Lake Superior and Ishpeming 23

Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad No. 23 is an SC-4 class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive originally built by the ALCO's Pittsburgh Works in 1910 for the Lake Superior and Ishpeming (LS&I) Railroad in Upper Michigan. The locomotive was originally numbered 9, but it was renumbered 23 in 1924. It was used for pulling carloads of iron ore, as well as some passenger trains on branch lines, until 1962. In 1963, it was purchased by the Marquette and Huron Mountain tourist railroad, who used it to pull their excursion trains between Marquette and Big Bay.

After the M&HM was shut down in 1984, No. 23 was sold to the Empire State Railway Museum in Phoenicia, New York, where it was put on static display. In 2002, ESRM announced that they would restore the locomotive to operating condition, and they began the rebuilding process at the Catskill Mountain Railroad's Kingston yard site. As of 2024, No. 23 is still undergoing restoration at the ESRM's location in Phoenicia.

Design and upgrades
In 1909, the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railway (LS&I) authorized to sell off four of their older steam locomotives and replace them with new 2-8-0 locomotives. The following year, 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, at a cost of $14,335 each. The C-5's were initially designed with outside Pilliod valve gear, 48-inch (1,219 mm) diameter driving wheels, and 20-by-28-inch (508 mm × 711 mm) cylinders, and they were rated at 34,000 pounds (15 tonnes) of tractive effort.

The C-5's were also built with saturated keyhole fireboxes that were placed in between their rear sets of driving wheels, resulting in their poor abilities to produce steam. 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. With almost all locomotives on the LS&I's expanded roster being renumbered, the C-5's were renumbered as 18-25.

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 cylinder saddles were replaced by ones with superheated cylinders and piston valves; their boilers received superheaters and were raised higher above the frame; their fireboxes were widened and received Nicholson thermic siphons; and feedwater heaters were installed. The upgrades raised the C-5s' tractive effort to 42,000 lb, and the rebuilt locomotives were reclassified as SC-4's.

Revenue service
No. 23 was the very first C-5 class locomotive to be built, and it was originally numbered 9. No. 9 was primarily assigned in its early years to pull the LS&I's mixed freight trains, and it was occasionally used to pull iron ore trains. As a saturated locomotive, No. 9 was prone to stalling whenever the locomotive would climb a grade, or when the weight of its train exceeded its pulling power. On one occasion, the C-5 participated in a locomotive "tug of war" publicity session, but it lost to B-4 class 2-8-0 No. 8. Following the LS&I's merger with the MM&SE in 1924, No. 9 was renumbered to 23.

In 1928, No. 23 became the first of seven C-5 locomotives to be rebuilt and modified as SC-4's at the LS&I's Presque Isle shops. Following its rebuild, the locomotive was primarily reassigned to switch hopper cars at iron ore mines and to pull logging trains on branch lines. By 1958, No. 23 was put into storage in Marquette alongside fellow SC-4 No. 22, as the LS&I slowly retired their steam fleet and replaced them with diesel locomotives. The railroad discontinued commercial steam operations in 1962.

Marquette and Huron Mountain ownership
In early 1963, No. 23 and fellow SC-4 No. 19 were purchased by the newly-formed Marquette and Huron Mountain (M&HM) Railroad. Public accountant John A. Zerbal owned the M&HM, and he sought to make revenue off of operating shortline logging and tourist trains between Marquette and Big Bay, primarily using former LS&I equipment. The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) approved the sale of the LS&I's Lake Independence Branch to the M&HM on July 2, 1963, and No. 23 subsequently pulled the railroad's first trains. By August, the railroad had acquired nine more 2-8-0 locomotives from the LS&I, including No. 22, which was placed into service on the line alongside Nos. 19 and 23. The three SC-4's initially pulled freight trains to refurbish the right-of-way before regular passenger operations commenced in the summer of 1964.

The M&HM's goal was to operate all their locomotives and to eventually construct a major complex of resort attractions in Big Bay that would consist of various outdoor activities. The M&HM never achieved their ambitious goal, because of underestimated returns from revenue freight runs and underestimated passenger ridership. In August 1966, the M&HM only ran one excursion before they suspended operations, and Nos. 23, 22, and 19 were moved to a field with the rest of the railroad's 2-8-0's.  The M&HM subsequently went through a multi-year hiatus while Zerbal had the railroad’s management issues reorganized. In 1972, the M&HM resumed their operations with shortened running dates and diesel power, and the following year, No. 23 was restored to operating condition.

The M&HM attracted some certified steam locomotive mechanics from the LS&I, the Soo Line, and the Chicago and North Western (C&NW) to work for the tourist line, and they were allowed to maintain No. 23 inside a Soo Line roundhouse during winter months. The M&HM also shortened their operations from 23 mi to 8 mi, since John Zerbal believed passengers would not enjoy traveling on a long-distance tourist train. On April 13, 1984, Zerbal died shortly before a tax deadline. Many of the M&HM's workforces, including chief mechanical officer Art Anderson, tried to save the railroad, but the property was too remote and not profitable enough. The M&HM's operations permanently closed down by December, and all the equipment was sold off at an auction, on January 14, 1985. During the auction, No. 23 was purchased by the Empire State Railway Museum (ESRM) at a bid of $10,000.

Disposition
The ESRM moved No. 23 to their location in Phoenicia, New York, where it received a partial cosmetic restoration and was put on static display near the Catskill Mountain Railroad's (CMR) depot. In 2002, the ESRM announced that they would restore No. 23 to operating condition for use on the CMR, and beginning in the summer 2003, the locomotive was moved to the CMR's storage yard in Kingston for disassembly. Ultrasound testing was completed with good results, and repairs for the firebox and the tender began. Restoration work on No. 23 was estimated to be completed by 2010 for the locomotive's 100th birthday, but the goal was never met.

In the spring 2016, the CMR was ordered to vacate their yard in Kingston, and No. 23 was consequently moved next to the CMR's depot for temporary storage while the ESRM constructed a two-stall car barn to continue the restoration process indoors. In the summer of that year, No. 23 was pushed inside the finished building. The number plate, headlight, and whistle were cosmetically restored and put on display inside the museum in May 2020, but progress had decreased since the coronavirus pandemic of that year. Various parts of the SC-4 had been repainted and reinstalled on the locomotive with a small amount of available volunteer labor.