A Form 4 is a crucial document used by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to record detailed information about the boiler of a steam locomotive. The form includes data on the boiler’s construction, materials, and condition, as well as the results of various tests and inspections to demonstrate compliance with safety regulations.
The Form 4 has been completed and submitted to the FRA in Washington for the #1385. The FRA gave us approval to proceed with the FRA witnessed Hydrostatic test. This was done on October 10th, 2024. All went as planned with no issues. The engine passed the test and FRA Inspector Dave S’s final comment on the test was “Good work!”
Now we are waiting for Washington for the final approval of the Form 4. We have compiled a complete list of all the work to be done on the engine and have assessed who is doing each task. We will bring in the following labor to work on the completing the engine: volunteer museum members, paid staff, and third-party contractors including Spec Machine and FMW. This winter will be a very busy season for us. Some of the larger tasks left to complete are installing the air and steam lines, adding insulation and the sheet metal jacketing, installing the cab, ashpan installation, smokestack installation, and installing the pistons and rings. There are many other smaller items that need to be completed as well.
The #1385 Task Group and Management Committee are still meeting weekly and the items to get completed are getting smaller in number. Our plan is still to have the engine back at the museum in 2025 and at least begin testing. I want to thank our friends and supporters of this project. We could not have gotten to this point without your help, support and understanding. If you would like to give a gift to #1385, please click the button below to donate online. Your gift will ensure this work is completed in a timely manner and help with transportation costs to ship the engine back to the museum.
Thank you in advance for your positive help and support!
Members, Friends, and Supporters of the Mid-Continent Railway Museum
We are looking to complete the major overhaul of our rail line by the opening of the 2025 season. As you may recall, we have changed our worn out 60 lb. rail on the major curves and installed many truckloads of ties and raised the roadbed. This work is now completed and will allow many years of service by heavy engines like the #1001 and #1385. Then we purchased enough 90 lb. rail to do the rest of the line and laid it out along the main line.
We have obtained two bids. I will refer to them as Bid Package #1 and Bid Package #2.
Bid Package #1 will relay all rails not already replaced on the main line from the restoration building to the end of the track at the quarry. It will include increasing the runaround area at the quarry so we can run the #1385 around the train and operate as normal. It will include the installation of 12,470 track feet (2.36 miles) of relay rail and On-Track-Materials (OTM) on the main track and sidings areas (includes farm crossings, culvert, and all work tasks). Furnish and install 2,069 new cross ties on the main track and sidings. Add ballast and perform 12,847 track feet (2.36 miles) of machine surfacing on the main track and sidings. Construct new end of track earth berm using materials available on site.
Bid Package #2 will relay only rails on the main line from Ulrich Road to the last switch at the quarry (Project Areas 3-5). It will not repair and extend our run around track for the #1385, meaning we will have to push the train back to the station. It will include the installation of 11,472 track feet (2.17 miles) relay rail and OTM on main track and sidings. Install 1,600 new cross ties, add ballast, and perform 12,786 track feet (2.42 miles) of machine track surfacing on the main track and sidings in Areas 3 and 5.
After using all our unrestricted cash on hand, we are short $316,858.82 to do bid package #1 and short $79,080.92 to do bid package #2. We would like to do the whole project but unless we come up with the funds, we will not be able to do any of this work. I am asking all our members, friends, and supporters to help fund and spread the word about this project. We can start this work in December and have it completed by opening season 2025. With 1385 coming back in the summer of 2025 it will give us nice heavy rail supported by new ties to operate on. This work will give us many years of headache free operation regarding our rail line.
In this time of need no donation is too small. Please consider a donation and passing the word to all your friends, family, and fans of history and railroading. I want to thank you for your past support of the Mid-Content Railway Museum. If anyone would like more detailed information on this project, please contact me.
The current state of our interchange rail ties.Notice the absent and deteriorating ties.
We’re thrilled to announce a challenge grant of $5,000 from an anonymous donor for new railroad ties. Now we need your help to match the challenge so we can claim the $5,000 grant and get the new ties installed in the coming months.
This isn’t just any track maintenance project. As the Chicago & North Western #1385 steam locomotive restoration project nears completion, one of the major tasks still ahead is transporting the restored locomotive back home to Mid-Continent. Shipping the 1385 home by railroad flat car is the preferred option, but there’s a snag: Mid-Continent’s interchange track is rarely used and many of the ties on that portion of the line are rotted and can’t support the weight of 1385. About 275 new ties are needed to make the interchange safe for use.
The 5-day long “All Hands on Deck” session held by the MCRM Restoration Department was very successful. The volunteers really did an outstanding job and performed an immense amount of work in a matter of a few days.
The tremendously successful “All Hands on Deck” Session was held during June 26th to the 30th and we had a total of 32 different volunteers participating in the event, with an average of 20 volunteers per day. In total the volunteers put in over 800 hours of work during this session.
Anyone walking in the MCRM Car Shop after this event will notice a significant difference in the appearance of the cars that were worked on. The progress made during this session exceeded the expectations and this was achieved due to the support, commitment and hard work of the volunteers. Progress made during the 5-day All Hands on Deck Session is summarized below. Note that several of the photos capture the status of the projects before and after the All Hands on Deck session.
Duluth South Shore & Atlantic Sleeping car DULUTH: Installed new veneer pieces under the windows in the smoking room and one in the sleeping compartment, installed the new window header (veneer with marquetry) in the smoking room, installed the headliner trim on the west side of the smoking room, applied canvas and painted to the two headliners for the smoking room (east side), installed filler pieces in the sleeping compartment lamp openings, installed cleats along the edge of the original veneer ceiling panels in the sleeping compartment, installed one new piece of bending plywood in the sleeping compartment ceiling, removed the remaining clerestory window frames from the car, primed and cut new car siding to length, installed a portion of the car siding on the east and west sides (approximately 30%) and took delivery of three new interior doors, two mirror frames and four vestibule end windows.
Duluth sleeping compartment ceiling BEFORE AHOD.Duluth sleeping compartment ceiling AFTER AHOD.Duluth smoking room east wall BEFORE AHOD.Duluth smoking room east wall AFTER AHOD.Duluth west car siding BEFORE AHOD.Duluth west car siding AFTER AHOD.
Removing clerestory windows in the Duluth during the AHOD
East Jordan & Southern #2: Painted the entire exterior of the car with the EJ&S green, sanded and varnished the interior the entire passenger section of the car as well as the saloon (multiple coats), installed the lower inner window stops, painted the brake beams, trimmed bolts to length under the car, sanded the seat footrests and cleaned and painted the car body end rails.
EJ&S #2 exterior status BEFORE AHOD.EJ&S #2 exterior paint progress AFTER AHOD.Interior of the EJ&S #2 before AHOD.Varnishing inside the EJ&S #2 during the AHOD.
Lake Superior & Ishpeming #64: Reconstructed the car framing for the two oval windows, installed the car siding around the two oval windows, installed the last of the straight battens on the car, primed the entire exterior of the car, cut and fit the window frames on the east side of the car, primed ten of the window frames, sanded much of the interior woodwork, cleaned and painted the car body end rails and cleaned up springs for the window frames.
The LS&I #64 BEFORE the AHOD session.The LS&I #64 AFTER being primed during the AHOD.The LS&I #64 east side oval window BEFORE the AHOD.The LS&I #64 east side oval window and siding AFTER the AHOD.
Priming the LS&I #64 during the AHOD session.
Rock Island #1094: Removed the last of the cabinets and sink in the baggage room, scraped and painted the north half of the baggage room including the clerestory area, the water tanks and the side walls. Reconstructed the south doorway in the bunk area, replaced missing and deteriorated headliner boards in the bunk area and baggage room and made a mockup of the bunk side rails.
The status in the Rock Island baggage room BEFORE the AHOD.The progress in the Rock Island baggage room AFTER the AHOD.
I’d like to thank all of the amazing volunteers who put in a tremendous amount of work during the past 5 days! Special thanks are also extended to the volunteers that prepared all of the meals for the entire crew during the session as well as the MCRM operating crew that took the group on the Pizza Train ride.
Volunteers participating in the event included: Peter, Jeff Ha., Owen, Judy, Darryl, Larry S. Jack, Jerry F., Fred, Bob R., David P., Gregg, Jane, Steven M., Larry T., Steve W., Bob B., Dean, Jerry M., Marty, Thomas, Altha, Kelly, Nate, Jay, Steve P., Dan P., Colton, Jeff Hu., David M., John T. and I. Please accept my apologies if I omitted the name(s) any of the volunteers that participated.
Some of the 32 volunteers that participated in the AHOD session.
Dinner time for the AHOD crew.
MCRM Volunteers on an evening excursion to the R&GN.
Thanks again to everyone that participated in the session and helped to make it a huge success. Our next volunteer work session is scheduled for July 13, 14 and 15.
Lake States Railway Historical Association and Mid-Continent Railway Museum are teaming up to present a new photo exhibition “Clinton Jones, Jr. (1944-2024): An Upper Midwest Icon of Shortline Railroading” beginning June 22 at MCRM’s Coach Shed #2 at North Freedom, Wisconsin. This exhibit will run through Labor Day (September 2nd, 2024).
Clint Jones was a well-known force in the railroad shortline and preservation world for many years. He was involved with both organizations from their early days. Clint served as a board trustee at Lake States for many years and was the second person to ever donate personal collections, in 2007. At Mid-Continent, he was instrumental in bringing several historic pieces of equipment to the museum, including Copper Range steam locomotive #29, Copper Range wooden coach #60 (now fully restored and on display), and rare Milwaukee Road ALCO RSC-2 #988.
Over the years, Clint assembled a personal collection of photographs (many taken by himself starting in 1961) and paper documents, mostly focusing upon railroads of the Michigan Upper Peninsula. He has donated many of these to Lake States, with most of his photography now viewable on-line at www.lakestatesarchive.org. The new exhibit at Mid-Continent features more than 50 photographs of and taken by him, plus additional documents and ephemera that tell the story of his railroading career.
Originally born and raised in the Milwaukee area, his interest in railroading began with trips to the Upper Peninsula via the C&NW and Milwaukee Road to visit relatives in his teen years. After a brief stint studying business at Michigan Technological University, he hired out as a diesel locomotive electrician’s apprentice for the Milwaukee Road at their Milwaukee shops. But his passion and pluck led him to form his own company Trans Northern, Inc. to operate a steam passenger tourist railroad in Michigan and act as a dealer of vintage railroad equipment. Clint later worked for the C&NW in train service and also served as a trainmaster for Wisconsin Central Railway from 1987 to 1997, supervising train operations and train crews from Marquette, Michigan. His most recent project was the Mineral Range, Inc., a railway equipment, industry switching, and transportation consulting firm that operated a railroad between Humboldt and Ishpeming, Michigan. Never retiring and active in day-to-day operations into 2024, Clint passed away in April after a brief illness.
The Clint Jones exhibit will be open to the public during Mid-Continent’s normal hours (www.midcontinent.org), and will run through Labor Day weekend.
The track ahead is under the watchful eye of Clinton Jones, Jr. from the cab of Copper Range steam locomotive #29. The CR had kept the locomotive in storage from 1953 until 1967. With Clint’s connections with CR management, he saved the engine from scrapping, purchasing it for his new Keweenaw Central tourist railroad. It last ran in 1971. In 2003, Clint donated #29 to Mid-Continent Railway Museum at North Freedom, Wisconsin where it resides today on static display. George Forero photograph.
Looking the part of an astute engineer from the steam era, Clint is at the controls of Copper Range #29 during the Keweenaw Central days. He was in his mid-20s at the time of this photo about 1970. George Forero photograph.
October 27, 1972, was a sad day at McKeever, Michigan when the crew posed for the very last Copper Range freight train to interchange with the Milwaukee Road. Clint made up the sign to commemorate the historical event. He saved it for posterity. Today it is preserved at Lake States Railway Historical Association and is on display as part of the “Clinton Jones, Jr. (1944-2024): An Upper Midwest Icon of Shortline Railroading” exhibit at Mid-Continent Railway Museum, North Freedom, WI. LSRHA Collection 2021.008.4.256 (4×5 neg)
Clint Jones’ crowning career achievement was his creation and expansion of the Mineral Range railroad. Its primary shipper is the Humboldt mill where ore concentrate is loaded into a fleet of gondolas for the Mineral Range to pick up and move over 20 miles to an interchange with the Canadian National at Ishpeming. Clint was comfortable in his natural habitat: the cab of a locomotive. This time, it’s the Mineral Range of the 2000’s. Clint adopted DSS&A’s offset parallelograms logo years before Lake States unknowingly did the same. George Forero photograph.
