Looks like we will soon see this one in steam.

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?category=13

Do you know how many years that they have been working on this? I seem to remember some discussions in the 1960s about this engine when I was a member of the Central Illinois Railroad Club and long before the Monticello Museum was started. It is absolutely fantastic to see the condition that she is in today, when I remember the pictures that were taken 40 years ago. Congrats to all involved!

Restoration of ex-Southern H4 #401 began in earnest in 1995, after studying which locomotive we were going to rebuild, including considering acquiring an additional locomotive. Once the decision was made to proceed with 401, the first project was dropping the wheels, dismounting the tires, and blasting the wheel centers. They were then shipped to Irondale, AL, for Steam Operations Corp. to weld up cracked spokes discovered when removing the tires. While there, the pins were quartered, journals were turned, and wheel centers trued.

Engineering work also began for a new boiler, utilizing the services of Matt Austin for design. With the help of Gary Bensman, we were put in touch with Continental Fabricators, Inc., of St. Loius, MO, who then won the contract to build the boiler as a "shop filler" project to hold down the costs.
The boiler was completed in late May of 2005, and delivered in June of that year.

It's been a long, slow process, but then, like many of us, we're all volunteers, and have to work so we can eat and live indoors... so it cuts down on the available time we have to work on it. (Not to mention the usual maintenance of the other equipment we're running, which takes time away from 401's rebuild. It is getting closer, and we're hoping for a late next year (2008) completion.

Kent McClure
MRM