NOVEMBER 195 - Milwaukee Road Archive

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MILWAUKEE 1004 a memorial to steam THE last steam locomotive to be operated by The Milwaukee Road came gloriously to the end of the line on July 30 when it was installed as a permanent exhibit at the Mower County Fairground in Austin, Minn. The locomotive, No. 1004, had been in service')7 years. In its lifetime, the six-wheel-drive Baldwin had traveled an estimated three million miles throughout Minnesota, Iowa, Montana and the Dakotas. Used in recent years as stand-by power, it had last been in service on Mar. 16 on the night passenger run of Train No. 157. Since then it had been standing impatiently in the Austin roundhouse. The idea of preserving the 1004 as a memorial to the age of steam transportation was conceived by the Austin Model Railroad Club and endorsed by Mayor Charles R. Hanson. The locomotive was presented to the city as a gift by President J. P. Kiley, and accepted with the assurance that provisions would be made for its permanent maintenance as a museum piece. To execute the plan, the mayor appointed a committee which included himself and the following citizens: William Kamish, president of the model railroad club, as chairman; E. J. Full, Milwaukee Road agent; William Sucha, city juvenile officer; Gene P. Loffler, manager of TV station KMMT and radio station KAUS; Harold J. Davison, Austin theater projection operator; Peter 8 While small boys watched, as small boys always have, Gus Mohs, a retired Milwaukee Road engineer, performed a once familiar ritual-perhaps for the last time on this railroad. He oiled the locomotive before its final move. Engineer Mohs takes it easy in the cab as he waits for a sig nal. On th·e temporary track, the locomotive inched forward at about one and a half blocks per hour. (This picture and those on page 9 courtesy the Austin Daily Herald) Pauley, Milwaukee Road locomotive engineer; Leonard F. Ulwelling, chairman of the B. of 1. F. & E. local lodge No. 614; Guilbert W. Jarvis, city editor of the Austin Daily Herald; and Peter J. Holland, a teacher in Area Vocational School and state senator. Mr. Sucha, who was appointed financial chairman, is a son of Milwaukee Road Engineer W. J. Sucha and the grandson of Joseph Sucha, a one-time employe of the Austin back shOp. Mr. Davison is a son of the late Engineer Smith Davison, an early Milwaukee Road man in the Austin area. The site at the fairground chosen for the display involved a move of approximately 1.6 miles, and steps were taken immediately to have the locomotive in place before the Mower County Fair opened on Aug. 6. A route which would avoid all possible track and bridge crossings was surveyed by the Road's engineering department under Division Engineer F. F. Hornig. At the shops, supervised by Car Foreman W. P. Trenkler, the 1004 was given a coat of glistening black paint. The valves in the cab were painted red and silver, and the silver outlines along the cab and engine The Milwaukee Road Magazine
were restored. Carl Dopita, a former engine painter now working in the car department, did the job. The move was begun on July 25. Weighing 154 tons and with an overall length of 65 feet, the locomotive was powered by a large air compressor, its steam permit having recently expired. Nudged along by a diesel switcher, the locomotive swung through the yards and north to the Great Western switchover, where it was picked up and spotted on a siding near Winona Street, the nearest approach to the fairground by rail. From that point it was maneuvered over a tern. porary track made of four 30-foot sections. Hydraulic lifters, working in tandem, picked up the sections after the locomotive passed and carried them forward for the next move. The use of the air compressor and equipment was donated by Martin Bustad, a local moving contractor. The sight of a steam locomotive laboring down a street which had never witnessed rail travel, and crossing a highway against trafli.c, attracted a crowd of sightseers. In the cab on this leg of the trip was Gus Mohs, a veteran Milwaukee Road engineer taking a busman's holiday from his retirement. En route, two difficult turns required considerable seesawing back and forth. At the fairground the engine was maneuvered through an opening in the fence and placed on a ballasted platform at the east end of the Historical Building. The installation was completed on July 30. According to E. G. Jorgensen, Magazine correspondent at Austin, the move is believed to be the longest ever made by an engine moving off rails and under air compression. As one of the few remaining symbols of the locomotive power that developed the West, the historical value of the locomotive should increase with the years. As a protective measure, .it has been surrounded by a high metal fence. The move to the display site and its upkeep was nnanced through the sale of lifetime souvenir passes by the Austin Model Railroad Club and the city's service clubs. The model club has also agreed to maintain the memorial in the future. • Our thanks to Miss Mary L. Davison of Austin, Minn., for fumishing material for this article. Miss Davison is a daughter of H. J. Davison, a member of the Milwaukee 1004 Committee, and a granddaughter of the late Smith Davison, one of the Road's early IM&D Division engineers. In maneuvering the 1004 into position for the trip west on Winona Street, the crew had a lot of help from sightseers. Representing the Milwaukee at the formal ded ication of the locomotive on Aug. 9 were W. J. Hotchkiss, superintendent of the IM&D Division, S. J. Oberhauser, agricultural agent for the state of Minnesota, who gave the dedi· cation address (front, left to right), Roadmaster E. E. Long, Trainmaster E. A. Duszak and Agent E. J. Full (above, from left). Roadmaster Long took some of his vacation to supervise the moving of the 154-ton engine. November, 1957 9
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NOVEMBER 195 - Milwaukee Road Archive

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