I was wondering if anyone could tell me anything at all about this steam locomotive - loco number 206?
It apparently ran in the early 1900’s.
About the only things I know about it, apparently it was a 2-6-0 yard engine, and it was built by the Brooks locomotive works and at one time it ran in the Plymouth, MI yard in 1914.
I Would be interested to know how long it was in Plymouth, if it always ran there or came from some other location and/or if it was sent off to a different location, what year was it built etc.
Note that the PM 206 was built by Brooks in 1904, and the group(200-214) was off the roster by 1944. I suspect it was purchased for road freight power, and was ‘demoted’ to yard service in it’s declining years. It may have been retired in the depression years, and it’s sisters became part of the WWII scrap drive. Is the engine perserved, or do you just have a picture of it?
About all that I can add at this point is that PM 2-6-0 #206 was built in 1904, and ended its career at St. Thomas, Ontario, where it was scrapped with two others in 1929.
While I haven’t seen a photo of #206, it should have been identical to the others in its class (PM’s Class M, #200-218). This photo of #204 taken some time after 1934 is a good representation of what it looked like, though #206 did not last long enough to receive a modern headlight nor the later PM steam paint scheme that #204 wears.
PM #204 at Port Huron, Michigan, early 1940s – Don Etter photo, Fritz Milhaupt Collection
From the photo gallery of the Pere Marquette Historical Society’s web site, at http://www.pmhistsoc.org - used with permission
Most of the photos I’ve seen of the PM’s Moguls show them on the eastern side of Michigan (especially on the lines in the Thumb), and on the PM in Ontario. They tended to wander quite a bit, as they were good power for lines with light rail, such as found in the Thumb.
Hey thanks so much milhaupt for the info there - and the pic - great pic! You seem to be quite the expert on PM locos, Incendentially I also live in SE Michigan, grew up in Plymouth about a block away from the PM later C & O train station there.
AH - that’s how you know so much about PM - I see by your username you are with the PM hist. society and do their site - thanks so much! Question for you -what do you mean by the later Pere Marquette paint scheme - what did it look like? Was it different from the photo you posted?
The reason why I am so interested in all this, someday I would like to model the Plymouth PM passenger station on Starkweather Ave, and last year I contacted the C & O historical society about getting either blue prints or drawings of the station so I could get the proporations accurate. The folks at C & O put me in touch with a gentleman who knew a lot about C & O lines in SE mich and did photography there back in the 1960’s, but last year I lost touch with him, and never heard back.
If the PM was lke some other roads near the turn of the last century they bought 2-6-0s for road freight service but they were ideal later when outmoded for light service on branch lines. The Wabash did likewise and a few lasted into the 40s-50s on branchlines in the Midwest. The last steam power for the New Jersey, Indiana & Illinois (owned by the Wabash) that ran from the Wabash at Pine, Indiana to South Bend was former Wabash 2-6-0s. The last steam on the Wabash in the mid 50s were 2-6-0s that ran on the Keokuk Branch in Iowa. The locos were used because of a bridge restriciton over the Meri.dosa River. Even smaller road-switcher diesels were too heavy. Of course, pehaps on the PM they worked out OK as yard switchers too.
