SHAWN CRISTIE The Future Looks Promising for U.S. Steam in 2012


IT CAN’T BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED, but steam locomotion in the United States is far from dead. In 2012 a distinguished group of steam locomotives across the country contin- ues to be restored by dedicated volunteers and paid labor, both mechanically for service and cosmetically for display.


Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 No. 261 After the hotly contested lease renewal and its subsequent purchase from the National Rail- road Museum by the Friends of the 261 in May 2010, Milwaukee S2 Northern No. 261 is well on the way to an operational restoration that will make it available for service over the next 15 years. On December 9, 2011, crews from Vic’s Crane & Heavy Haul were able to reunite the locomotive with its driving wheels (above). The scene had been reversed in July 2010 when Vic’s lifted the engine off the drivers so they could be sent to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga to be trued (RAILNEWS, October 2010). Due to the variations in piston thrust during


each stroke, the drivers and crankpins had been worn to an elliptical shape since their last overhaul in 1954, so the wheels and crankpins had to be machined back to roundness. While the driving wheel sets were being worked on in Tennessee, back in Minnesota the running gear was renewed, with all wear points rebuilt to the builder’s specifications. The butterfly firebox doors have been disassembled, cleaned and prepared for sandblasting, the injector starter valve has been cleaned, and the cab floor is being replaced with new wood, but much work remains to be done.


MITCH GOLDMAN 20 MARCH 2012 • RAILFAN.COM


New Hope & Ivyland 2-8-0 No. 40 Over the past two years, NH&I No. 40 (below) has been out of service more than not, but on De- cember 19, 2011, it returned to service hauling holiday excursionists between New Hope and La- haska, Penn. In 2010 the New Hope shop over- hauled the engine’s running gear and appliances,


installed new boiler lagging and jacketing and painted the locomotive and tender in the process. Then in the spring of 2011 it was taken out of ser- vice again for work on the main driving axle, crankpin, and crown brass, as well as new boiler tubes. Now, the 1925 Baldwin is in fine shape to help NH&I celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2012.


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