I recieved my issue of the Milwaukee Railroader on Friday (for those of you who don’t know - the Milwaukee Road Historical Association’s publicaton) and was astounded by what appeared on the corner of page 33. A picture of a rusty hulk of what could ONLY be a Class A Hiawatha Atlantic - taken this summer somewhere in Iowa.
All four of these unique locomotives were supposed to have been scrapped in the 50’s. The caption says taken in Iowa summer of 2007 - it did not disclose the location - and saked readers if they had any ideas on this mystery.
Well - anybody out there got any ideas, heard of this already, or know where it is?
One of the “scrapped” units was salvaged as a stationary boiler for some manufacturing facility. It was easier to haul it into place in its “Hiawatha” shell, and that may be the unit.
I am surprised to hear that it might still be around at all. It seems to me it was in Cedar Rapids when it was put into stationary service but that’s one of those things that, the more I try and think back, the more that different places all sound right.
Stan Johnson did a terrific job on The Western Extension. His attention to construction detail was admirable and he put together a lot of coverage that would otherwise be lost to history. At 548 pp., it is the best combination of rich historical text and outstanding historical photography that I have seen. It was a tremendous amount of work on Stan’s part. I was glad to be part of it.
What issue is this in? I’m a subscriber, but I haven’t gotten any new issues, and the web site for the MRHA shows the newest one as being the First Quarter 07 issue.
Sounds like something out of the Jan 1984 issue of MR (50th anniversary), where they found #1 in a shed somewhere. Even had photos of it being pulled out (model version of course). Good story starting at page 100.
Unfortunately, as much as I wanted this to be true, I don’t think the picture in the Milwaukee Railroader is a real Milwaukee 4-4-2…at least a full sized one, anyway.
My grandfather got his issue yesterday, and I spent about 30 minutes studying the photo and comparing it to photos in Jim Scribbins’ “The Hiawatha Story”.
There’s several discrepancies between the magazine photo and the real one. The BIG one is the number of shroud sheets… The real ones had 11 shroud sheets, this one has 9. (The two G class 4-6-0’s streamlined had 7, and were deshrouded several years before they were scrapped). The class light doesn’t jive with the real ones either… the real A class had more traditional class light fixtures, whereas the magazine has a quite pointed fixture. Also, the handrail around the front was at the same level as the sides, and on the magazine photo, it’s lower. That looks like a door where the big hole is too… Also, the “HIAWATHA” name plate is a lot lower on the shroud than the real ones, which were almost right underneath the handrail
Think about that stack cap. if that were a full size 4-4-2, that’d have to be a 55 gallon drum or bigger. It looks like a 5 gallon bucket.
I think we’re looking at a live-steam replica, maybe something in the 24-30 inch gauge range. There’s nothing in the photo that really lends itself to scale, but it just doesn’t look right for a 56.5 inch honest-to-God A class.
Are you sure the pic wasn’t dated April 1st 2007?? [;)]
Seriously, given how many people have written about what a shame it was that all the A’s were scrapped, I doubt one in any condition could be sitting around in Iowa for all this time with no one knowing about it. Be neat if it were true and it could be restored, even just cosmetically.
Been gone for a couple of days - I got the same response from Bob Storozuk as well. Had me - and I’m sure a lot of other people going there for a minute.
However - they are investigating if the Milwaukee shops built it - if so they MIGHT by it and preserve it at Illinois Railway Museum. For the now the location is a secret as they do not want to inundate the property owner with 5000 crazed train nuts. Apparnatly its in pretty rough shape.
The property owner apparently has no idea as to its origin.
It is a shame they scrapped them - At the time I’m sure steam engines couldn’t be given away- if they only knew how people would look back however.
Michael Sol - any further info on that story of one being saved at the last minute?
I recall an old picture of the poor dilapidated old thing, hooked up to the building next to it. Now, that was a long time ago. Where did I see that photo? At the Milwaukee? Possibly in the book, “First of the Speedliners: the Hiawatha” by Milwaukee Shops. My stuff is in storage right now, and I can’t even check.
Yep, you’re right. It’s on page 111 of the Milw Shops book. Photo is credited to the “Carl Solheim collection” and caption reads, “Once proud Hiawatha locomotive 2 served out its last days in steam heater service at one of Chicago’s industries”. No other specifics are given.
Scroll down the page about three-quarters of the way. Apparently, it was built for the 1941 American Legion convention in Milwaukee. Does anyone have additional info?
I can’t nail down the provenance of the Replica, but it appears to have been a Milwaukee Road promotional item, and is mentioned as appearing in all sorts of parades and events. Here, they refer to it as “new” in this October, 1940 Milwaukee Road Magazine, but with no further explanation of “what”. It does appear to pre-date the 1941 American Legion Convention in Milwaukee and, while it was used there, that appearance appears to have been one of only many promotional uses for the Replica.
Was this class of locomotive the only Atlantic type that had the driving rods attached to the first set of drivers? All the other 4-4-2s I’ve ever seen had the driving rods on the second set, and of course a far shorter boiler. The Hiawatha 4-4-2s always looked to me like a Pacific with the first axle missing…
