completed, No. 175 will run alongside No. 1225 in pulling the SRI's excursion trains on the Great Lakes Central Railroad (GLC). [23] [25] Its smaller weight will also allow the R-1 to be permitted to travel on routes where No. 1225 is too big to run. [23] [25]
Milwaukee Road 261 is a class "S3" 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in Schenectady, New York in July 1944 for the Milwaukee Road.
The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over 12,000 miles (19,000 km) of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s. Until 1972, when the employees purchased the company, it was named the Chicago and North Western Railway.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, a 2-6-6-2 is a locomotive with one pair of unpowered leading wheels, followed by two sets of three pairs of powered driving wheels and one pair of trailing wheels. The wheel arrangement was principally used on Mallet-type articulated locomotives, although some tank locomotive examples were also built. A Garratt locomotive or Golwé locomotive with the same wheel arrangement is designated 2-6-0+0-6-2 since both engine units are pivoting.
The Chicago and North Western Class E-4 was a class of nine streamlined 4-6-4 "Hudson" steam locomotives built in 1937 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO).
Southern Railway 4501 is a preserved Ms class 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive built in October 1911 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the first of its wheel arrangement type for the Southern Railway (SOU). In 1948, the locomotive was retired from the Southern Railway in favor of dieselization and was subsequently sold to the shortline Kentucky and Tennessee Railway (K&T) in Stearns, Kentucky, to haul coal trains.
The Steam Railroading Institute is located at 405 South Washington Street, Owosso, Michigan. It was founded in 1969 as the Michigan State University (MSU) Railroad Club. It became the Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation, and later adopted its present name.
Southern Railway 1401 is a 4-6-2 steam locomotive built in July 1926 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Richmond, Virginia, for the Southern Railway (SOU) as a member of the Ps-4 class, which was based on the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) Heavy Pacific design with some minor differences. It was assigned to haul the SOU's Crescent Limited passenger train between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia.
Chicago and North Western 1385 is a preserved R-1 class 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" steam locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in March 1907 for the Chicago and North Western Railroad (C&NW). The locomotive was mainly used to operate the C&NW's freight trains until 1956, when it was retired from service. In 1961, the original members of the Mid-Continent Railway Museum (MCRM) purchased No. 1385 for $2,600 scrap value, and the locomotive was moved to the museum's original location in Hillsboro, Wisconsin.
Southern Railway 630 is a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive built in February 1904 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Richmond, Virginia for the Southern Railway as a member of the Ks-1 class. It is currently owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) in Chattanooga, Tennessee where it resides today for use on excursion trains.
Maine Central Railroad Class O locomotives were originally intended for heavy freight service. They were of 4-6-0 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, or "2'C" in UIC classification. They replaced earlier class P 2-6-0 locomotives beginning in 1903. They were in turn replaced by class W 2-8-0 locomotives for the heaviest freight service beginning in 1910, but remained in use on branch line trains until replaced by diesel locomotives after World War II. They proved so well-suited for branch line service the design was among the last steam locomotives built for the Maine Central.
Grand Trunk Western No. 4070 is an S-3-a class 2-8-2 USRA Light Mikado steam locomotive, and it was originally built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in December 1918 for the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) as No. 474. It was later re-numbered to 3734 by the Grand Trunk Western (GTW), after the GTR was absorbed into Canadian National (CN). In the late 1950s, the locomotive received a larger tender from an S-3-c class locomotive, and it was further re-numbered to 4070.
The Chicago and North Western R-1 class was a class of 325 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" steam locomotives built by the Schenectady Locomotive Works, the American Locomotive Company, and the Baldwin Locomotive Works from 1901 to 1908. The R-1 locomotives were so large and so heavy that the Chicago and North Western (C&NW) Railroad had to extensively rebuild their trackage, bridges, tunnels, turntables, and enginehouses to accommodate them.
Grand Canyon Railway 4960 is a preserved O-1A class 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive built in August 1923 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q) Railroad. It was used by the CB&Q to pull freight trains, until 1958, when the locomotive pulled its first excursion fantrip, as part of the railroad's steam excursion program.
The Chicago and North Western Railway D Class was a class of 92 American 4-4-2 "Atlantic" locomotives. They were built by Schenectady Locomotive Works and by its corporate successor the American Locomotive Company between 1900 and 1908. In addition, the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway bought seven, classifying them as class G-3
Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad No. 18 is an SC-4 class 2-8-0 “Consolidation” type steam locomotive, built by ALCO’s Pittsburgh Works in 1910 for the Lake Superior and Ishpeming (LS&I) Railroad in Upper Michigan. Originally numbered 11, the locomotive was renumbered to 18 in 1924, and it served the railroad, until it discontinued steam operations in 1962. No. 18 was subsequently sold to the Marquette and Huron Mountain tourist railroad, where it was put into storage alongside other steam locomotives.
Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad No. 23 is an SC-4 class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive originally built by the ALCO's Pittsburgh Works in 1910 for the Lake Superior and Ishpeming (LS&I) Railroad in Upper Michigan. The locomotive was originally numbered 9, but it was renumbered 23 in 1924. It was used for pulling carloads of iron ore, as well as some passenger trains on branch lines, until 1962. In 1963, it was purchased by the Marquette and Huron Mountain tourist railroad, who used it to pull their excursion trains between Marquette and Big Bay.
Copper Range Railroad No. 29 is the sole survivor of the C-2 class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotives. Built by ALCO in 1907, No. 29 was primarily used to pull loaded copper trains out of copper mines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, as well as occasional passenger trains between Houghton and McKeever, until it was removed from service in 1953. In 1967, it was leased to the Keweenaw Central Railroad, who used it to pull excursion trains between Calumet and Lake Linden, until 1971.
Polson Logging Company 2 is a 2-8-2 “Mikado” steam locomotive built by Baldwin in 1912. It was originally built for the Saginaw Timber Company to pull logging trains. After that, it went through several ownership changes throughout both the steam era and the preservation era, before it was purchased by caretaker Skip Lichter in 1982. Lichter restored Polson Lumber 2 to operational condition and loaned it to the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin. The engine was later removed from service in 2000 to undergo a federally-mandated rebuild. Disagreement over who should cover the restoration costs ultimately led to an arbiter finding in Lichter's favor.
Grand Trunk Western 5629 was a 4-6-2 K-4-a steam locomotive, which was a copy of the United States Railroad Administration's (USRA) Light Pacific design, built by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1924, for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad. It was used to haul commuter passenger trains in Michigan until 1960, when it was purchased by Chicago-based railfan Richard Jensen, who used No. 5629 to pull several excursion trains in the Chicago area throughout the 1960s.
Western Coal and Coke Company No. 1 is a preserved Canadian 4-6-0 "ten-wheeler" steam locomotive built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1913. It was originally built as part of a standard locomotive design with 1880's specifications, in order to help construct the Canadian National Transcontinental Railway. It was retired from revenue service in 1964, and it was subsequently purchased by the Mid-Continent Railway Museum, which subsequently used it to pull their tourist trains. As of 2023, it is undergoing restoration to operating condition.