Soo Line 2425

Built by ALCO October 1909

SOO LINE 2425 Welcome, Soo Line 2425 By Erik Thompson On June 26, 2009 a new locomotive arrived at the Iron Horse Central: Soo Line 2-8-0 No. 2425. It’s ―new in name only, as the big Consolidation – the largest locomotive at the IHC celebrated its 100th birthday October of 2009. Locomotive No. 2425 was built in October of 1909 by the American Locomotive Company’s Schenectady Works in New York State as construction number 46577. According to the original diagram sheets, the engine weighs just over 200,000 pounds, and is equipped with Walschaerts valve gear, piston valves, 63-inch drivers, and a working boiler pressure of 210 PSI. She was ordered by the Soo Line as class F-10 No. 475, which was part of an order for six 2-8-0s num-bered 473 through 478. However, at the time of her construction the Soo Line had recently leased the Wisconsin Central, and sometime before January of 1910 the 475 was in involved in a number swap. It was renumbered into the Wisconsin Central number series as No. 2425,and given the class F-21 designation along with the 2426, 2427, and 2428 (they also received small W.C. reporting marks on their cabs). At the same time a group of four new WC locomotives numbered 2425-2428 were transferred to the Soo, and renumbered to the vacated 475-478 number series, and designated class F-11. The 2-8-0 Consolidations were the workhorse locomotives of the Wisconsin Central and Soo Line, and they were used in every service imaginable, from pulling mainline trains, to yard switching, to branch line service. Over her long career No. 2425 worked out of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Schiller Park, Illinois; Stevens Point, Wisconsin and numerous other locations on the system, its last assignment being at Enderlin, North Dakota from 1952 until 1954. The locomotive was retired in January of 1955 and at the request of O.R. Powers, the Enderlin round-house forman, it was donated by the Soo Line to the city of Enderlin on July 21, and placed on display in Baxter Park. There she sat until the mid-1990s when the city became concerned about her deteriorating condition and built a large shed around her, completely sealed up with no access door. After that, she was mostly forgotten about. The story of how the Iron Horse Central acquired No. 2425 began over four years ago. I was concerned about the condition of this locomotive. The 2-8-0 seemed very mysterious: a lost and forgotten locomotive sealed up in a shed. I eventually contacted the city of Enderlin and I was informed that they might consider selling it. At that time, though, the museum was in the middle of negotiations for the former Northern Pacific 0-6-0 shop engine No. 10 from the city of Brainerd, which had been going on for five years, and much of my time was being spent attending Brainerd city meetings, writing letters, and making phone calls. The negotiations eventually concluded and we moved No. 10 to our museum in 2006. However, the 2425 was always in the back of my mind and in January 2008 I began talking to the city of Enderlin again. I drafted a formal letter of interest for the acquisition of the 2-8-0, and requested that I be allowed to inspect the locomotive in person. The city agreed to allow this, and when we arrived in February 2008 I entered the shed by removing a panel and crawling inside over a board. I fell in love with the engine right away, and as I brushed aside the cobwebs that stretched from the shed walls to the locomotive, I was amazed how complete she was. I had heard from others that many of her parts had been stripped off years ago, but I found this to be untrue. The worst damage the locomotive had suffered was vandalism to its cab and some weather damage - mostly rotted away wooden beams. The jacket had let loose on the bottom and the boiler insulation had, for the most part, fallen onto the ground. The tender was in bad condition below the tank. Its steel beams were badly rusted and the wood beams were rotted (the beam on the back was just ―gone). Both the headlight and backup light were there along with the class lamps, but all the glass was broken. I had no clue what the condition of the boiler was, but even so I thought she was a worthy candidate to save. I soon offered a price to the city, and after the city government consulted with people in the area, they decided to sell 2425 to me. The only catch? I had until June 30th 2009 to remove her—less than a year. That is when the fun began. After we bought the locomotive, scrap prices went through the roof price-wise, and some people in Enderlin suddenly wanted the engine back. There were others that wanted to raise funds to keep it in town, and a few that wanted to scrap her and pay off the city debt. Most people, though, wanted what was best for 2425: properly preserved and in a good home. Eventually, as I worked many long days to prepare the engine for movement to Minnesota, the townsfolk became comfortable with her going to our museum. Only a few resorted to dirty tricks such as calling the North Dakota EPA twice, and OSHA once. However, upon inspection both the EPA and OSHA found that the project fell within the parameters of the law. There were also threatening phone calls, and occasionally people trying to get into the shed. But as time went on the opposition dwindled and the work got done. We performed a thorough evaluation and found No. 2425 to be an excellent candidate for restoration to operation, and at this point the project intensified: the push was on to get her out of Enderlin before the June 30th deadline. After a great deal of work the locomotive was separated from the tender, and the boiler of No. 2425 was separated from the chassis. Over the next few days we prepared everything for the big move. I needed to take the roof off the shed to get No. 2425 out, and this was finished the night before we loaded her. We loaded No. 2425 up at Enderlin on four trucks beginning on June 24th, 2009, and she arrived at the museum in Chisago City on June 26th (it took another day to unload everything). Now the big project to get her running again has started, and one step at a time she will regain her former glory. October 2009 she turned 100 years old and is finally out of the darkness. Here’s to 100 more years, 2425!