1923 Porter Steam Engine makes initial run
LINDSTROM, Minn. -A little known tourist railroad in the Midwest began steam locomotive operations on June 20. The Iron Horse Central Railroad Museum near Lindstrom began it’s initial run of the former Dresser Trap Rock H. K. Porter 0-4-0 No. 4 running on Sunday June 20. This was the first of two public runs scheduled for this year; the other will be on Saturday Aug. 1.
No. 4 was built in 1923 as a tank engine. It was first used in the construction of the Tallahassee Power dam in Tennessee. It was then sold to the Dresser Traprock Co. in Dresser, Wis., where it was used to haul rock to the crusher. The museum acquired the tank engine in 1963, and removed the tank and added a tender in 1981.
The Iron Horse Central is a private museum with several wooden freight and passenger cars, a former Northern Pacific depot and steam locomotive, a Baldwin diesel, and a home-built motorcar dubbed the “Bumblebee.”
More details can be found at www.ironhorsecentral.com.
For more information on Minnesota train rides, visit:
www.scenicrailexcursions.com/minnesota_trainrides.php
