Lake Superior and Ishpeming 18

Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad No. 18 is an SC-4 class 2-8-0 “Consolidation” type steam locomotive, built by ALCO’s Pittsburgh Works in 1910 for the Lake Superior and Ishpeming (LS&I) Railroad in Upper Michigan. Originally numbered 11, the locomotive was renumbered to 18 in 1924, and it served the railroad, until it discontinued steam operations in 1962. No. 18 was subsequently sold to the Marquette and Huron Mountain tourist railroad, where it was put into storage alongside other steam locomotives.

In 1985, No. 18 was sold to the Lake States Steam Association, who made attempts to restore the locomotive to operating condition. In 1989, No. 18 was sold again to the Grand Canyon Railway (GCR). Restoration work on the locomotive was subsequently completed, and No. 18 pulled the railway’s passenger trains between Williams, Arizona and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, until 2002.

In 2007, the locomotive was acquired by the Mount Hood Railroad in Oregon, who in turn sold it to the San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad (SLRG) in Colorado. Between 2008 and 2013, No. 18 pulled the SLRG’s tourist trains, but after the railroad filed for bankruptcy, No. 18 was put under receivership. In 2021, the locomotive was purchased by the Maguire Foundation, who reached an agreement with the Colebrookdale Railroad to eventually operate the locomotive on their line in Pennsylvania.

Design and upgrades
By 1909, the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railway (LS&I) was planning to sell off four of their older steam locomotives and replace them with new 2-8-0 locomotives in the roster. Five new C-5 class 2-8-0's (Nos. 9-13) were constructed for the LS&I by the American Locomotive Company's (ALCO) Pittsburgh Works in 1910, at a cost of $14,335 each. In 1924, the LS&I was reincorporated after merging with the Munising, Marquette and Southeastern Railway (MM&SE), and the former retainted the latter's fleet of three C-5's, expanding the class total to eight.

The LS&I's expanded roster resulted in almost all locomotives being renumbered, with the C-5's being renumbered 18-25. The C-5's were originally designed with 20x28 in cylinders, 48 in diameter driving wheels, and outside Pilliod valve gear, and they were able to produce 34,000 lb of tractive effort. The C-5's were also built with narrow keyhole fireboxes that were placed in between their rear sets of driving wheels, and it resulted in their poor abilities to produce steam.

Between 1928 and 1934, almost all the C-5 class locomotives (Nos. 18-24) were sent to the LS&I's Presque Isle locomotive shops to be extensively rebuilt and modified to improve their performance. Their boilers received superheaters and were raised higher above the frame; their fireboxes were widened and received Nicholson thermic siphons; their cylinder saddles were replaced by ones with superheated cylinders and piston valves; and feedwater heaters were installed. The upgrades added to the C-5's boosted their tractive effort to 42,000 lb, and the rebuilt locomotives were reclassified as SC-4's.

Revenue service
Locomotive No. 18 was the third C-5 class 2-8-0 to be built, and it was originally numbered 11. The LS&I initially assigned No. 11 to pull mixed freight trains and occasional iron ore trains alongside the other C-5 locomotives. In its early years, No. 11 was prone to stalling when the weight of its train exceeded its pulling power, or while the locomotive was climbing a grade. When the LS&I merged with the MM&SE in 1924, No. 11 was renumbered to 18. In 1930, No. 18 was rebuilt and modified at the LS&I's Presque Isle shops.

Following its rebuild, No. 18 was primarily reassigned to pull logging trains on branch lines and to switch hopper cars at iron ore mines. By the end of the 1950s, No. 18 and the rest of the SC-4's remained on the LS&I's roster, being stationed in Ishpeming and Negaunee. The railroad opted to keep some steam locomotives on the roster, since they were able to thaw frozen iron ore at ore docks during the winter months, but the LS&I still retired most of their steam fleet and replaced them with diesel locomotives to reduce costs. 1962 was the final year No. 18 and the other SC-4's ran under LS&I ownership before the railroad discontinued commercial steam operations.

First retirement
By August 1963, No. 18 was one of eleven 2-8-0's to be purchased from the LS&I by the newly-formed Marquette and Huron Mountain (M&HM) tourist railroad. The M&HM's owner, John A. Zerbel, sought to use all the locomotives to pull summer tourist trains on former LS&I trackage between Marquette and a proposed resort complex in Big Bay. Only a few of the other SC-4 class locomotives (Nos. 19, 22, and 23) were used for tourist excursion service, and plans for the Big Bay resort had fallen through, following overestimated ridership. No. 18 and the rest of the M&HM's inoperable locomotives were left in storage at a nearby field during the M&HM's operating years.

In April 1984, John Zerbel died shortly before a tax deadline. Following some failed attempts to continue the M&HM's operations, the railroad was permanently closed down by the end of the year, and all remaining equipment was sold at an auction on January 14, 1985. During the auction, No. 18 and three other SC-4's (Nos. 19, 20, and 21) were sold to a scrap dealer, the Ishpeming Steel Company, for $1,200 each. Upon hearing of the scrap dealer's purchase, Art Anderson, the M&HM's former chief mechanical officer, signed a ninety-day note of $10,000 for Ishpeming Steel to prevent the locomotives from getting scrapped. Wisconsin-based entrepreneur and fellow steam fan John Slack quickly agreed to help Anderson, and he purchased the four SC-4's.

John Slack made plans to use all four locomotives to pull dinner trains on a proposed tourist railroad in Laona, Wisconsin, and No. 18 was selected to be restored to operable condition first. Slack's new company, the Lake States Steam Transportation Company (LSST), hired Gary Bensman and Steve Sandberg to work on the SC-4. The locomotive was moved in December 1986 to the Nicolet Badger Northern Railroad's (NBN) small facility in Laona, where restoration work had started. During the process, a major contractor terminated their working partnership with Slack's business, and a bank stopped funding the project shortly thereafter.

Grand Canyon Railway ownership
In the late 1980s, under the guidance of Max and Thelma Biegert, the former Santa Fe Railroad line between Williams, Arizona, and the Grand Canyon was being redeveloped into a new tourist operation, called the Grand Canyon Railway (GCR). Their initial goal was to launch steam train operations by April 1990. Gary Bensman, who had been hired as GCR's first chief mechanical officer, entered negotiations with John Slack about GCR acquiring No. 18, since some mechanical work had already been performed on it. Max Biegert subsequently considered pushing GCR's opening date forward to September 17, 1989—the 88th anniversary of the line's 1901 completion—with No. 18 pulling the first train. Bensman—initially estimating that the restoration process would last over one month—promised Biegert that he and other crews would make the process work, and in July 1989, GCR purchased No. 18, along with Nos. 19 and 20, from Slack.

All three locomotives were loaded onto flatcars and shipped via the Chicago and North Western (C&NW) mainline to Chicago. Following some shipping delays created during the transfer process from the C&NW to the Santa Fe, none of the locomotives arrived in Williams, until August 27. When No. 18 arrived in Williams, GCR crews and local subcontractors immediately began working twenty-hour shifts to have the SC-4 restored before the deadline, and sometimes, the restoration crew consisted up to thirty people. Much time was spent patching No. 18's firebox; air brakes had to be installed; a bottom part of the tender had to be replaced; and since the locomotive had to be converted from coal to oil firing, an oil tank had to be constructed and fabricated into the tender, and some plumbing mechanisms had to be added. In the early morning of September 17, No. 18 was fired up under GCR ownership for the first time, but some test runs had to be conducted before the locomotive could pull the inaugural train. Despite crews having to use the shut-off valve to control the water in the boiler, due to a faulty water pump and a broken injector, No. 18 pulled GCR's inaugural train during the Railway's grand reopening, as planned, and the SC-4 became the first steam locomotive to travel to the Grand Canyon since 1953. Enroute to the canyon, No. 18 suffered an overheated bearing in one of its tender trucks, and it resulted in the train arriving two hours late. Following the publicized run, No. 18 had to stay at a yard in the Grand Canyon Village for overnight repairs, and GCR's two EMD GP7 locomotives had to return the inaugural train to Williams.

The following day, No. 18 was able to pull GCR's first regular passenger train for a return run to Williams. As a result of its fast-paced restoration, No. 18 suffered multiple mechanical problems for the remainder of GCR's 1989 operating season. In January 1990, construction was completed on a shop facility in Williams with air conditioning and various necessary tools to improve working conditions for GCR's maintenance crews. No. 18 subsequently underwent a major overhaul to resolve its mechanical problems, before the locomotive returned to service on March 1. On some occasions during the 1990 operating season, No. 18 performed doubleheaders with another steam locomotive GCR had acquired and restored, Ex-LS&I SC-3 class No. 29.

By early 1991, GCR's management was exploring ways to increase public awareness of the railway. As a solution, between February 21 and 22, No. 18 pulled GCR's three-car "Hassayampa Special" on the Santa Fe's Peavine mainline from Williams to Phoenix. The locomotive was subsequently displayed for two days at the Phoenix Union Station to take part in Phoenix Union Station Days, sponsored by the National Association of Railroad Passengers. No. 18 and the special consist returned to Williams on February 26.

By the mid-1990s, as a result of GCR's growing popularity, the increasing length of the railway's regular trains were exceeding No. 18's pulling power, which was limited to six passenger cars unassisted. In October 1996, the Grand Canyon Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) hosted an event that celebrated Ex-Burlington Route 2-8-2 No. 4960's debut on GCR, and No. 18 performed a doubleheader with No. 4960 during the occasion. In August 2002, GCR was the site of that year's NRHS Convention, and No. 18 participated in a night photo session and a photo tripleheader alongside No. 4960 and visiting locomotive Santa Fe 3751. By the end of that year, No. 18 had to be taken out of service to undergo a 1,472-day inspection, but GCR officials decided not to return the locomotive to service, due to its low tractive effort. The SC-4 was subsequently put on display at the Williams depot, while Nos. 29 and 4960 continued to pull the railway's trains.

Excursion service on the MHRR and SLRG
By early 2007, businessman Brian Fleming had decided to run a tourist railroad in the Pacific Northwest, and he originally planned to restore locomotive Spokane, Portland and Seattle 539. Fleming decided that utilizing a smaller locomotive for his operations would be a more feazible option, so he contacted GCR and asked if No. 18 was up for sale. A deal was closed in April 2007 where GCR would trade Nos. 18 and 20 in exchange for No. 539, and Fleming promised to pay for all shipping costs involved. No. 18 was scheduled to enter service for thr Mount Hood Railroad (MHRR) in Oregon by July 4. While the two SC-4's were being prepared for shipment in Williams, a cutting torch started a fire on a flatcar carrying the No. 18 locomotive, but the fire was quickly extinguished.

The Union Pacific Railroad (UP) had clearance issues while routing the shipment of Nos. 18 and 20, and the shipping process consequently took over one month. On June 8, No. 18 was unloaded onto MHRR's rails, and Fleming's crews immediately began working to restore the locomotive to service; the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) performed an internal inspection of the boiler; the tubes had to be replaced; and a June 22 hydrostatic test revealed minor leaks that needed repairs. On July 6, No. 18 underwent its first test fire under Fleming's ownership, and it performed its first test runs on the MHRR six days later. Beginning on July 18, the locomotive pulled the MHRR's tourist trains throughout the Hood River Valley. Following overestimated ridership and underestimated fuel costs, No. 18 pulled its last train for the MHRR on August 31 before it was sidelined, and the railroad discontinued steam operations. Simultaneously, under the guidance of businessman Ed Ellis and his company, Iowa Pacific Holdings, the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad (RGSR) was operating tourist trains on the San Luis and Rio Grande (SLRG) freight mainline in Colorado, and the railroad utilized one steam locomotive, Southern Pacific 1744. The RGSR purchased Nos. 18 and 20 from Fleming to expand their steam fleet, and the two SC-4's were shipped again to Alamosa, Colorado in early 2008. Beginning in May, while No. 1744 began to undergo heavy boiler repairs, No. 18 pulled the RGSR's excursion and photographer trains on the SLRG's former Denver and Rio Grande Western La Veta Pass line between Alamosa and La Veta.

The No. 18 locomotive last operated under RGSR ownership in 2013 before it was put into storage. Within the ensuing years, Iowa Pacific Holdings and the SLRG were running into financial troubles and creating debt. In 2017, the SLRG took a $5 million loan from an investment firm in Illinois, but the company subsequently defaulted on the loan and created a $4.6 million debt. In September 2019, the SLRG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the RGSR and all its equipment, including No. 18, were put into receivership. The SC-4 was put up for sale along with most of the company's roster via equipment dealer Ozark Mountain Railcar.

Disposition
On March 27, 2021, the Colebrookdale Railroad announced that they would cooperate with the Maguire Family Foundation to acquire No. 18. In June, locomotive and its tender were shipped separately from Alamosa to the Colebrookdale Railroad's location in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, and crews began to work on the SC-4 inside a small building in Glasgow. No. 18's flue time expired in 2022, so its boiler requires another 1,472-day inspection before running again.