DULUTH, Minn. — The Lake Superior Railroad Museum’s Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 2-8-0 No. 332 has returned to operation with weekend test runs.
The locomotive ran Nov. 4 on the North Shore Scenic Railroad. The museum’s steam crew, headed by Scott Carney, operated the engine between the museum in downtown Duluth and the siding at Lakeside in the city’s East End. For the test, No. 332 pulled DM&IR caboose C-205 and SD18 No. 193, which was used to simulate a train.
This summer the locomotive was under repair, with staybolts replaced and another hydrostatic test made under Federal Railroad Administration supervision. Problems with the 2-8-0s leaf springs and tender truck bolsters have also been corrected.
No. 332, on display at the museum since 1974, was returned to service in 2017 and operated several times until 2019. Plans to run it in 2020 were abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Inspections to return the locomotive to service in 2021 led to the discovery of problem welds that were repaired, but the engine did not run that year.
In 2022 the engine was fired up and set to run again that September, when problems with the leaf springs and tender truck bolsters were discovered, preventing its return to service. While correcting those problems, the museum took the opportunity to do some additional boiler work using Fraser Shipyards of Superior, Wis. All the work has been approved by the Federal Railroad Administration.
The test runs were deemed a success. The museum hopes to use No. 332 on a limited basis on the North Shore Scenic Railroad between Duluth and Two Harbors in 2024.
American Locomotive Co.’s Pittsburgh Works built the engine in 1906 for the Duluth, Missabe & Northern as No. 332. It was operated by DM&N successor Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway as No. 332 until 1955, when it was sold to short line Duluth & Northeastern of Cloquet, Minn., and renumbered 28. The locomotive remained in service on D&NE until 1964. It was donated to the museum in 1974. In 2019 it was restored to its DM&IR appearance and renumbered back to DM&IR No. 332.
Let’s recall that the Museum’s rich collection includes the William Crooks, which became the first locomotive to operate in the state of Minnesota in 1861, and Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway Number 227, a 2-8-8-4 “Yellowstone” locomotive that was among the largest steam engines to operate.
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