Read about it here--or don't, I don't care any more what you think of Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/177662318368/p ... =3&theater

Hi,

Is that one of the locomotives from the Thompson Winery in Monee, IL?

Thomas Dyrek

Yes, it is.

If I can find them when I return home, I will post some of my photos from Monee, when this loco and Coronet Phosphate #9 were recovered by the IRM Steam Dept.

Regards,
Bob Milhaupt
former Illinois Railway Museum Steam Department volunteer

Is there a tender available for this loco? Gramling's have the skill, knowledge and dedication. In this condition, seeing her brought back will be a treat. IRM deserves credit for handing her over to a proven team for restoration.

Yes, that locomotive's tender was transported out of the site in Monee at the same time as the locomotive was. I presume that the tender stayed with the loco.

I also vaguely recall hearing speculation that the 2-6-0 may have had her pilot beam and leading axle removed account the physical requirements of the goose-neck trailer which was likely used to haul the equipment from Chicago to Monee.

By the time IRM was brought in, the missing pieces were not in evidence in Monee.

Bob Milhaupt
Former Illinois Railway Museum Steam Department Volunteer

If you check the Gramling's Facebook page, "Flagg Coal", you will see photos verifying that they also acquired Cletus' tender.

I think the pilot axle is missing and presumed to have been stolen by scrap hounds. Maybe they can get a truck from a rapid transit car with inside bearings and do something with one of the axles.

Photo is from May 2008 at the former Thompson vineyard location south of Monee, IL.

Here's another engine with a "pony truck problem". The locomotive was built as a 2-6-2 and eventually acquired by Republic Steel down in Alabama. The pony truck had a tendency to derail around mill trackage, so Republic lopped it off making it an 0-6-2. The engine is now on display at a small museum in Lynnville, Tennessee and when I saw it, I noticed that they had converted it back to a 2-6-2. Until I looked closer. The "pony truck" was strictly an axle with the wheels painted black, just laying in place and not connected. I'm assuming that this solution would not be what the Gramling's have in mind for the future of number 12/18.


Les

Looks like better starting material than the Lee Tidewater Cypress 16, taken in 2012 before Stathi Papas bought it and started the rebuild. 18 is in good hands!

One factoid to add to any discussion of the Thompson engines is that the vineyard site outside of Monee was originally home to just a single engine, the T&NO 4-6-0 which is now in Georgia (a display item on the apparently defunct Roosevelt Railroad). That and two ATSF head end cars and an IC office car.

All the other engines were at a Thompson farm property located in what may now be within the boundaries of University Park. If you are familiar with the Federal Signal plant next to I-57, it was not far from there and you could actually see the engines from the interstate but just barely. There may have been as many as 8 engines there--never did have a good count. They were there as of November 1982. I have some slides from back then. Seemed like all the engines had been recently painted in a coat of black.

Not long after, they were moved. Someone -- possibly of the Thompson family -- told me that they had sold the property and one or more engines and the deal called for the buyer to move the balance of the equipment to the vineyard property. I have no way to verify that. After that they were disposed of one by one until just the two that IRM was given were left. The IC office car was moved to another Thompson property and eventually scrapped when they could not even give it away. The two ATSF head end cars were scrapped on site by IRM. (Grrr.)

I remember my father and I being told about the engines at the farm property and part of the directions were to look for the only farm around with 5 (6?) silos. As an industrial park developed nearby I was amused by the idea that the tracks were reaching out towards the engines.

good looking engine, it went to a good home.

Last photo I saw showed the Texas and New Orleans 4-6-0 (319, Cooke 1892?)abandoned in high brush in Georgia. Is it for sale?

Here is a Thompson farm engine that has some similarities. Then again it might not be the only engine with a hole in the smokebox door. The tender does not look the same. Photo from November 1982.

Actually, Republic didn't make it a 0-6-2. The locomotive was used for a time by the St. Louis & O'Fallon Railroad, a Busch family-owned shortline in Southern Illinois, just across the river from St. Louis. This short railroad served several coal mines that used to populate St. Clair County. It was a 2-6-2 then.

The locomotive next went to the Manufacturers Railway in St. Louis, another Busch family-owned property. MRS turned it into a 0-6-2 so it could negotiate the tight trackage in the brewery. Thus, the locomotive is the only surviving steam locomotive from either railroad.

Thank you for posting this, Mr Mitchell.

That winery engine makes mine look not so bad... and there's TWO Gramlings, I'm mostly going it alone. But their project is also BIGGER. Myself, I'm looking forward to seeing Coronet Phosphate #7 fixed up and running.

Mr Milhaupt, if you might have any pictures of my Coronet Phosphate #6 from the good old days, I'd sure appreciate it if you could share them with me. Especially anything which shows the woodwork on the cab would be most helpful.

Take Care & WORK SAFE