Interesting photos of the locomotives. A question, did anyone else notice there is no visible bell on the #1? Which brings up question #2, where is it?

The bell on #1 is mostly hidden right there behind the turbogenerator.

Yes that is quite interesting. I'll bet a pair of 4-wheel trucks seemed like a good idea after this phase was finished.

Here's another for you, Alex.

[photo deleted]

Here's #3 again. Looks like it's backed onto a short stub track, a stick of lumber chocking the center driver, and tender full of coal. Comparing it with the previous photo of #3 (above), I see some differences: Here the loco has no lettering, has a simple spark arrester, has a snow plow, and the whistle is moved somewhere (where?). I love that big plow!

Looking at this photo, the engine is stored and cold (note the piece of sheet tin on the stack to keep out the rain, with a rock or brick weighing it down). It's hard to tell in the photo, but the tires don't look shiny; the engine may have been sitting for some time. The bit of wood to chock the engine is common; most steam locomotives didn't have hand brakes after the introduction of air. (How many excursion engines, including big 4-8-4s, have you seen parked or spotted for servicing or display with lengths of chain for chocks?) The headlight visible in this and other shots of these engines is a standard type used by the Milwaukee on older power; there is a preserved Milwaukee 4-6-0 somewhere that has such a light. As to the whistle, it most likely is simply removed.

Could this photo date from very late in the line's existence, with the engine out of service and the whistle in the hands of a "trophy hunter?"

Never thought I'd get an interest in this line. It didn't seem like much, and the locomotives aren't the best lookers, but how many of us would love to see it again?

FLO, out of curiosity, where did you get these photos? They look pretty good, sharp and clear. Is this the first time they have come to light since, well, when? And do we know anything of the photographer, who thought enough of this little road that was a bit of nothing to preserve it in this way?

Good call on the 4-6-0. The Jeff Terry photo below is of the headlight on Milwaukee Road 4-6-0 No. 1004 at the Mower County Historial Museum in Austin, Minnesota. Note the interesting square thing (whatever it is) on the headlight of both locomotives.


Photo Copyright (C) - Jeff Terry

Thanks for posting the photo of #1004. The 4-6-0 was the only Milwaukee Road steamer to operate in 1956 when she was used out of LaCrosse, Wisconsin in weed scalding, non-revenue service, late that summer. So, basically the CMStP&P was dieselized. And then on March 16th of 1957, a motor car failed and the 1004 was called to relieve it on the LaCrosse-Austin run. Can you imagine the consternation that must have occurred back in Milwaukee Road headquarters in Chicago when the found that they had to report passenger car mileage handled by steam? The 1004 was quickly retired! Fortunately, someone had the foresight to save the engine for donation to Austin. She is one of only two "small" Milwaukee Road steamers to be preserved. Thanks again for posting the photo. It's good to see the old Ten-Wheeler so well cared for.

As for the very distinctive Milwaukee Road headlight on number 1004, I have always admired them. I don't collect railroadiana, but I sure would make an exception if one of those headlights with its "jumbo" number boards suddenly became available.

Les

J3a-614,
In the 80's there were still some old steam photographers selling prints at rail shows for around $5 for an 8 x 10" print like this one. Some of these same photos are on the Don Ross website. The prints are out there in circulation and I imagine most or all have been published.
I was having the same thoughts. I never thought much about this operation, but now I'd love to be able to see it. A real shame nothing is left.

It's not as is they didn't try. If you read the Slim Princess, there was a group of investors that tried to save the line in the 30's with a railvan and a plymouth switcher. Unfortunately both had their engine blocks cracked when operators forgot to drain the coolant during the harsh winters. More might have been saved if the line had made it through WWII.

The railvan was rebuilt and served as a road van. I would LOVE to find that in some barn. Can you imagine how fun that would be to trailer it to ET&NC, EBT, D&S, or C&T and ride it on the rails?

The switcher may still exist. It went to Ohio & Morenci.

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr181.htm

Doesn't one of these really looks like the Ox?

Charles

On the contrary, I think that the locomotives are really quite fantastic looking. And can you think of an operation that had just 4 steam locomotives on their roster that had such "character"? DPM once described the Missabe Road as "the land of plumber's nightmare's". Well, I think that this little line would qualify as the "Narrow Gauge land of plumber's nightmare's". All of that stuff really made those engines interesting.

Les

Somewhere I recall seeing a Milwaukee Road shop switcher tank engine that had an incredibly home spun "plumber nightmare" look to it. I would not necessarily say that type of look is bad. It is just its own unique context. It is highly resourceful from a funtional mechanical standpoint, and it speaks to the skill and practicality of the shop forces. But it comes at the expense of that well balanced designer look that can result when one starts with a clean sheet of paper.

I have a weird brain, which sometimes goes off in all sorts of directions.

In this case, we have four narrow-gauge locomotives, numbered 1 through 4. These locomotives were disposed of, along with the railroad they ran on, in 1933.

In 1935 the Milwaukee obtained the first of four new engines, in two orders, numbered 1 though 4:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27862259@N02/5876275049/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27862259@N02/5896461260/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27862259@N02/5898282530/

The cars they pulled were equally distinctive.

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/vxla/4593783913/#large

What a contrast in only two years!

This turned up on a Facebook page dedicated to railroading in the Catskills; it's our old friend, No. 2, early in her life:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

That picture of C&T No. 2 at Haines Corners is an old favorite of mine. It's such a classic shot in so many ways, and so full of gorgeous details: the shiny jacket on the newly built Baldwin, the well dressed crew, the little girl with the parasol, and the white church steeple in the distance. Like the fellow in the old Twilight Zone "Willoughby" episode, I really wish I could go back to that time.

"Prompt Connections by Boat or Rail for All Points North and South." :)

-Philip Marshall

High-resolution version of the same photo on Shorpy:

http://www.shorpy.com/node/13927?size=_original#caption

/s/ Larry
Lawrence G. Lovejoy, P.E.