A Milwaukee Hiawatha has been found in a cornfield! Well, sort of anyway...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 172&type=1

Came across this on Facebook today. It *appears* that this thing is a parade float that was built by the Milwaukee Railroad. It's quite realistic looking. There was also a rumor about restoring it, but I don't have any details.

Based on the comments, I do know this much. It's not an actual locomotive. It's not "full sized", though it is large. It was built on a truck frame, powered by internal combustion and ran on rubber tires. It was not used as a park train or live steam.

It's located "in a field in Iowa". I have no other details. No, as far as I know, they haven't located an NYC Streamlined Hudson anywhere nearby.

All indications are that the find is "real", and the float still exists. Would be cool to see this restored!

Yes, it is a parade unit, built on a custom Dodge truck chassis (two front steering axles) not too long after the full scale models appeared. The only powered axle was the trailing axle under the firebox/cab. It was built in the Milwaukee Shops by railroad employees with excellent attention to details mimicking the Class A 4-4-2. The MILW yahoo group covered this unit in some detail after it was first reported electronically a few years ago. It is private property, along with some full size railroad equipment and an extensive clock museum. The collector was an auctioneer and his sons have fallen heir to the assets. I met them after asking permission to take some photos of the unit. They were surprised to learn that it was based on an actual prototype. The parade unit was topped by a coffee can to replicate a visible stack which the streamlined unit did not have. The tender was missing when the unit was purchased. The driver sat in the "smokebox", peering out of the replicated grill. For some years it was a regular parade item in NW Iowa, I was told. When I saw it, it was located in Waukon, once served by a never standard gauged 3' line.

Alex, thanks for the additional info! Do you know any status of this thing? Is it for sale/auction? Has somebody else acquired it? Will it fit in my garage? (just kidding dear wife...)

Quick! Someone call the Steam Marketing Group! This looks like a cyber fistic way for them to shift paradigms and think out of the box. A real win-win.

David M. Wilkins
House Hunting Trip, UT

Call Model Railroader magazine... finding a real Hiawatha was the focal point of the story of a fictional tour of famous model railroads they featured in their 50th aniversary issue in 1984.

Surely IRM can find at least as good of storage spot for this...

Recall that a heavyweight "Baggage Car" and an "Observation Car" of the CB&Q parade train became part of the 2' gauge Byron Railroad that ran in Iowa in the early years of railroad preservation. This was documented in Shaw's "Little Railways of the World". I believe the cars are still located somewhere in Oregon at this time.
I wonder what gauge this Hiawatha locomotive would scale out at, and if anyone could possibly make the modifications.