The National Railroad Museum, Green Bay, WI: one of the oldest and largest railroad museums in the US.

Above, a view of the main entrance and visitor center.

The museum has three main buildings. On the left in the view to the right is the Victor McCormick Train Pavilion, named after local businessman and one of the founders of the museum. The middle building is the Frederick J. Lenfestey Center, named after a leader in development of the museum and chairman for fourteen years. The low building on the right is the visitor center, main ticket office and library. Below, another view of the visitor center.

The museum receives over seventy-five thousand visitors annually from all over the world.

Above, parked in the middle foreground in the
view of the museum grounds are Fairport, Painesville & Eastern Railroad Alco S-2 #103, now liveried as Fort Howard Paper #403, and US Army Alco RSD-1 #8651. Green Bay & Western Railroad Alco C-430 #315 and Wisconsin Central Railroad EMD GP30 #715 stand beside the Victor
McCormick Train Pavilion on the far left. The rails in the lower foreground are part of a perimeter track used for diesel hauled train rides in the summer season.

The photo was taken looking north-east from the eighty foot high wooden observation tower at the south-east of the museum grounds beside the Fox River.

The UP has donated many locomotives for preservation, continues to steam Challenger #3985 and FEF-3 #844 as part of its Heritage Fleet and is the process of restoring Big Boy #4014, a testament to its commitment to preserving its historic legacy.

There are photos of many more historic and modern UP locomotives on this website. You can see a list of them by type and number on the roster page.

The lubricating reservoir for the air pumps is in
the upper right of this photo.

This was originally positioned ahead of the cooler on the pilot.

Above, a view looking out the cab window on the fireman's side.

With the cladding removed, #4017's stay bolts are clearly evident.

Above, a view from the engineer's side.

It's not clear why the cladding was removed. This is usually done to protect against damp on outdoor display.

In the photo above, the conveyor screw that fed coal from the tender to the stoker is visible. Originally, sliding doors were fitted the entire length of the tender floor, except for a small opening at the front. Firemen were expected to open the doors in succession as the coal diminished, but this arrangement proved unpopular and the doors were soon removed.

Big Boys were fitted with MB automatic stokers. These were considered the best in terms of reliability, maintenance and control. The centrally located coal jets also required little adjusting or cleaning.

The grates were manufactured by the Waugh Equipment Company.

In the view above, you can see the rods that connect the grates to shakers in the cab. Also visible in the lower half is the opening to the ash pan.

Above, the inside of the 704 sq ft firebox shows the circulators designed by Alco. The grate is 150 sq ft. The stoker firing plate is at the bottom of this photo.

The view above shows the massive tender mated to Big Boys.

They were amongst the largest ever built and were carried on a fourteen wheel (4 + 10) centipede pedestal truck initially designed for use with UP's FEF 4-8-4 locomotives.

On the left, the red Pyle-National marker lamp and recessed rear reversing light mounted at the top of the rear tender are evident.

Compare this view with the tender on UP Big Boy #4004 on the Kenefick Park page of this website.

The original tenders weighed 342,2000 lbs and had a capacity of 28 tons of coal and 25,000 gallons of water.

Once additional steel coal boards were fitted, however, visible towards the front of the upper part of the tender in the top photo, they could carry 32 tons of coal.

Built in 1940, #4890 is one of one hundred and forty Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 class electric locomotives. It is 79' 6" long, weighs 468,4000 lbs and its
2-C+C-2 wheel arrangement runs on an articulated frame to negotiate tight curves. The driving wheels are 57" and the trailing truck wheels are 36".

Power was fed to the unit from
an overhead 11,000 Volt AC catenary wire by a pantograph and the voltage stepped-down through an on board transformer to feed 12 single phase 25 cycle traction motors. Each motor developed 385 hp giving a total
of 4,620 hp. GG1s could accelerate from 0 to 100 mph within 65 seconds and, at that speed, delivered 65,500 lbs tractive effort.

This is the only surviving example of one hundred and fifty Consolidation type (2-8-0) locomotives built by Baldwin in 1918 for the US Army. About fifteen hundred Consolidations were produced by Baldwin for the US Army between 1916 and 1918. They were known as "Pershings", after four-star General John Pershing, Commander of the US Expeditionary Forces in Europe.

They were intended for use in the European war theatre, although this locomotive never made it to Europe. Instead, it went to Fort Monroe, VA, as #765. It was renumbered #8341 and named "General Pershing" in 1925. In 1941, it moved to Fort Benning, GA, and then, in 1943, to Cape Blanding, FL.

Above, the four stars and name "Pershing" are stamped into the plate just above #101's headlamp.

Two years after retiring
from service with the US Army, in 1947 #8341 was shipped to Korea along with one hundred other locomotives from Europe to serve in the Korean War. There, it was renumbered #101 and was damaged by arms fire but was rebuilt in 1953 and put back into service.

The 166,400 lb locomotive has 56" drivers and 21" x 28" cylinders. A coal burner, it has a 41 sq ft grate, 128 sq ft firebox and 2,236 sq ft total heating surface, including 471 sq ft superheating. Operating at a boiler pressure of 190 psi, #101 delivered 35,610 lbs tractive effort. The tender weighs 109,000 lbs light with a capacity of 5,400 gallons of water and 9 tons of coal.

#101 ended its operating life as switcher in Seoul and was then donated to the museum by the Republic of Korea in 1959. It went on display at the museum in 1961.

This 0-4-0T (Tank) locomotive was built
for stock by Alco in 1923 and then sold to the W. F. Carey Company as #5. It was acquired by the Pullman Car & Manufacturing Company in 1934 along with the Carey Company. Renumbered #29, it switched in the yards of the company town of Pullman, IL, fourteen miles south of Chicago until the late 1950s. It was sold to the Purdey Company, a scrap dealer in Chicago, IL, in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

In 1961, #29 was purchased by the Jennie Fuller Estate of Green Bay, WI, and the following year was donated to the museum.

#29 weighs 79,000 lbs, and has 19" x 22" cylinders and 40" drivers. Operating at a boiler pressure of 190 psi, it delivered tractive effort of 17,400 lbs.

The locomotive was actually a propane burner. Although a very clean and efficient fuel, very few propane burning steam locomotives were ever built.

From 1962, with a plate bearing "Brillion Pioneer" attached to its foot boards, #29 hauled trains for the museum's tourist "Wisconsin & Yesterday Railroad". Unfortunately, complaints from locals along the route forced it into retirement, and the only evidence of its life as an excursion engine I have seen is a postcard of it hauling a passenger excursion train over a trestle bridge in Wisconsin.

#29 has not been relettered and is displayed with restored Anhapee & Western Railroad bay window caboose #33.

In 1947-48, the US began a relief effort to war-torn France and Italy, donating more than seven hundred box cars of goods to an “American Friendship Train”. In gratitude, a group of French citizens organised a private effort to thank the people of the US for their assistance. The result was the forty-nine box car “Merci Train”. The cars were called “40 et 8” (40 and 8) cars because the French military rated them to carry forty soldiers or eight horses.

You can see other "40 et 8" cars on the Ogden Union Station page of this website, McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park, Kentucky Railroad Museum, B&O Railroad Museum Roundhouse and Nevada State Railroad Museum pages.

Above, AT&SF Speeder #174591. Note the metal "grab" frame mounted to the vehicle to allow lifting onto and off the rails.

Above, a side shot that includes part of the two car trainset.

Inside the Victor McCormack Train Pavilion.

The first railroad to test one of the new trains in February 1956 was the PRR, but the lightweight coaches, single-axle trucks and a suspension system designed for buses, made for a very uncomfortable ride at high speed. The Pennsy was not convinced and returned the train to GM after a year of use.

GM took the trains on a tour of the country in an effort to drum up interest, but the same problems arose and no-one was willing to buy.

Finally, in 1957, they
were sold to the Rock Island for commuter services in Chicago, IL, where lower speeds applied but, after only nine years, in 1966 both trains were retired.

#506 is the first of ten E1 Class Santa Fe type (2-10-2) locomotives allocated to the Duluth Missabe & Northern by the USRA in 1919 (#506-#515). Built by Alco, they followed the introduction of the first six 2-10-2s built for the railroad by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA, in 1916. E #502, one of that first order, is on the National Museum of Transportation, St. Louis Yard page of this website. Growing demands because of WWI necessitated the purchase of the ten additional Santa Fes. The locomotives joined the Duluth Missabe & Iron Range roster when the DM&N was absorbed by that railroad in in 1938.

The E1s had a larger tender with a capacity for 10,000 gallons of water rather than 9,000. Like the E, the tender on the E1 also came with a "dog house" for the brakeman, visible in the photo on the right above. As part of an upgrade to the DM&N Santa Fes in the late 1920s, additional sand boxes were fitted on the pilot. All but two of this class (#512 & #514) eventually had Nicholson thermic syphons.

#506 was in service until 1962 and was donated to the museum the same year.

#5017 is one of twenty-five Texas type (2-10-4) locomotives built in 1944 by Baldwin. These AT&SF 5011 class locomotives were the last steam locomotives delivered to the railroad.

The first AT&SF Texas type, #5000, was built by Baldwin in 1930. It has been beautifully restored by the Railroad Artifact Preservation Society and is on display next to Queen's Garden in downtown Amarillo, TX. You can see photos of it on the ATSF #5000 page of this website.

The next nine AT&SF 2-10-4s were built by Baldwin in 1938, classed 5001.

You can see the first of this class delivered to the AT&SF, #5011, on the National Museum of Transportation, St. Louis Train Sheds page of this website, as well as another on the ATSF #5030 page.

They were one of the largest non-articulated locomotives ever built. At 74", the driving wheels were also the largest ever applied to a Texas type, and the 310 psi boiler pressure one of the highest.

Oil burners, like the 5001s the 5011s developed 108,961 lbs tractive effort.

Below, #5017 lines up with Soo Line #2718 (centre) and Lake Superior & Ishpeming #24 (left) in the museum's Victor McCormack Train Pavilion.

#5017 has a 121.7 sq ft grate, 494 sq ft firebox and total heating surface of 8,577 sq ft, including 2,640 sq ft superheating. The tender weighs 462,700 lbs light with a capacity for 21,000 gallons of water and 7,000 gallons of oil.

#5017 worked on the AT&SF Pecos Division between Clovis and Belen, NM, but travelled as far afield as Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado. It ran up a total of 750,000 miles in its fifteen year life. Retired in 1959, it was donated to the museum that year.

This is one of six H-23 class Pacific type
(4-6-2) locomotives built in 1923 by Alco for the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad, also known as the Soo Line.

The six H-23s were the last Pacifics ordered by the Soo Line and, although relatively light compared to other railroads' Pacifics, they were the heaviest rostered by the Soo.

In 1939, #2718's tender was replaced with the one to which it is now coupled.

The change was to increase coal and water capacity and, thereby, the locomotive's operating range.

#2718 weighs 281,080 lbs. It has a 52.75 sq ft grate area, 207 sq ft firebox and 4,219 sq ft total heating surface, including 840 sq ft superheating. With 25" x 26" cylinders, it operated at a boiler pressure of 200 psi, delivering tractive effort of 36,833 lbs. With their 75" drivers, the H-23s, were nevertheless designed for passenger service, reaching speeds of 80 mph on the railroad's level Chicago-Minneapolis/St Paul line.

The Soo Line was started in 1883 by a consortium of flour mill owners in Minneapolis to connect its two namesake cities and avoid sending shipments through Chicago, IL. It was never a major passenger carrier as its line between Chicago, IL, and Minneapolis/St Paul, MN, was much longer than its competitors, the Milwaukee Road, Chicago & North Western and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.

#2718 was in service for twenty-five years until 1958, when the Soo Line donated it to the museum. The only other surviving H-23, SOO #2719, is based at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth, WI. That locomotive is still operational, and runs excursions along the
Lake Superior shore line from Duluth to Two Harbors.

There are photos of an excursion with #2719 on North Shore Scenic Railroad page of this website.

The Munising, Marquette & South Eastern Railroad merged with the Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad in 1923. The LS&I then renumbered the locomotive #24, and later modernised it with a wider firebox in 1931. Weighing 189,360 lbs, #24 has 22" x 28" cylinders and 57" drivers. A coal burner with a 50 sq ft grate and total heating surface of 2,600 sq ft, including 430 sq ft superheating, it operated at a boiler pressure of 200 psi, delivering tractive effort of 42,000 lbs.

Two other LSI SC4 locomotives have survived. You can see one of them on the LSI #19 page of this website and the other, #22, on the Mid-Continent Railway Museum page.

#24 was donated to the museum by the LS&I in 1962.

#D-538 is an early diesel electric built by the Electro Motive Corporation, later EMD.

EMC built one hundred and seventy-five Winton engined diesel-electrics from 1935 to 1939. The S series had 600 hp engines. The N series had 900 hp engines.

Twenty-seven NW1s were built from 1937 to 1939 with a Winton 201-A 12 cylinder prime mover powering a Westinghouse 480 four generator to drive GE 287D traction motors. With a top speed of 50 mph, they delivered 43,000 lbs continuous tractive effort at 11 mph.

#D-538 was bought by the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway in 1938. Sold to the Marinette, Tomahawk & Western in 1957, it continued in service on that railroad until 1973, when it was donated to the museum.

The C-430 is part of Alco's "Century" series, which included six and eight axle units. The
C-430 was the last of the four axles units. The preceding models were the C-415, C-420, C-424 and C-425.

Only sixteen of the
C-430s were built between 1966 and 1968, all for US railroads. The New York Central purchased ten, the Reading Line two, and the last three were Alco demonstrators.

There are other four axle Century series units on this website: MCRR C-415 #701 is on the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Yard page and both DL C-420 #414 and DL C-425 #2423 are on the Steamtown Yard page.

Burlington Northern Jordan Spreader #973172 was out in the yard last time I visited the museum.

It removed snow, spread gravel and trimmed embankments of brush along the sides of track.

#403 is one of four Alco S-2 switchers bought by the Fairport, Painesville & Eastern Railroad in northeastern Ohio in 1947. Sold to the
Georgia Pacific Paper Company, it was renumbered from #103 to #63-180 and appears to go through various changes at the museum: it sported the Howard Paper Company livery when I last visited.

The S-2 had an Alco 4-cycle Model 539 6L prime mover, GE GT553 generator and four GE 731 traction motors.

The S-2 is almost identical to Alco's S-4, except it has Alcos Blunt trucks while the S-4 has AAR type A switcher trucks. The S-4 also has a GT 563 generator and GE 731D traction
motors.

The first thirteen RSD-1s were built as
RS-1 units but returned to Alco and rebuilt
as RSD-1s (#8000-#8012) at the Army's request in 1942. They were classed E1645 and you can see the first RS-1 unit
converted to an RSD-1, TXIX #8000, on the Museum of the American Railroad page of this website.

The first twenty-one production RSD-1s were then built later that year (#8013-8033) and a further twenty-three in early 1943. These were also classed E1645. The remaining one hundred units were built between 1943 and 1946 (#8600-#8699) and classed E1646. The last six units were built 1946 for the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México and were classed E1641.

The RSD-1 is 54' 11" long and weighs 204,000 lbs. With an Alco 1,000 hp V12 4-cycle Model 539T-6L prime mover powering a GE GT553C generator to drive four GE 731 traction motors, two on each of its six axle trucks, the units delivered 34,000 lbs continuous tractive effort at 8 mph and had a top speed of 60 mph.

ARR RSD-1 #1034 is on the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Train Yard page of this website.

This is one of sixteen EMD SD24 units delivered to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy in 1959 (#500-#515).

The SD24s could be ordered with a low or high short hood, and the CB&Q units were fitted with high short hoods. Originally numbered #510, this unit was renumbered #6250 when the CB&Q merged into Burlington Northern in 1970. In a succession of sales, it became Maryland Midland #6250, Fox River Valley #2402 and, finally, Wisconsin Central #2402.

The SD24 is 60' 8" long and weighs 390,000 lbs. Its 2,400 hp 567D3 16 cylinder prime mover powered a GM D22 generator to drive six GM D47 traction motors. With a top speed of 65 mph, it developed 72,300 lbs continuous tractive effort at 9.3 mph.

The SD24 was not particularly successful. Only one hundred and seventy-nine were built from 1958 to 1963, all for US railroads. Forty-five cabless B units were also built for the Union Pacific. As they aged, they were prone to electrical problems and their turbo charged engines were maintenance intensive, making them less attractive as secondary power as newer motive power became available.

Above and right, some photos of an Alco S-6 switcher hauling a train on the track running around the perimeter of the museum grounds.

This diesel-electric was built by Alco for the Southern Pacific as #1036 in 1955. It was subsequently renumbered #1203. However, the museum had painted it in the Green Bay Route livery and renumbered it #106 when I visited in September 2009.

One hundred and twenty-six S-6s were produced between 1955 and 1960, ninety-six for US railroads and thirty-three for Mexican. The largest number, seventy, were delivered to the Southern Pacific between 1955 and 1956. The S-6 is 45' 5" long and weighs 230,000 lbs. A development of the earlier 800 hp S-5, it has a 900 hp Alco 251A four stroke prime mover, which powers a GE GT553 generator to drive four GE GT533 traction motors, one on each axle. With a top speed of 60 mph, it delivers 46,000 lbs continuous tractive effort at 5 mph..