Back in the 1970s the National Railroad Museum had an Alco 0-4-0T, former Menomonie Sugar Co. 25 (before that, United States Ordinance No. 7). It appears in the NRM guidebook from the early 1970s, and I have a slide of it in my collection that dates from 1977. This locomotive is no longer at the museum, and no one seems to know what happened to it. No luck searching the internet.

My first visit to Green Bay was in 1998, so it was gone before that. Anyone know the story behind this one?

Jeff Terry

Dear Jeff:
I believe that locomotive was sold to Clint Jones in 1968. He dismantled it and trucked the pieces up to Hancock, MI. I doubt if it was ever re-assembled (I wonder if the pieces still exist...)
J.David
P.S. There are several "little ones" around the country that people have been taken apart only to find that they come apart about 500 times easiler than they go back together...
JDC

My recollection is very vague but I recall that at one time there were three 0-4-0's on the railroad museum property. #29, 'The Brillion Pioneer which pulled the museum's train for several years, the sugar beet engine you mention and a third one which was in very poor condtion, and which was never really listed in the collection, perhaps only kept as a parts locomotive for the 29. My memory says that the sugar beet engine was disposed of, where I do not know, and the very poor condition 0-4-0 was eventually scrapped when it was clear that they would no longer be running steam. The #29 is still in their collection. Again, this is based strictly on memory.

Thanks for the responses! I wonder if this engine is the "unknown" 0-4-0T that's listed at Buckley, Michigan on steamlocomotive.info? (Link: http://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomo ... splay=3876) The locomotive is currently dismantled, and the steamlocomotive.info photo shows only the pilot and frame. I did note that certain details of the pilot match that of Menomonie Sugar 25. One problem: No. 25 dates from 1918, and the Buckley website (http://www.buckleyoldengineshow.org/Spo ... -Railroad-) gives a date of 1929 for their "new" 0-4-0T.

Jeff Terry