Hello

Good news the in the first time since late 1995, the 1873 Mason-Bogie 0-6-4t is running again at Greenfield Village in Dearborn MI. In went into service on the 23rd of July. It runs great, although I have to get used to firing it since it is really quirky and awkward- the firebox portudes far into the cab and the seats are squeezed next to it! It's a neat specimen since the bogie swings as it goes into curves, while the boiler heads straight! Articulated steam!

-chris

c8salmon@wmich.edu

Wow! With a couple of pictures this might make a good news brief!

> Hello

> Good news the in the first time since late
> 1995, the 1873 Mason-Bogie 0-6-4t is running
> again at Greenfield Village in Dearborn MI.
> In went into service on the 23rd of July. It
> runs great, although I have to get used to
> firing it since it is really quirky and
> awkward- the firebox portudes far into the
> cab and the seats are squeezed next to it!
> It's a neat specimen since the bogie swings
> as it goes into curves, while the boiler
> heads straight! Articulated steam!

> -chris


Texas Steam
hkading@rypn.org

> Wow! With a couple of pictures this might
> make a good news brief!

I agree! Saw it in the roundhouse just about a week before you got it running again, and it seemed to me to be a first class restoration. This is one of the first locos I rode behind as a kid, so there definitely is a soft spot in my heart for that loco. Congrats, and I look forward to taking my son for a ride behind her soon.

TJG



Port Huron Museum

tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

Assuming that there is any significant amount of the original fabric left of the machine, I label running a locomotive of such age and rarity the height of irresponsibility.

Operation is obviously very historically destructive. There are many hundreds of steam locomotives which can be used up without significant historical loss in legitimate interactive interpretive museum exhibits. But a Mason-Bogie?

Mr. John Boykin,
This is a very sensitive debate, and I think that if we take a few moments to reflect and allow our tempers to cool, we will find that there are valid arguments to support both opperation, if done carefully and sensitively, and conservation. Exhibits at rail museums, like any other museum, fullfill a certain function in our society. They are essentially pieces of information (albeit a very concrete and tangible type) which convey meaning and ideas to those that see them. A record of the past if you will. On the one hand, using a piece of equipment subjects it to some degree of degradation, and conservation, (which I use here to mean storing the artifact in some fashion, be it on display or otherwise,) slows significantly, or nearly halts that degredation. Let's assume that these represent the poles of a spectrum. On the one extreme, you use the piece extensively in the way in which it was designed to be used, take it appart, put it together, wear it out. On the other extreme, you put it in a sealed climate controlled vault where there is as little interaction with the artifact as possible. The result of one
is in many ways quite similair to the other. If we take a locomotive appart, obviously we learn more about it than we do just looking at it. It conveys MUCH more information in daily use and upon dissection. On the other hand, it only conveys it for a brief time and then the source of the information is destroyed. If we put it in a box forever, the information is there, theoretically, but no one can read it, so it represents no real benefit to anyone. The question is not whether to extract information or use from an artifact, but how, when, how quickly and how much. We try to create a ballance where the artifact is not "significantly" damaged, but where people can actually learn something meaningfull from it. The rarest and most important artifacts, we put in a box and take out only with great rarity, using the information preserved there only slowly and sporadically when there is significant gain to be had. More common artifacts we let people touch feel see hear. And an opperating locomotive presents a myriad of information that people can learn that they cannot get from a static display. Should important locomotives be preserved? Yes. Should we risk destroying a piece of history for a brief moment of pleasure? No, of course not. But responsible carefull use does not necessarily equate with a risk of destruction. These things were designed to do a certain job, and if kept maintained they can do that job with minimal risk to the artifact or the operator. It's all about how you do it. And I think that the people that see "Inyo" opperating would say it's well worth it. (She is of similair vintage, and is using the original boiler if the recent Trains article was correct.) Perhaps she's not quite as rare, but she's close. To say that opperation is the height of irresponsobility is simply inflamatory. If you wish to question the opperation of the artifact then you really need to find out more about the manner of it's opperation and the care of the opperators. Mere assumptions do not warrant such an accusation.
Sincerely,
David Ackerman

Generally with these sort of things i am a day late and a dollar short. However with the Torch Lake I was early, I was there 2 days early in fact. It is good to know it is running again. It was interesting to see it on the local news. However the reporter started off with gettings the facts right but by the end of the newscast it was the only steam engine running in north america. Still good press in my opinion none the less. Just wish i was working there.

Dave Sutter
Michigan Transit Museum

> I agree! Saw it in the roundhouse just about
> a week before you got it running again, and
> it seemed to me to be a first class
> restoration. This is one of the first locos
> I rode behind as a kid, so there definitely
> is a soft spot in my heart for that loco.
> Congrats, and I look forward to taking my
> son for a ride behind her soon.

> TJG


Michigan Transit Museum
sutterd@hotmail.com