Four H-22 Class Pacific type locomotives (4-6-2) were built by Alco at its Schenectady, NY, works in 1914 for the Wisconsin Central (#2714-#2717).
The Wisconsin State Legislature incorporated the original Wisconsin Central Railroad in 1871, and the railroad built track throughout Wisconsin, as well as connecting to neighbouring states, before being leased to the Northern Pacific Railway between 1889 and 1893. It was then leased to the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway, commonly known as the Soo Line, in 1908 and was finally entirely merged into the Soo Line in 1961.
Weighing 264,000 lbs, 163,000 lbs on its 75” drivers, with a driver wheelbase of 13’ 6” and engine wheelbase of 34’ 7”, #2714 has Walschaert valve gear and 25” x 26” cylinders. The firebox is 207.44 sq ft and the grate area is 52.75 sq ft. The locomotive's total heating surface is 4,128 sq ft, including 736 sq ft superheating. Operating at a boiler pressure of 200 psi, it delivered 36,833 lbs tractive effort. The tender weighs 215,000 lbs light with a capacity of 17½ tons of coal and 12,000 gallons of water.
#2714 logged over 2 million service miles, running from Fond du Lac to Stevens Point and Minneapolis. At one time it also ran to Winnipeg in Canada, the 800 mile trip being the longest continuous run of any steam engine in the US.
The centre driver was probably replaced with the present Boxpok driver between 1948 and 1954 as an upgrade for high-speed service. Boxpok drivers had greater lateral strength and stiffness. #2714 was retired in 1955 and donated to the city of Fond du Lac by the Soo Line and Wisconsin Central Railroad.
A team of about twenty volunteer Soo Line crewmen moved the locomotive to the Chicago & Northwestern tracks at North Fond du Lac. A Northwestern crew then transported the engine from there to a specially constructed spur, built by the volunteer Soo Line crew, from the end of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad to where the engine now rests in Lakeside Park. A Whiting car mover used at the Soo Line's round house moved the engine across the temporary tracks.
#2714 was refurbished in 1990 by the Kiwanis Club of Fond du Lac.
