Q: The historic cars for the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy featured in the January 2025 episode of Ask Trains were very interesting (I grew up in Spokane, Portland & Seattle territory and am modeling some of that). What sort of steam and early diesel power would have been used to go with the cars of that era of the MR&T? — Alfred Mullett
A: Regarding steam and early diesel power, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy would probably follow the lead of larger nearby railroads such as the Chicago & North Western, Milwaukee Road, and Soo Line.
Let’s start with diesels. For end-cab switchers, the MR&T locomotive fleet might include units like the Alco S1 through S4 and Electro-Motive Division (EMD) NW2, SW1, and SW7. For road power, the MR&T would most likely turn to four-axle units, such as the Alco RS1 through RS3 and EMD GP7 and GP9. It’s possible the MR&T could have had a few EMD SD7 and SD9 diesels for branch line duty.
Being a Wisconsin-based railroad, you could make the case that it rostered some Fairbanks-Morse locomotives from the Beloit-based manufacturer. Following the lead of its neighboring roads, a small number of Baldwin and General Electric locomotives could be represented in the Myrt’s early diesel fleet.
For steam power, I studied the C&NW, Milwaukee Road, and Soo Line rosters published in the Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, Revised Edition (Kalmbach Books, 2015). I wrote down some of the smaller locomotives that all three railroads had in common when developing a hypothetical MR&T locomotive fleet. The 0-6-0 six-wheel and 0-8-0 eight-wheel switchers would make sense for yard duty. I could see the MR&T turning to 2-6-0 Moguls, 2-6-2 Prairies, and 2-8-0 Consolidations, and possibly 2-8-2 Mikados. The Mikes would probably be the biggest steam the MR&T would have rostered.
Want to learn more about the MR&T diesel fleet? Check out these articles:
• MR&T blue diesel locomotive roster in HO scale
• MR&T blue-and-white diesel locomotives in HO scale
• MR&T Jenks Blue HO scale diesel fleet
• The MR&T heritage fleet
• The rest of the fleet
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