The American Industrial Railroad Society has raised $4000 toward the $6K needed to restore the cab of INRY 0-4-0 #4. Info at their website:

www.industrialrails.org

Les

Thank you very much for posting this Les. It's difficult indeed to find a worthier cause, or a better bunch of fellas making it happen.

Viva INRy #4 !!!!

Thanks for posting.

To give some background on our project- in 2020 a group of young preservationists got together around the idea that they were going to buy and save a derelict steam locomotive from the torch. The American Industrial Railroad Society was born from this idea, with the goal of restoring our engine, better known as the Indiana Northern #4, to operation as a traveling exhibit to showcase the important role that industrial railroads have played in history.

Often overlooked in favor of the "main show" of the mainline railroads, they weaved in and out of looming industrial landscapes and wildernesses alike, serving as the vital last-mile connections to the outside world. We hope to bring these industrial railroads into the spotlight, and to help do so we're working to restore the Indiana Northern #4, a bona-fide industrial 0-4-0 switcher, to operation.

Currently, we are turning our main focus to restoring the #4's cab. Estimated at a total cost of $6,000, over $4,000 of that has already been raised thanks to many generous donors who assisted in the completion of a $1,000 matching grant which was offered to us in early November, as well as supporting us through the purchase of an AIRS I.N. #4 T-shirt. Not bad for just a month of fundraising!



The cab will be a very visible component of the engine which we will use to show our progress and give insight to how #4 will appear once returned to operation, backdated to its 1913 as built appearance in olive green and aluminum (Baldwin paint style 363). The work necessary for the cab, while extensive, is not unmanageable or uncommon for most locomotives. Only a minor amount of metalwork has been identified- replacement of the rain gutters on the cab roof, patching small sections of the bottom of the rear cab wall, and replacing the angle iron brackets at the cab floor that allow the cab to be bolted down. From there the cab can be media blasted to bare metal and painted with primer, the wood lining remade with new lumber, and then it can be painted over in the appropriate shade of Baldwin green. When we’re done the cab will look just as fresh and green as it did when #4 left Baldwin nearly 110 years ago!


While not the most significant or largest project ahead of us, the cab is still a necessary milestone, and all this work will ensure that it is turn-key and ready to install when the rest of the engine is ready. If you'd like to support this project, you can do so at http://www.industrialrails.org/donate


As always, please follow us on Facebook or our website for the latest news!

-Sam Aufmuth,
President

Thanks for the great information. I have gone through and corrected the ownership history for this locomotive on our website, and corrected the number as well. I saw this locomotive at Donnelsonville sometime around 2000, I think.

I wish you all the very best of luck with this project.

For those who are interested in our project, we thought it would be appropriate to let you know that last evening, thanks to resounding support from donors and followers, the American Industrial Railroad Society completed a $1,000 matching grant challenge which has raised the last $2,000 we needed to fund the restoration of #4's cab. While we now have the funding for this project secured, there's still quite a bit of work ahead of us to actually complete it. So be sure to follow us on our website (http://www.industrialrails.org/news-and-updates or our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/industrialrailsteam) to see how we are progressing on this and other parts of #4's return to operation.



If you didn't get the chance to donate towards this project, don't worry- you can still help us out with a general donation at http://www.industrialrails.org/donate or by becoming a volunteer- visit our website for more information.

Anyone lamenting the scarcity of young volunteers should take a look at this group. Best of luck guys, and as Sammy King said, Viva INRy #4!

Brian Smith
Old Volunteer at SouCalRy Museum