Just A Car Guy: the only Chicago and North Western steam locomotive engine in Michigan, the 175, 4-6-0,is getting a restoration at the Steam Railroading Institute. Made in 1908, retired in 1958. It sat falling apart in Hancock/ Quincy for a long while

Friday, September 07, 2018

the only Chicago and North Western steam locomotive engine in Michigan, the 175, 4-6-0,is getting a restoration at the Steam Railroading Institute. Made in 1908, retired in 1958. It sat falling apart in Hancock/ Quincy for a long while

After being retired by the railroad, and made obsolete by diesels, it was stored in 1961 in Winona Minnesota, where it was neglected and began falling apart so badly, that when a museum was approached to take it as a donation, they declined due to the advanced deterioration.

Then it was bought by a outfit in 1964 that wanted to make a really cool tourist railroad experience route through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, on the extensive amount of unused railroads of the Copper Range Railroad

They ran out of money after buying the engine and tender, and the possible investors they imagined would show up to fund a tourist endeavor never showed up. There really isn't any money in the UP... 3% of Michigan's population lives there, in 30% of the land mass that is a really big state to begin with. The mosquitoes and rust moths grow quite large.

The locomotive was abandoned in 1972 and in 1974 the locomotive was donated to the Quincy Smelter where it was put in a useless storage shed that couldn't withstand rain or snow. It collapsed onto the train's old neglected wood cab, further damaging that.

After all, this was just when America hit the wall, and things started falling apart, all the industrialization stopped, the cars went from great to the malaise era, and unemployment went beserk. Nam vets came back to the UP with issues, but not jobs. They left a Norman Rockwell era, and returned to the Nixon and Ford era.