Western Maryland Scenic Railroad No. 734, also known as ''Mountain Thunder'', is a preserved class "SC-1"

2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. ...

" Consolidation" type

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

originally built by the

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

in 1916 for the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad. The locomotive was built for service as a dock switcher and was originally LS&I No. 18. In 1923, the LS&I purchased the Munising, Marquette & Southeastern Railroad and the engine was renumbered to No. 34. It served the LS&I until it was retired from revenue service in 1961. In 1963, it was sold to the Marquette and Huron Mountain Railroad, but never operated under the M&HR flag. In 1971, the locomotive was sold to the

Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview Histo ...

for static display. Since 1991, No. 734 has been owned by the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad in Cumberland, Maryland, though it has not operated since April 2016. It is currently awaiting evaluation for potential overhaul.

History

Revenue service

When

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out, the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad (LS&I) decided to get locomotives larger and more powerful than their B-4 class to pull

passenger A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The ...

and

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 April 2 ...

trains between West Ishpeming and Marquette,

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, and the ore industry continued to rise. And so, they went to the drawing board to create a new type of steam locomotive with an 88'' diameter boiler, cylinder dimensions of 26'' x 30'', an engine weight of 270,000 pounds and a tractive effort of 55,900 pounds. The railroad ordered these newly designed locomotives from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and they were numbered 18-20, and one more was purchased by the

Munising, Marquette and Southeastern Railway The Munising, Marquette and Southeastern Railway (MM&SE) was a short-line railroad that operated from 1911 until 1923 in the central Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. At its height, the railroad operated of track, which was used to h ...

, (MM&SE) bringing the total number of these giants to four. Since both the sand domes and

steam dome The steam dome is a vessel fitted to the top of the boiler of a steam engine. It contains the opening to the main steam pipe and its purpose is to allow this opening to be kept well above the water level in the boiler. This arrangement acts as a ...

s were squashed flat, and their bells were mounted on the sides of their boilers, they were earned the name "hogs", an epithet which they still hold. While the older B-4 class locomotives could pull 45 loaded hoppers on a 1.6% grade, the hogs could pull up to 60 loaded hoppers up on that same grade without any problems. In 1923, the LS&I received some additional 2-8-0s after purchasing the MM&SE, including that road's one hog, so a renumbering system and reclassification system were in order, and the hogs were reclassified as SC-1s, while being renumbered 30- 33. No. 18 was renumbered 30, and the number 18 was given to an SC-4 class locomotive. Two years later, the LS&I purchased two former Chicago River and Indiana 2-8-0s 1 and 2 from the General Equipment Company, and while they were renumbered 30 and 31, Nos 30 and 31 became 34 and 35. Until the arrival of the LS&I's

2-10-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels, ten powered and coupled driving wheels, and two trailing wheels. In the United States of America and elsewhere the is ...

"Santa Fe" types in 1930, the SC-1s remained as the backbone of the LS&I's mainline ore services. The hogs continued to pull heavy

car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

loads of

and

trains on the

short line, but they were infrequently used during the winter. No. 34 was in charge of the pinch-hitting for

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s, especially when its classmates are under repair. This career for the locomotives ended, when the LS&I decided to fully dieselize in the early 1960s. No. 34 was retired in 1961, and it was stored near Marquette. The LS&I ended all steam operations the following year.

Early preservation

In 1963, the railroad sold eleven of their 2-8-0s, as well as some of their

passenger cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

, to the Marquette and Huron Mountain Tourist Railroad. There are no known records of the 34 pulling any trains for that railroad. Only three of the SC-4s, Numbers 19, 22, and 23, were known to pull tourist trains there between Marquette and Big Bay. Instead, No. 34 sat with the rest of its sisters in the form of a scrapline, until 1971. That year, No. 34 was sold to the

in Union, Illinois, where it was cosmetically restored, and it remained on static display for the next twenty years.

Western Maryland Scenic Railroad

The Western Maryland (WM) was a railroad that served a small town of Cumberland, Maryland along with a branch line that ran between there,

Frostburg Frostburg is a city in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, and is at the head of the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located west of Cumberland, the town is one of the first cities ...

, and other small towns. After the branch line was abandoned by the

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated und ...

, a joint effort was formed between the city of Cumberland, Allegany County, and the newly formed Scenic Railroad Development Corporation (SRDC) to restore the branch into a possible tourist attraction. As part of the deal, the SRDC was given the old WM shops in Ridgeley, West Virginia, a 1913

station building A station building, also known as a head house, is the main building of a passenger railway station. It is typically used principally to provide services to passengers. A station building is a component of a station, which can include tracks, p ...

in Cumberland, and an 1891 Cumberland and Pennsylvania wooden depot in Frostburg. After this acquisition was completed, the SRDC leased the newly-restored trackage to Jack Showalter's

Allegany Central Railroad The Allegany Central Railroad was a tourist railroad that took place in three different locations from the 1970s to the 1990s. It originally operated in Covington, Virginia, before ownership disputes moved it to Cumberland, Maryland. From there, own ...

, which used Canadian Pacific

4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomotiv ...

"Pacific" type locomotives Numbers

1238 Year 1238 ( MCCXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Mongol Empire * January 15– 20 – Siege of Moscow: The Mongols under Batu Khan a ...

and

1286 Year 1286 ( MCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * January 6 – The 17-year-old Philip IV (the Fair) is crowned king of France at ...

to pull the excursion trains. After the Allegany Central was moved to Staunton,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, the SRDC’s name was changed to the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad (WMSR), and they began searching for their own steam locomotive to restore. The steam locomotive they acquired was No. 34, which was removed from the Illinois Railway Museum's property in 1991. Later that year, restoration work began while multiple modifications were given, including a centered headlight and a larger tender from

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

(NYC)

4-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This type of steam locomotive is commonly known as t ...

“ Mohawk” No. 2662, and the locomotive was renumbered to 734. The modifications were intended to make the locomotive represent the Western Maryland's own series of 2-8-0s, none of which survived the scrapper's torch. Although this is now numbered after an original H-7a No. 734, the locomotive also now has an appearance of an H-9. Additionally, in 1998, No. 734's new tender was given a mechanical stoker.. Restoration work was completed in 1993, and No. 734 was ready to start its new career as a tourist steam locomotive. In September 2013, the scenic railroad was visited by

0-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven. The wheels on the earliest four-coupled locomotives were ...

tank engines A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locomo ...

Viscose Co 6 and Flagg Coal Co 75, and they operated alongside No. 734 and stayed for a night photo session for the 25th anniversary of the grand re-opening of the tourist line. The following month, No. 734 was temporarily renumbered 729 to pay tribute to another long lost WM 2-8-0, and this was for a photo session of the locomotive pushing and pulling freight. In 2014, the WM Scenic Railroad announced that they would purchase Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O)

2-6-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, a is a locomotive with one pair of unpowered leading wheels, followed by two sets of three pairs of powered driving wheels and one pair of trailing wheels. ...

Mallet A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and proport ...

" No. 1309 from the

B&O Railroad Museum The B&O Railroad Museum is a museum and historic railway station exhibiting historic railroad equipment in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) company originally opened the museum on July 4, 1953, with the name of the Balti ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and operational restoration work for the locomotive began. Over time operations changed and grew, and No. 734 was often being pushed far beyond her normal operating capabilities, resulting in extreme wear and tear, or ran with a diesel helper which increased operating cost, so a larger engine was needed. In 2015, the Scenic Railroad announced that No. 734 was going to be pulled from

excursion service A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

for display, as it was getting close to being due for a mandated 1,472-day boiler inspection required by the

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail saf ...

(FRA). It made its last passenger run on September 26, 2015, and after hauling one last photo freight train on April 9, 2016, roughly the locomotive's 100th birthday, Mountain Thunder was silenced. Since 2016, the locomotive sat in storage outside the WMSR's Ridgeley shops. The WMSR has revealed that the locomotive is in poor mechanical condition, and it needs to go through a complete overhaul. While very powerful, No. 734 is much too small to handle the longer trains of the Summer and Autumn seasons, so No. 734's role would primarily be as power for off-season steam runs and stand-by power for No. 1309 in the busier season. More news about No. 734 was announced on April 19, 2021, the locomotive's 105th birthday, stating that after the railroad was misquoted by the Cumberland Times-News, it was revealed that the trackage is currently at FRA Class 1 standards, and operations begin as soon as No. 1309 was ready, though beforehand, they completed a tie-replacement program to bring the railroad back in line with FRA Class 2 standards, which will allow operation of passenger trains at up to 30 miles per hour. For the time being, Mountain Thunder would go through brief cosmetic restoration to improve its overall appearance as a static display. In March 2022, Western Maryland Scenic announced that they will be taking donations for an evaluation on the 734, possibly allowing the locomotive to return to service in the near future.

Original locomotive

The original Western Maryland No. 734 was an H-7a class 2-8-0. It was built by the

American Locomotive Company The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

's former

Richmond Locomotive Works Richmond Locomotive Works was a steam locomotive manufacturing firm located in Richmond, Virginia. It began operation in 1887, and produced upward of 4,500 engines during its 40 years of operation. The Richmond Locomotive Works was the largest and ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

in 1911 for freight service on the WM's mainline, but as larger locomotives were built, it was downgraded as a branch line locomotive, and as a helper locomotive by pushing heavy trains up steep grades. No. 734 was different than the current LS&I 34, by having a switcher-style cowcatcher, a high-mounted headlight, a more rounded cab, a smaller four-axle tender with a lower fuel and water capacity, it had older-style cylinders that were 25 x 30 inches(635 x 762 millimeters), it was over 27,000 pounds lighter than 34, it had a driving wheel diameter of 60 inches, and used

Walschaerts valve gear The Walschaerts valve gear is a type of valve gear used to regulate the flow of steam to the pistons in steam locomotives, invented by Belgium, Belgian railway mechanical engineering, engineer Egide Walschaerts in 1844. The gear is sometimes name ...

, instead of Baker valve gear. It's parts were also meant to be interchangeable with other WM locomotives, including the K-2 class 4-6-2s. The locomotive was removed from service by 1954, and it was subsequently sold for scrap.

Gallery

File:Western Maryland Scenic Railroad turntable.jpg, No. 734 being aligned on a Turntable in

File:Western Maryland Railway 2.jpg, No. 734 crossing the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

with an

EMD GP30 The EMD GP30 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois between July 1961 and November 1963. A total of 948 units were built for railroads in the United States and Canada ( ...

No. 501 File:WMSR 734 at the Narrows.jpg, No. 734 in the Cumberland Narrows File:Helmstetter's Curve.jpg, No. 734 tackling Helmstetter’s Curve in 2010

References

{{Reflist

External links

No. 734 - Western Maryland Scenic Railroad
2-8-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1916 Standard gauge steam locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Individual locomotives of the United States Freight locomotives Lake Superior and Ishpeming locomotives Baldwin locomotives Preserved steam locomotives of Maryland