Frisco 1630, a Russian Decapod (2-10-0) returned to revenue service today at the Illinois Railway Museum (IRM).

Very active IRM volunteer and occasional RYPN poster Randall Hicks had the story over at his blog: http://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2014/05/smoke-over-prairie.html

Spasseba, tovarich (I think that means "Thanks, comrade" in Russian) It's good to see IRM back in that select group of railway museums that can run steam, diesel and electric.

Some photos from Saturday.

Running light on the main:


At East Union, preparing to depart on the first revenue trip in 10 years:

Glad to see it up and running. Stopped by and saw it in the shop just a month ago, and I know efforts have been continuous to see it run again since 2004. Nice job.

She looks great. Can't beat that "Frisco Face". Little finish work to do from the photos, Frisco on the cab sides and the aluminum/silver rim on the headlight and underside of the headlight visor.
Good work guys.

Notice that the 1630 has a stack light, from its days as an oil burner.

I do like the "Frisco Face" coupled with the air pump on the deck.

Agreed, I don't know why I chose that particular composition for the first shot I posted, but that "Frisco face" really does look good. It's probably my favorite of the ones I took from the tail track.

A further thought on "triple-power" museums (steam-diesel-electric). IRM has just restored its operating steamer and Orange Empire has been running Ventura County #2 for the past several months (but it will be going on "summer hiatus" soon). I've been trying to recall any other museum with this capability, either in North America, or anywhere in the world.

You could argue Steamtown does, even though it's the ECTM that runs the electric portion (and they currently have no steam)

I got to wondering about this, so I dug out my Lloyd E. Stagner book "Steam Locomotives of the Frisco Line" to check. There are reproductions of a number of the railroads Locomotive Diagrams in the book, including one for the "Russian" Decapods. The diagram carries the notation "Oil Burner" except over on the left side it states "12 Tons Coal, 1614, 1615, 1618, 1621, 1625, 1627, 1630, 1632." Of the five 2-10-0's that SLSF eventually sold to Eagle-Picher, all of them came from this coal-for-fuel group, including the 1630. From the photos in Stagner's book, it appears that other coal burners on the Frisco, also apparently had this stack light. Was this used by firemen to check combustion at nighttime? Or for what? Perhaps one of our experts on SLSF steam can chime in.

Les

Les,

That is a good observation. I was told, second (or third) hand that the 1630 and other Frisco lomotives were interchanged from coal to oil and that the 1630 burned oil at one time, but was converted back.

That could be true, and thus the profile diagram represents this, or the Frisco had the habit and practice of putting lights on all locomotives.

Regardless, yes, I was told that the light allowed the fireman to check the color of smoke at night.

Great job by IRM. It is good to see her back in steam. Thanks to all who worked so hard to get her in steam.

Now I don't want to be a complainer but seriously... a guy in shorts on the tender and a golf cart on the station platform. Give your public an authentic experience.

I personally don't have a problem with the golf cart or the man on the tender. My only nit-pick was the arrangement of the consist, but there wasn't a whole lot of choice in the matter.

Having volunteered at IRM, the campus is large. A golf cart is kind of a necessary evil. It makes getting around the place easy, especially if you have to go "fetch" something between runs.

Yes, why are the cars ordered that way?