Grand Trunk Western 5629
Grand Trunk Western 5629 pulling a fan trip excursion at Valparaiso, Indiana, in September 1967
Type and origin
References:[1][2]
Power typeSteam
BuilderAmerican Locomotive Company (ALCO)
Serial number65290
Build dateFebruary 1924
Specifications
Configuration:
​
 • Whyte4-6-2
 • UIC2′C2′ h1
Gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Driver dia.73 in (1,854 mm)
Wheelbase70.62 ft (21.52 m) ​
 • Engine35.82 ft (10.92 m)
 • Drivers13 ft (4.0 m)
Adhesive weight170,000 lb (77,000 kilograms; 77 metric tons)
Loco weight285,500 lb (129,500 kilograms; 129.5 metric tons)
Tender weightOld tender: 198,800 lb (90,200 kilograms; 90.2 metric tons)
New tender: 328,000 lb (149,000 kilograms; 149 metric tons)
Total weightOriginal: 484,300 lb (219,700 kilograms; 219.7 metric tons)
Modified: 613,500 lb (278,300 kilograms; 278.3 metric tons)
Fuel typeCoal
Fuel capacityOld tender: 16 t (16 long tons; 18 short tons)
New tender: 22 t (22 long tons; 24 short tons)
Water cap.Old tender: 10,000 US gal (38,000 L; 8,300 imp gal)
New tender: 18,000 US gal (68,000 L; 15,000 imp gal)
Firebox:​
 • Grate area66.70 sq ft (6.197 m2)
Boiler pressure200 psi (1.38 MPa)
Feedwater heaterWorthington
Heating surface:​
 • Firebox242 sq ft (22.5 m2)
Superheater:
​
 • TypeSchmidt[3]
 • Heating area794 sq ft (73.8 m2)
CylindersTwo
Cylinder size25 in × 28 in (635 mm × 711 mm)
Valve gearWalschaerts
Performance figures
Maximum speed80 mph (130 km/h)
Tractive effort40,753 lbf (181.28 kN)
Factor of adh.4.17
Career
OperatorsGrand Trunk Western Railroad
Railroad Club of Chicago
ClassGTW K-4a
Number in class3rd of 5
NumbersGTW 5629
B&O 5629
DeliveredMarch 1924
RetiredSeptember 1959 (revenue service)
April 1969 (excursion service)
RestoredOctober 1961 (1st restoration)
1965-1966 (2nd restoration)
ScrappedJuly 1987
DispositionScrapped

Grand Trunk Western 5629 was a 4-6-2 K-4-a steam locomotive, which was a copy of the United States Railroad Administration's (USRA) Light Pacific design, built by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1924, for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad. It was used to haul commuter passenger trains in Michigan until 1959 when it was purchased by Chicago-based railfan Richard Jensen for use in pulling several excursion trains in the Chicago area throughout the 1960s.

After Jensen ran into some financial trouble in the 1970s, he stored his locomotive at the Rock Island Railroad's freight yard in Blue Island, Illinois. In 1980, Metra Commuter Rail, acquired the Blue Island freight yard, attempted to remove the No. 5629 locomotive intact. But Jensen inconsiderately decided to have Metra scrap his locomotive and filed a lawsuit against them in order to recoup his financial trouble. In July 1987, Metra reluctantly scrapped the locomotive under the court order. Afterwards, Jensen filed a lawsuit against Metra as planned, but eventually lost the case. Jensen's decision to let the No. 5629 locomotive get scrapped was heavily controversial to railfans, and it was still a controversial piece of railroading history to this day.

History

Construction and revenue service

No. 5629 was one of five K-4-a class 4-6-2 "Pacific" locomotives (Nos. 5627-5631) built in 1924 by the American Locomotive Company's (ALCO) Schenectady Works for the Grand Trunk Western (GTW).[4][5] The K-4-a locomotives were copies of the United States Railroad Administration's (USRA) Light Pacific design.[4][5][6] The only difference from the USRA design is that the K-4-a class was equipped with a Delta type trailing truck, a Worthington feedwater heater, and Walschaerts valve gear.[1][6][7]

The GTW assigned No. 5629 to pull commuter passenger trains in Michigan, but in later years, it was also used to pull freight trains.[8][9] On September 27, 1959, No. 5629 was tasked to pull an excursion fantrip for the Michigan Railroad Club between Detroit and Bay City, Michigan.

Excursion service

Richard "Dick" Jensen, a member of the Railroad Club of Chicago, was in search of a steam locomotive to buy for use in pulling his own excursion trains.[10][11] He rode on board the fantrip that No. 5629 pulled, and upon learning about the locomotive's planned retirement and scrapping, Jensen decided to buy the K-4-a.

Having saved up money from his job as a bread delivery man, Jensen purchased No. 5629 from the GTW on April 4, 1960 for its scrap value of $9,540.40.[10][12] It was subsequently moved to a siding rented from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in Hammond, Indiana, where Jensen and a small group of volunteers worked to get No. 5629 running again.[10]

Jensen had parts of No. 5629 replaced to alter its cosmetic appearance, including the bell, the headlight, and the front number plate.[4][13] In October 1961, No. 5629 performed some test runs, and on November 5, it pulled an excursion on the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT).[4][10]

The locomotive pulled one other excursion on the B&OCT, but with the midwestern steam excursion market being dominated by the Burlington Route, No. 5629 was placed into storage at a roundhouse in Hammond.[10] In 1964, Jensen reached an agreement with Robert McMillian, the president of the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad (C&WI), to have No. 5629 and other equipment of his be stored inside the C&WI's 47th Street Roundhouse in downtown Chicago.[4][10]

In 1966, when it was announced that the Burlington Route steam program would be discontinued, Jensen prospected the benefits of having the midwestern excursion market for himself.[10] Planning to use his locomotive for long-distance excursions, Jensen replaced No. 5629's original tender with a larger one that came from a Soo Line 4-8-2 to upgrade its coal and water capacity.[4][6][13] No. 5629's original tender would eventually be scrapped in the early 1970s.[4]

The first of No. 5629's long distance excursions took place in May 1966, during the sesquicentennial of Indiana's statehood; it operated on the Norfolk and Western (N&W) between Indianapolis and Noblesville, Indiana. For the next three years, No. 5629 pulled additional excursion trains on the N&W and the GTW between Chicago, Indianapolis, and Detroit.[10][14]

On June 30, 1967, No. 5629 was tasked to replace Burlington Route 4960 in pulling the annual Schlitz Circus World Museum (CWM) train on the Chicago and North Western (C&NW) between Baraboo and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[9][15] No. 5629 pulled the Schlitz CWM train again on June 29, 1968, but en route, the locomotive suffered an overheated bearing that required emergency repairs.[15][16] Simultaneously, Southern Railway (SOU) president W. Graham Claytor Jr. sought to purchase No. 5629 for use in the SOU steam program while cosmetically altered to resemble the Southern Railway Ps-4 class.[17][18] Claytor sent the SOU Chief Council James A. Bistline to Chicago to negotiate with Jensen, but the latter asked for an unattainable amount of money, and No. 5629 remained under Jensen's ownership.[17][18]

Second retirement

In 1969, legal disputes began between Jensen and the new owners of the C&WI, with his equipment being removed from the 47th Street Roundhouse.[4][10] No. 5629 was stored in Detroit while the disputes began, but the K-4-a was later moved to Penn Central's (PC) Ex-Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) diesel service yard outside the Chicago Union Station.[4][14] Jensen originally planned to operate No. 5629 on an excursion on the PC in April 1971, but it was cancelled, as a result of issues over arranging passenger cars for the run. With Jensen beginning to run into financial trouble following the disputes, many ticket-buyers of the excursion did not get refunds.[14]

In 1977, Jensen fell down the stairs at a three-story apartment building while helping a friend move a refrigerator to the third floor. The incident left Jensen critically injured, and after being hospitalized, he could no longer afford to pay rent to the places where he was storing his equipment.[19] He subsequently tried to negotiate with several railroads around Chicago to have No. 5629 stored on their property, but they all rejected his requests. As a last resort, he reached an agreement with the Rock Island Railroad (RI), which was also in financial trouble, allowed the locomotive to be stored inside their deteriorating roundhouse in Blue Island, Illinois.[4][14] In 1979, the roundhouse was scheduled for demolition, and No. 5629 was moved again to the middle of RI's Burr Oak freight yard.

Scrapping

"All Metra wants is the engine off our land, since it won't roll, the only alternative is to cut it up. It's a hunk of rust, it's sad the way he (Richard Jensen) let it deteriorate. We started sending him bills and he never sent us a nickel."

— Metra spokesman Chris Knapton[20]

In March 1980, RI was liquidated, and ownership of the Burr Oak yard was transferred to Metra Commuter Rail, who made plans to construct a new facility on the property.[4][14][20] After Metra acquired the property, Jensen never paid rent to what was owed for storing his No. 5629 locomotive.[20] After redevelopment plans were finalized, Metra ordered Jensen to inspect No. 5629's current condition as they were unable to provide any assistance in getting the locomotive removed. When Jensen inspected No. 5629 to be moved, he discovered that it was vandalized and landlocked during its time in Blue Island.[20] The discovery made Jensen felt that if he had not done anything to move his locomotive, he decided to have Metra scrap it so that way he could file a lawsuit against them, and coup a million dollars.[20]

Upon hearing No. 5629's vandalized condition, Metra offered to help Jensen, but he declined, and removed several moving parts off the locomotive, including the axle bearings.[4][20][21] By the end of 1986, Metra, agitated with Jensen's decision, filed a lawsuit against him, in an attempt to have the locomotive removed intact, but the ruling was that if Jensen did not remove No. 5629 from the yard, Metra would be allowed to dismantle it as the only alternative decision.[4][20] Upon hearing of No. 5629's endangerment, several preservation groups, including the Illinois Railway Museum and the Mid-Continent Railway Museum, offered to purchase the locomotive from Jensen's ownership, and Metra supported them, but Jensen neglected their offers.[4][14][21]

Metra soon requested permission from the court to seize ownership of No. 5629, so they could sell or donate it to someone who would be able to remove it, but the court declined; Metra only received removal rights to regain use of their property, and they were not allowed to claim ownership of the locomotive.[4][14] By June 1987, Metra had banned Jensen from entering the yard, worried that No. 5629 would become a safety hazard with Jensen removing multiple parts from it. On July 1, a judge newly assigned to the case decided that it continued long enough, and a disappointed Metra received a court order to scrap the locomotive.[4][20] For reasons unknown, Jensen appealed the order, but it was rejected by court.[4][14][20]

Metra reluctantly contacted the Erman-Howell Division of the Luria Brothers Scrap Company to dispose of No. 5629.[20][21] On July 14, the scrapping process began.[21] Several railfans travelled to Burr Oak yard to witness the scrapping, but some were escorted out of the property by Metra Police officers. On July 17, the scrapping process stopped, and by July 20, No. 5629's remains were removed and trucked out of the yard.[4] Following the scrapping, Metra discovered that the vandalism on No. 5629 prior to the legal battle had been done by their employees, several of which were dismissed following a subsequent investigation. As planned, Jensen filed a lawsuit against Metra and requested money to compensate for his locomotive, but he lost the case. Jensen was unbeloved to the railfan community after the incident and later died on March 16, 1991, at the age of 60.[10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Llanso, Steve. "Canadian Government / Canadian National / Canadian Northern / Grand Trunk / Grand Trunk Pacific / Grand Trunk Western / Intercolonial / Reid Newfoundland 4-6-2 Locomotives in Canada". www.steamlocomotive.com. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  2. ↑ Dorin (1977), p. 120.
  3. ↑ McQueen (2013), p. 174
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "Grand Trunk Western No. 5629". Locomotive & Railway Preservation. September–October 1987. pp. 16–17.
  5. 1 2 Drury (2015), p. 93.
  6. 1 2 3 Boyd (2000), pp. 54–56.
  7. ↑ McQueen (2013), p. 177
  8. ↑ Dorin (1977), p. 58.
  9. 1 2 Nelson (2013), p. 87
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Conrad, Dave (November–December 1991). "Obituaries: Richard Jensen". Locomotive & Railway Preservation. p. 60.
  11. ↑ McQueen (2013), p. 74
  12. ↑ McQueen (2013), p. 160
  13. 1 2 Keefe, Kevin (November 2, 2021). "You never forget your first fantrip". Classic Trains. Kalmbach Media. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Dick Jensen's Pacific". Railfan & Railroad. October 1987. pp. 33–34.
  15. 1 2 Zeirke, Jim (July 2000). "The Great Circus Train" (PDF). Trains. Kalmbach Media. pp. 41–43. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  16. ↑ Nelson (2013), p. 93
  17. 1 2 Wrinn, Jim (2000). Steam's Camelot: Southern and Norfolk Southern Excursions in Color. TLC Publishing, Inc. p. 19. ISBN 1-883089-56-5.
  18. 1 2 Ziel (1990), p. 81.
  19. ↑ Boyd (2000), p. 60.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mahoney, Michelle (July 6, 1987). "Railroad Buffs Steamed by Plan to Scrap Antique Engine". Associated Press News. Archived from the original on June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  21. 1 2 3 4 Ziel (1990), p. 78.

Bibliography

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