Harrisburg, Lincoln & Lancaster R.R. takes delivery this morning of their first coach. Built by Dave Kloke, based on the famed Pioneer Coach that was on the first westbound train for the Galena & Chicago Union on Oct. 25, 1848.

Great to see more of Kloke's work. The Leviathan, the York, and the Lincoln Funeral Car are all such true works of art. A generation or 2 from now, people will look at us so foolishly for not hiring him to build more replicas.

I believe this is the coach that David Kloke has replicated for the folks at Star Barn Village at Stone Gables Estate. This purports to be a public domain image that is available online and although it is dated 1852, I believe the photo was actually taken in 1948 and likely depicts the original C&NW "Pioneer" locomotive with a replica coach. The image was clearly made with much newer camera technology than what was available in 1852.

I believe that the original locomotive (sans tender and coach) is preserved in the Chicago History Museum.

/Kevin Madore

Yes, the locomotive is still with us in the museum. I do wonder what became of the tender and the car.

http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2 ... otive.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAR1U0VPNLI

She and the coach appear briefly in this promotional film from the C&NW:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlHm9Zp1M1Q

Everything I have been able to find states that the tender and coach were built when the C&NW decided to make the locomotive operable in the 1940's. Apparently the tender scrapped when the locomotive was put on display. I haven't seen anything about the fate of the coach.

My guess is the tender was built on an old bobber caboose frame.

Roger

I seem to recall, when I lived in Lombard, IL forty years ago, that the tender was on display at the Villa Park Historical Museum, which was, and still is, located in the former Chicago Aurora & Elgin depot at Villa Avenue, across from the former Ovaltine plant. Why they thought it was worthy of preservation I have no idea, it made a rather odd display, and from their web site it does not appear to be there now.

My understanding of the equipment from the C&NW Pioneer display is that it went to the Chicago Chapter of the NRHS. The coach and tender were stored along with a steel Wilson reefer at a fenced spur on the south side of the CB&Q mainline between Western Springs and LaGrange. I have a faint memory of the coach there, circa 1975.

The reefer was the last to leave the yard, it went to the Fox River Trolley Museum in South Elgin. The tender went to the Villa Park Historical Society, and the coach went to a doctor or dentist in a northwest suburb who had it in his back yard. Somehow Park Ridge comes to mind in recalling this - as it was published in the Chicago Tribune or some other newspaper sometime in the last decade. The coach body was fabricated from plywood and had fallen into disrepair, but was acquired by Kloke who used the trucks in the second replica.
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25658

I do not know if anyone has followed-up with the Villa Park museum to see how they disposed of the tender.

I just did! I received this email:

Monticello? To my knowledge the only tenders there are on their steam locomotives and an IC steam crane. Is it one of those tenders?

Thomas

Well, the Villa Park Museum clearly does not know what became of the tender. I just PM'd the Monticello Railroad Museum on Facebook and they do not have it. (You were correct Thomas). The trail once again goes cold. This piece continues to be a hard one to locate.

The replica Pioneer tender is indeed at Monticello. I do not know why we ended up with it, but it (or more properly, what is left of it), is here. The wood parts were in very poor condition, and after it started to literally fall apart sitting still, detailed drawings were created, and the car was dismantled, with all the steel/iron parts into storage, and the wood parts long gone. By long gone, I mean on the order of 25 or more years ago. So, you can put this little mystery to bed.

Kent

Well, that settles that!!

And the trucks of the replica coach from 1948 are now under (or will be under) the new car in Pennsylvania.

Now to find out what the two more cars are supposed to look like, and the enginehouse, turntable, station, and other things at the Star Barn property. . .

Trying to keep things together!!

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viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43219

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Wow! Thank you for sharing! Interesting story.

[quote="KevinM"]I believe this is the coach that David Kloke has replicated for the folks at Star Barn Village at Stone Gables Estate. This purports to be a public domain image that is available online and although it is dated 1852, I believe the photo was actually taken in 1948 and likely depicts the original C&NW "Pioneer" locomotive with a replica coach. The image was clearly made with much newer camera technology than what was available in 1852.

I believe that the original locomotive (sans tender and coach) is preserved in the Chicago History Museum.

It is pretty unlikely that this photo dates to 1852. Paper photography was invented in the late 1840's by an Englishman. It was not until the mid 1850's that the technique became reasonably practical and slowly supplanted the Daguerrotype process. Paper photography made it to the U.S. in the mid 1850's but did not become commonplace until around the start of the Civil War.