A Happy Memorial Day to one and all!

On Sunday, May 29, the Illinois Railway Museum moved the last cut of coal cars being stored on site to our interchange with the Union Pacific. The motive power selected for the 135 car train was none other than our St Louis-San Francisco 2-10-0 #1630, fresh off of a valve rebuild this winter. Reports from the crew state that she performed flawlessly. Not only did we pull the train successfully, but we gave our visitors, members and the thousands that have seen and will see the videos a rare glimpse at a steam locomotive doing what it was designed to do.

See it for yourself at either of these links.
https://youtu.be/Ke6sp029vD0?t=3m36s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTdK5NheTjI

Another video is available at the newly created IRM Steam Team Facebook page. If you're on Facebook, consider giving us a like! (You should be able to view the video without actually having a Facebook account)
https://www.facebook.com/irmsteam/

Thanks to all, and have a great day!

Christian Ellis

PS: Videos property of their respective owners.

Thanks for posting, Christian. It's so beautiful seeing steam being allowed to work hard... and it's a shame she didn't have enough railroad to be allowed to pull that train at speed! Any challenges starting the train?

Would have loved to be there.

Steve Hunter

Mr. Hunter,

A shame indeed! It was still very exciting, however, to get the chance to pull the train at all. Had they not come on Sunday, it's very possible 1630 wouldn't have had the chance to take the train to the interchange.

To answer your question; 1630 started the train without issue. The engineer, Brian, did a fantastic job. It was a perfect start.

Thanks for your interest!

Christian Ellis

Wow, most impressive. Good for IRM.

EMPTY coal cars.

Indeed, but I am sure we can all raise a cheer for over 100 of anything being pulled by steam in 2016, yes?

Congrats IRM for this great way to welcome #1630 back to the living!

Rob

How long did it take to pump up the air?l

Yes, empty coal cars. Let's figure them weighing in at 25 tons each, times 130 cars, gives us 3250 trailing tons. 1630 walked right off with them, nice and steady, sounding perfectly sharp and square.

By comparison, 611 "average train" of 22 cars, at even 100 tons per car (an over-estimation) is a 2200-ton train. It's quite a feat to move that at the speeds and on the grades that 611 operates.

1630's accomplishment is something to be proud of!! And, my hat's off to the fireman!

Howard P.

I was not at the museum to witness it but as best I can figure it, it took about a half an hour. This is an estimate based on photographs and videos I've seen, and not an exact figure. If you want, I can try to get this info from one of the crew; I may very well be way off.

Howard P. and Rob; thanks for the kind words!

Christian Ellis

Howard -

An accomplishment for sure! Terrific to hear the Decapod barking like she did! I think that the fireman might have had a "helper". Seems in one video of the event, I saw someone shoveling coal down from the pile. The 1630 has a stoker, but not sure if it is still operational. Whether one fireman or two, the 2-10-0 got the job done! Congrats to the entire crew!

Les

Yes we had a "helper/cofireman" aka me for the trip. I was there to help fire and pull coal in the tender. The stoker is not operational on 1630, so whenever 1630 runs and for the freight train yesterday it was hand fired. The crew for the freight train was Engineer Brian Davies, Fireman Phil Cwikowski, Co Fireman JD Marzec and Conductor Jamie Kolanowski. Brian did an excellent job as engineer handling a train of that size.

Is the stoker just not worth the time and effort to repair?

We used the CB&Q 504 earlier in the day to initially pump up the train and do the class I brake test. That made it much quicker for 1630 which took a little over a half hour from the time we coupled up to the time we finished the class III brake test.

Where can an entire coal train be stored at IRM that does not impact their operations?

And as a related question, why? Not why did you pull it with steam, that part's obvious. Why is it being stored on site and what role does the museum play in the movement? Not familiar with your operation, so sorry if it should be obvious. Were you doing car storage to generate some revenue over the winter?