This certainly is interesting! And one wonders, which is more rare, the 2-8-0 or the good-looking ore car with it (they only need another 20 or 50 and a caboose to have a proper train. . .:-D).

And I have to say, if the short operational video clip is any indication, the engine's valve gear sounds good and square; good looking engine, too.

This is interesting--a news story on this engine from last December says the restoration was to be cosmetic only:

http://www.twinportsrail.com/site/conte ... sting-move

Then there is the caption with the Railpictures cab interior shot showing the tubes didn't get changed out:

"The controls of the D&NE #28, which is currently sitting in the shop it once called home many years ago, this ex-DM&IR #332 2-8-0 now owned by the Lake Superior Railroad Museum is undergoing a cosmetic restoration (and possibly more depending...) by the dedicated shop forces at the Cloquet Terminal Railroad. It will take a few years and a few hours of labor to complete but the end results will be worth it."

Interesting, interesting. . .

General Railpictures link:

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos. ... TRR%20Shop

Other shots from Railpictures:

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos. ... 20Railroad

There is surprisingly little on this engine from sources like Surviving Steam Locomotives(steamlocomotive.com). What is available is that she was built Alco's Pittsburgh works in 1906 (construction No. 39587), and had been DM&IR Class C-3 No. 332. Any other details?

Tried to see if there were any other videos on this. There weren't any of this recent apparent "stealth" movement, but I did come across this one, of sister No. 27 being placed on display in the mid-1960s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EziKZbJgfgo

In the facebook video posting of April 24th. there is a air compressor running in the background and what looks like an airhose laying across the rail... could the engine be "steaming" on compressed air?

I'm calling "smoke and mirrors" here. All of the videos to FB, even on their own page, show diesel assist every time she moves. Plus the one of her "blowing off steam" sure looks like a jet from a hose to me. Plus the camera angle on that video could conveniently hide any trickery going on. Also, their latest "Mobile Upload" picture shows someone loading the firebox, a caption of "loading 'coal' into the firebox" (with coal in parenthesis), and it looks like wood to me. Thoughts?

Forget all the 1000 and 1 reasons here, but this is amazing!!!! How in the world do you hide a restoration like this from anyone is beyond my comprehension. Maybe the Cloquet Terminal crews decided to put in the extra time and money for the LSRM as some sort of gift. I'll just wait for the story to be revealed....

One of the video in an earlier post on this thread show her moving on her own, but otherwise, you make very valid points.

I did wonder about that myself. The lack of any visible steam coming from the drain cocks or anywhere else on the engine (considering April 24th is still "early" spring in northeastern Minnesota) also suggests she's running on air. That seems odd considering that they apparently had a fire going in her a couple weeks earlier. But then, I also see an air hose running into the cab in the April 4th "fire-up" video too, so it could be they're just blowing the old soot out of the flues. I'm not sure if the guy throwing wood into the firebox was during the initial fire-up, or if they fired her with wood yesterday (probably under reduced pressure). The guy who posted the photos on Flickr also posted about it on the Twin Ports Rail Yahoo group and mentioned the smell of coal smoke though.

Do they come under FRA regs if they stay within yard limits?

In one of the videos posted on there FB page, she is running under her own power with no assist. As to the "putting 'coal' in the firebox" and the picture showing wood, any fire up i have been apart of involves the use of a wood pile to light of from..........

The question was posed earlier in this thread asking who did the 1472. I am very curios about this myself. Does anyone know the answer?

Kimberly Allen

Hmmm... *watches that video* ...Invisible "Stealth" Diesels, y'all. I'm just saying... :D

even if they photo shopped a diesel engine out, if a 1472 was not completed (correctly), isn't it illegal for it to have any boiler pressure?!?!



Kimberly Allen

From the Lake Superior Railroad Museum website: http://www.lsrm.org/Home/exsteam.html

This locomotive was built by the Pittsburgh Locomotive Works in 1906 for the Duluth, Missabe and Northern as their No. 332. A typical drag freight consolidation type engine of the early 1900s, she weighs in at 102 tons (172 tons with tender loaded). The capacity of the tender is 8,000 gallons of water and 12 tons of coal. This style of locomotive was designed to be used in general freight service, working slowly along the line setting out and picking up cars from sidings along the way. No. 28 was sold to the D&NE in 1955, and was used to haul logs, lumber products and some general freight. It worked in this service until 1964 and was last under steam in 1965. The D&NE restored and donated the locomotive to the Museum in 1974.

The D&NE was a late steam holdout, with regular steam operations lasting into the early 1960s. Five of the six locomotives that made up their final steam roster have survived, including 0-6-0 no. 29 that has operated (though I believe it is currently out of service) at the Prairie Village in South Dakota, and 2-8-0 no. 14 which returned to steam last year at the Fillmore & Western. Two of the former EJ&E SW1's that replaced steam on the D&NE are still on the Cloquet Terminal roster.

I'm with Big Jim. Considering the content and captions of the videos, it sure looks like they're playing with the locomotive rather than firing it. My guess is that it's running on compressed air with a small steam boiler used for effects. I'm wondering about the significance of the hopper car in the photos, could that be carrying an air compressor and/or a boiler?

On the other hand, if it was smoke and mirrors, I commend them for doing an excellent job of it!

With the original flues apparently still in place at the end of March, would it even be possible for them to complete a 1472 in three months on a loco that sat in static display for nearly 40 years? If they tried to get it operating "FRA be damned", would they really be plastering it on their face book page?

Something seems fishy here.

Wasn't there another group that did a 1472 in just a couple of months?

I go along with a "cosmetic 1472" - running on air and/or some low pressure steam for effects. That diesel is always hanging around close by. And the one reverse move with the wood car doesn't seem to go very far from the shop before stopping again.

Wesley