Duluth museum completes cosmetic restoration of Northern Pacific 2-6-2 NEWSWIRE

DULUTH, Minn. – The Lake Superior Railroad Museum has completed the cosmetic restoration of Northern Pacific 2-6-2 No. 2435, the only surviving NP “Prairie” steam locomotive. Retired museum curator Tom Gannon, who also led a multi-year effort to restore Duluth, Missabe & Northern business car Missabe, guided the six-year restoration with a group of museum volunteers. A Legacy Grant from the State of Minnesota and donations aided funding of the restoration.

One of the biggest projects undertaken in 2435’s restoration was asbestos removal and construction of a new sheet metal boiler jacket. The asbestos insulation was not replaced since the engine is not being returned to operating condition. Instead, a wood frame was constructed for the new sheet-metal jacketing to sit atop the boiler. The cab was rebuilt, and the tender was cleaned and rust removed. The rods were cleaned and polished, and some were painted. The locomotive has been repainted black with NP numerals and lettering applied to the engine and tender.

No. 2435 was one of 150 Prairie-type Class T freight locomotives owned by the Northern Pacific. The first group of 20 Class T locomotives was delivered to the railroad in 1906 following a dramatic increase in freight traffic. The engines were typical branch-line power, designed for use in Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota. They were successful enough that Northern Pacific ordered 130 more. The American Locomotive Company’s Brooks Works constructed No. 2435 in 1907. It was delivered to the railroad in Chicago on May 25, 1907, and forwarded to St. Paul, arriving on June 6, 1907. Total cost for No. 2435 was $16,094.10, plus $191.84 for freight charges between Chicago and St. Paul.

Beginning in 1928, Northern Pacific began selling or scrapping the Prairies. By the onset of World War II, just 21 of 2-6-2s were left. Due to the tremendous increase in wartime traffic, they remained in service. After the war they were retired as expensive repairs came due. No. 2435 made its final run in May 1954 after operating approximately 1,680,000 miles. Two months later it was selected for donation to the City of Duluth and placed on display at Duluth’s Lake Superior Zoo in July 1954.

When the Lake Superior Railroad Museum (then the Lake Superior Museum of Transportation & Industry) was formed in the 1970s, the museum’s Donald Shank convinced the Duluth City Council to donate the engine to the museum. In October 1977, volunteers from the museum (including Gannon) and Company “C” of the U.S. Army’s 367th Engineer Battalion moved No. 2435 from the zoo to the museum.

After arriving at the museum No. 2435’s boiler jacket was patched and a new gloss-black paint job was applied along with new numerals and lettering. Stored under cover at the museum, the engine was better protected than at the zoo, but time and weather caused it to deteriorate. Now restored to “like-new” condition, on Nov. 16 the “Zoo Engine” was placed on display inside the museum. An official dedication date for No. 2435 is pending, but is likely to happen sometime in early 2019.