was built to a close clearance design with a tiny cab for the motorman and could operate underground. Its high pressure cylinder was 8¹/₂″×12″, but tight clearances precluded the use of a single large-diameter low pressure cylinder. Instead, tandem 8¹/₂″×14″ low pres- sure cylinders were used. By the mid-1930s, Homestake operated
37 pneumatic locomotives, but their days be- came numbered after the company pur- chased its first storage-battery locomotive in 1934. It was easier to maintain and more economical to operate, so the smaller pneu- matics began to be retired and scrapped in the late 1950s; No. 1A stayed in service on the surface tramway until it closed in 1961. Even so, because they were rugged and reli- able, Homestake continued to operate air motors well into the 1980s and retired the last six in 1983. Realizing the historic value of its pneu-
matics, beginning in 1985 Homestake do- nated dozens of the little engines for preser- vation, and several five-ton 0-4-0CA’s are preserved in Lead. These include No. 2 at the former Homestake mine complex; No. 27 in Gold Run Park; and No. 35 (the last 0-4-0 CA purchased) alongside the Open Cut on Main Street. Three 0-4-0CA’s are at the Black Hills Mining Museum, including five- ton No. 7 and 3¹/₂-ton No. 14 (both housed in- doors) and shop motor No. 9, exhibited in the museum’s parking lot. Locomotive 1A is pre- served at the Homestake Visitors Center, the starting point for mine tours. Homes- take itself is no longer in business, having shut down in 2001. Additional Homestake 0-4-0CA’s can be
found elsewhere in South Dakota, including No. 24 at Storybook Island in Rapid City, No. 29 at the state fairgrounds in Huron, and No. 30 at Wade’s Gold Mill near Hill City. Other preserved units include No. 5 at the Arizona Railway Museum in Chandler; No. 6 at the Underground Mining Museum at Creede, Colo.; No. 12 at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento (cur- rently in storage); and No. 28 at the Inland Northwest Rail Museum at Spokane, Wash. Another Homestake air motor is exhibited at the World Museum of Mining at Butte, Mont., but its original number has been lost, which also the case with the 0-4-0CA that was donated to the Western Museum of Mining & Industry in Colorado Springs, which is occasionally operated for demon- stration purposes. Some are painted black as original, while others wear the yellow paint scheme introduced in the 1960s. Number 22, one of the 3¹/₂-ton 0-4-0CA’s,
was purchased by Tommy Thompson in 1965 and converted into a beautiful wood- burning 0-4-4T Forney steam locomotive with the addition of a new boiler, cab, and domes. It operated on Thompson’s Ana- cortes Railway in Anacortes, Wash., until his death in 1999, and today is stored at the Georgetown Powerplant Museum in Seattle. Four Homestake air motors, including
Nos. 3, 20, and 25, are in private hands on the Pacific coast; No. 4 has been restored to operation on the private Westfork & Battle Creek Railroad in central Oregon. It’s important to note that while Homes-
take owned just one two-stage locomotive, they were very popular and several have been preserved. Along the highway in Kear- ney, Ariz., is Porter C/N 6956, an 8¹/₄-ton 0-4-0CA that was built for Ray Consolidated Copper in 1925. It was one of several 30″
gauge Porter pneumatics that worked at the underground copper mine in Ray moving men, equipment, and copper ore. Kennecott took over the mine and donated the 0-4-0CA for display; it was moved to its current loca- tion in 1969. The Louisiana Steam Train Association
has a large pneumatic in their collection at Jefferson, La., which, at 30 tons, is likely the largest preserved compressed air locomo- tive. This is Porter C/N 5731, a two-stage, standard gauge 0-4-0CA with three inter- connected high-pressure reservoirs that were charged to 800-1000 p.s.i. for opera- tion. Cylinders are 11″×18″ (high pressure) and 22″×18″ (low pressure), coupled to 36″ drivers. The locomotive was built in Novem- ber 1915 for a sugar plantation in Cuba, but was resold due to nonpayment to the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board, which used it on the electrified trolley line that served the city’s water purification plant. It served as a backup and was also used to switch non-electrified trackage within the plant. Retired in 1959, it is in good shape and LASTA intends to return it to operation as time and funding permit. Several two-stage compressed air locomo-
tives are on exhibit in Canada. In British Columbia, Crow’s Nest Pass Coal No. 21 (C/N 4150, built 1908) is displayed under cover at the Britannia Mine Museum in Bri- tannia Beach; Crow’s Nest Pass/Elk River Collieries No. 24 (C/N 4689, built 1910) has been nicely restored for exhibit at Fort Steele’s Heritage Town; and Canmore Coal No. 104 (C/N 4923, built 1911) is on display at the Sandon Historic Site. In Alberta, you’ll find Canmore Coal No.
201 (C/N 7126, built 1929) at the Canmore Museum, and International Coal & Coke 0-4-0CA (C/N 4338, built 1909) at Flumerfelt Park in Coleman. The latter is owned by the local Lions Club and has been turned into the “Biggest Piggy Bank in the World” by the addition of sheet metal “ears” and a “tail”. Despite the advancements made by
Porter in the field of air haulage, by the 1930s the engines’ popularity had waned. Their chief competition for below-ground work came from electric storage battery lo- comotives, which didn’t require the exten- sive support infrastructure or frequent recharging. Above ground, the fireless steam locomotive, which had been perfected by 1920 (LINESIDE LEGACY, March and April 2010) provided a superior form of motive power for industrial applications. After the last Porter pneumatics were
produced there was still a small niche mar- ket for air motors which was filled by sever- al companies including Universal Tramaire Co. of Denver and EIMCO of Salt Lake City. Their “air trammers” were a far cry from the heavy Porter and Baldwin pneumatics of the early 1900s, being lightly constructed and operating at only 100 p.s.i. They did away with cylinders altogether, using a small air-powered motor geared to one axle that provided just enough power to pull a short string of cars. Several EIMCO model 401 trammers are preserved, as well as those from other manufacturers. Two can be seen at the Western Museum of Mining in Colorado Springs, and you can ride be- hind one at the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine in Cripple Creek, Colo. THANKS TO THE BLACK HILLS MINING MU-
SEUM AND THE HOMESTAKE ADAMS RESEARCH & CULTURAL CENTER
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