I was on a model railroad club website earlier today and saw a short clip of a Porter 2-6-0 operating over trackage at the Hesston Steam Museum. The Mogul was numbered 2 and lettered on the tender for the Hesston & Galena Creek. I think that this is the locomotive that was originally donated by Elliott Donnelley way back in the late 1960's! Not sure if it ever ran at Hesston before this recent operation. I'm not even sure that I had ever heard that it was being restored! Any additional info appreciated.


Les

I believe this locomotive ran at Hesston for many years when the Dual Gauge was called the Flying Dutchman. Here's a photo that I found on hawkinsrails.net (sorry - I could not get the BBCode image resize commands to work).

Thanks Matt!

Interesting brochure. I found out a bit more information. The name on the tender of Porter number 2 reflects the new name that Hesston has adopted; the Hesston & Galena Creek Narrow Gauge Railroad. Also, the number 2 was caught in the engine house fire that occurred back in the 1980's and hasn't run since that time.

Congrats to the folks at Hesston for this wonderful restoration! May she long run!

Les

Back in about 1979, they offered cab rides, and I had one in #2.

It was a quiet day and we had a lot of time to talk and socialize. They told lots of stories about Elliott Donnelley (sp). He really funded that place. They gave examples where if they needed something, he just told them to go out and buy it.

Donnelley died of lung cancer, from smoking. The 14" gauge trains had an extra tall smokestack to prevent him breathing the smoke when his health starting failing.

I have on my list the New Mexico Lumber Company #7. She was the last Shay built in 1929 at Lima Loco Co.

She was in the engine house fire in 2006; does anyone know if she is still there?

Ted Miles, narrow gauge fan

Ted,
Let's be specific " ,,, She was the last narrow-gauge shay built by Lima ..."

Yes, she was the last ng shay built in 1929; but, there was one more Shay (s,g,) built later in 1929. The #7 was the very last narrow-gauge Shay period . There were a few more Shays built in the 1930s and then the last. Western Maryland #6 in 1945.

Ted -

Yes; Shay number 7 was restored a while back. According to the video I saw, Hesston plans to have her in operation this coming Labor Day weekend.

Les

I saw Shay No. 7 just after it was finished the first time, and it was a gorgeous restoration. I presume the second round will be just as nice. The Hesston 3' demonstration railroad is a fun ride, more like a Jeep trail than a railroad, through wooded land. It is probably very evocative of the kind of logging line that Shays operated over historically.

There is a lot of other interesting steam equipment there, too, including a monster 2-cylinder Case traction engine.

Aarne Frobom