DNE 28 2-8-0 Under Steam!!

HudsonL · **Joined:** Mon May 24, 2010 10:22 am **Posts:** 548

Reports out of Cloquet Minnesota have this engine up and running today, it was supposed to be a cosmetic restoration.

http://flic.kr/p/cr8sXQ

http://flic.kr/p/cr8t23

-Hudson

Wowak · **Posted:** Wed Jul 04, 2012 8:26 pm

Bloody hell. Surprise locomotive out of nowhere.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Wed Jul 04, 2012 9:58 pm

Well, it sure doesn't LOOK like the old "stuff a burning raincoat down the stack" prank.....

dinwitty · **Joined:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pm **Posts:** 2226

I like this "cosmetic" restoration.

robertjohndavis · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:10 am **Posts:** 2499

Was this a condition of the Parise/Suter signing? $98 million and a steam up. ;-)

jasonsobczynski · **Posted:** Wed Jul 04, 2012 10:29 pm

Who did the 1472 day inspection and HOW did no one hear about this?

Cheers, Jason

onequiknova · **Posted:** Thu Jul 05, 2012 12:52 am

If you read the comments in the second pic, someone is asking for the pics to be pulled. I wonder why?

junior · **Posted:** Thu Jul 05, 2012 1:34 am

onequiknova wrote:

If you read the comments in the second pic, someone is asking for the pics to be pulled. I wonder why?

One would think that if you didn't want to draw attention, for ANY reason, you wouldn't run a steam locomotive in broad day light and blow the whistle whilst crossing the wide open expanse of a river....

.....just sayin'

bigjim4life · **Posted:** Thu Jul 05, 2012 1:39 am

So confused...is this a talented prank/excellent photoshop job, or did this engine actually get restored?

rjenkins · **Posted:** Thu Jul 05, 2012 1:54 am

There are videos posted on the Cloquet Terminal's Facebook page. One of them shows the engine moving under steam as early as April 24th, and another shows what appears to be a boiler test (note the main rods are still off at that point) on April 4th. Apparently her return to steam has been a very well-kept secret!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 389&type=2

john creasing · **Joined:** Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:49 pm **Posts:** 36

This IS interesting! I was looking at some photos of the locomotive found through google.

Photo taken in december after the locomotive arrived at the railroads shop.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2719/6511897181/lightbox/

Here is one taken on March 23rd, the cab pic shows that tubes have not been replaced (notice the amount of dirt collected in the bottom of the superheater tubes and the color/type of rust on everything else (it's been there a few decades)and asbestos insulation still under the jacket visible around the washout plug holes in the jacket(kinda looks like the jacket has not been off). Obviously some work was done in the cab in terms of sightglasses and a few new fittings, brake valves, etc.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/missabefan ... /lightbox/

This was taken the same day, other than the injector check having been polished up there seems to have been not much else done.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/missabefan ... /lightbox/

The earliest video was uploaded on April 4th. How does a locomotive go from not having been retubed or jacket removed on March 23rd to fired on April 4th:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=203 ... =2&theater

And then running April 24th:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=217 ... =2&theater

Thoughts anyone?

John

Mark Z. Yerkes · **Joined:** Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:47 pm **Posts:** 486

Maybe, like a comment on the second picture said, this was just spur the moment fire-up that won't happen again. Would explain why the other comment was asking for the photos to be taken down. The FRA probably won't be too thrilled if they catch wind about this.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Thu Jul 05, 2012 10:03 am

Well, the photos are gone now.......

john creasing · **Joined:** Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:49 pm **Posts:** 36

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

Well, the photos are gone now.......

And with the magic of technology they return.....

John

john creasing · **Joined:** Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:49 pm **Posts:** 36

Mark Z. Yerkes wrote:

Maybe, like a comment on the second picture said, this was just spur the moment fire-up that won't happen again. Would explain why the other comment was asking for the photos to be taken down. The FRA probably won't be too thrilled if they catch wind about this.

Spur of the moment? Plumbing work in march, first fire up on april 4th, moving under it's own power april 24th, operating again just yesterday july 4th (according to the data on the now deleted photos). This doesn't seem like spur of the moment considering work has been going on over the span of 5 months and this is no less than the 3rd firing.

John