Recently restored 1922 Baldwin 2-8-2 #70 came to Tacoma today operating short excursions from the former Milwaukee Road Freight warehouse.

The locomotive has been out of use for approximately 30 years, it's protracted restoration at the Mineral shops of the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad being delayed by other projects.

Attached images show Fireman Brian Bundridge ready for the 11:00 am departure, the extensive welding performed on the firebox, and the best shot I could get with the sun location and crowds on hand prior to departure.

It is standard MRSRR policy not to fit the boiler jacket until their locomotives have some operating hours "under their belt"

The locomotive sounded excellent, looked good, nice whistle and had a clean stack at all times.

Great show to all involved.

Thanks

TH

Great pictures, great looking locomotive -thanks for posting!

Stephen

Very cool. How many hours do they need to be operated before replacing the jacket? That's a good deal of work but sensible to monitor repairs which may be out of view normally.

Very nice! Will this loco be featured at the NRHS convention in Tacoma next month?

There is another interesting picture here.

Bernard's photo is interesting. Note that the rail under #70 is polished, but the rail under the commuter train does not appear so. Why?

Answer is quite simple.

The Sounder (Tacoma to Seattle, generally Monday - Friday) commuter train terminates where it stands.

The steam loco is on the through line used by Tacoma Rail to deliver freight to business's east and south of Tacoma.

TH

"Will this loco be featured at the NRHS convention in Tacoma next month?"

My understanding is that SP Daylight 4449 is the star of the show in Tacoma next month.

However, The entire MRSRR is only about an hour away in Elbe / Mineral in the shadow of Mount Rainier see http://www.mrsr.com/

TH

True. Hard to believe that there's still surviving Milwaukee road trackage out that far, but it proves what good help (and money, may I add). Maybe one day, MRSRR will host a NRHS event, but I digress

Great photo of me, TH, thanks! Glad everyone had a great time! And thanks Howard for telling me about the photo here!

The Polson #70 is an incredible machine. I really have to give my hats off to Brian Wise, Stathi Pappas and everyone else that put there time into this engine. We are all still very, very shocked and amazed at how much she'll pull up the hill (We only had the F9 in N2-4, mostly to take the weight off the train). Since it is new, we still haven't gotten her down to a science but heading up the hill, we were able to maintain AND gain water going up the hill, throttle 75-100% open and maintain a clear stack (and I let it pop off 3 times... slow/fast reacting boiler got everyone)

As for the jacketing, we are keeping it off just to keep an eye on things. Since the restoration was so in-depth, we want to make sure there are no surprises that crop up and wouldn't be able to tell if something went bad with the jacketing on. We are aiming for after the Memorial Day weekend when things settle down a bit too.

We will be having the Willamette on the NRHS train from Eatonville to Mineral. That itself will be a grand show. I am not sure if the #70 will be going to Tacoma in June but we will definitely be returning to Tacoma in August for the Tacoma Rail days and running around in the Tideflats.

I'm looking forward to the RailsNW triple header on Saturday for sure!

.

For the NRHS convention, Rayonier Willamette #2 will be the power on the MRSR trips. That is by request from the NRHS folks who set up the charter. I'm guessing that the logic is that an operating Willamette is slightly rarer than an operating 2-8-2. ;)

I am pretty sure that the #70 will be available for viewing / photos at the shop facility in Mineral along with other engines in the MRSR fleet during the NRHS trip.

A couple photos of Mt Rainier Scenic Railroad's newly restored Polson Logging Company #70 in Tacoma.

http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=363627&nseq=0

http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=363365&nseq=0