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NRHS 2021 National Railroad Museum Green Bay 8/24/2021

Elizabeth and I woke up and prepared for our day. I went to Dunkin' Donuts for glazed donuts and an orange juice which I bought back up to my room while Elizabeth had the buffet breakfast in The Avenue Bar and Grill at the Double Tree Hotel. Elizabeth was busy with her bus host coordinator duties and was on Bus 2 today. We went down and waited for the buses to arrive and I was the first member of our group to get on the bus.

The bus which I boarded for the trip to Green Bay for the National Railroad Museum.

The National Railroad Museum is a railroad museum located in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, in suburban Green Bay. Founded in 1956 by community volunteers, it is one of thevoldest and largest United States institutions dedicated to preserving and interpreting the nation's railroad history. Its collection of locomotives and rolling stock spans more than a century of railroading. Notable items include an Aerotrain; Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4017, one of the world's largest steam locomotives; and British Railways Class A4 number 60008 Dwight D Eisenhower (ex-London & North Eastern Railway No. 4496 Golden Shuttle) and train used by the Supreme Allied Commander and his staff in the United Kingdom and continental Europe during World War II. A museum building houses a wide variety of railroad artifacts, an archive and photography gallery. A standard gauge track rings the grounds. An 80-foot wooden observation tower has views of the Fox River and Green Bay. The museum hosts an annual Day Out with Thomas event, where Thomas the Tank Engine pulls young friends past the exhibited rolling stock; and in October, "Terror on the Fox": Green Bay Preble Optimist Club's haunted attraction that includes "haunted" train rides after dark.

The Museum's archives holds corporate records and documents, annual reports, maps, mechanical and engineering drawings, oral histories and ephemera. The holdings representvarious railroad companies, labor unions, and fraternal organizations. Its library holds works on the social, economic, political and cultural aspects of American railroading history. The National Railroad Museum holds over 5,000 artifacts, including textiles, uniforms, tools and personal items. Its photograph collection includes 15,000photographic prints, slides and film negatives of railroading since 1890.

We went north up the highway towards Green Bay.

Crossing the Fox River, you can see the museum. We arrived at the National Railroad Museum and I went off on my own to photograph things.

Canadian National SW1500 1563, ex. Wisconsin Central 73, exx. Norfolk Southern 73, exxx. Southern 73, nee Kentucky and Industrial Terminal 73, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1971. It was donated to the museum in 2019.

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad observation car 300 "Silver Spirit" built by Budd in 1939.

Rock Island Aerotrain 2, Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway 2-10-2 506 and Sumter & Choctaw Railway 2-8-2 102.

Santa Fe 2-10-4 5017, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad 4-6-2 2718 and Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad 2-8-0 24.

Green Bay and Western C430 315 built by American Locomotive Works in 1968.

Wisconsin Central GP30 715 ex Soo Line built by Electro-Motive Division in 1963 as SOO Line 715.

Museum scene.

Lenfestey Center. I took the 99 steps up to the top of the National Railroad Museum Observation Tower. Here are the views.

The view from the Observation Tower. I came back down to earth.

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railway Express Agency car 1580 and Chicago Great Western Railway caboose 662.

Wisconsin Central SD24 2402, originally Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 504, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1959 as Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 510.

Burlington Northern Railroad Jordan spreader 973127 built by O.F. Jordan.

The miniature train out in front of the museum.

Canadian National SW1500 1563. I boarded the train and knelt to get my pictures. Now sit back and enjoy the two-lap ride around the museum.

This completes the two laps on the museum train. I went inside the main building.

The Areotrain model.

Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 4017 and Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 4890.

London and North Eastern 4-6-2 60008 "Dwight D. Eisenhower". Designed by London and North Eastern's Nigel Gresley for fast passenger service between London, Scotland and the North of England it was outshopped from the railway's Doncaster Works in the United Kingdom in September 1937. This coal-burning Pacific type locomotive was originally numbered 4496 and named "Golden Shuttle". It was renamed "Dwight D. Eisenhower" and renumbered 8 after World War II. With nationalisation of the British Rail system in 1948, the locomotive became 60008. It spent much of its operating life working out of Kings Cross, London and was finally withdrawn from service in July 1963. The following year, the engine was restored at Doncaster and donated to the National Railroad Museum. It was shipped to the United States, arriving in May 1964.

In October 1990, 60008 was moved to Abilene, Kansas, for the celebrations of the centenary of Eisenhower's birth. In 2012, 60008 was loaned to the National Railway Museum in York, England for two years. While there, it received a new coat of authentic BR Brunswick Green paint to replace the inaccurate shade applied during a repaint at Green Bay. It went on display at the York museum, as well as appearing at various times with five other A4 survivors. An anonymous donor apparently offered the Green Bay museum $1 million to allow the engine to stay in the United Kingdom but in 2014, it returned to the United States.

Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 4017 built by American Locomotive Works in 1942.

United States Army 2-8-0 Army 100 built by Baldwin in 1918. They were known as "Pershings", after four-star General John Pershing, Commander of the United States Expeditionary Forces in Europe. They were intended for use in the European war theatre, although this locomotive never made it to Europe. Instead, it went to Fort Monroe, Virginia, as 765. It was renumbered 8341 and named "General Pershing" in 1925. In 1941, it moved to Fort Benning, Georgia and then, in 1943, to Cape Blanding, Florida.

Two years after retiring from service with the US Army, in 1947 8341 was shipped to Korea along with one hundred other locomotives from Europe to serve in the Korean War. There, it was renumbered 101 and was damaged by arms fire but was rebuilt in 1953 and put back into service. 101 ended its operating life as a switcher in Seoul and was then donated to the museum by the Republic of Korea in 1959. It went on display at the museum in 1961.

Wisconsin State Merci Car from France which toured Wisconsin communities in 1949.

London and North Eastern sleeping car 1592 built by the railway in 1936 and armour plated.

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad dining car "Dothan" built by Pullman in 1923. Lunch was being served in the Lenfestey Centre in between the Big Boy and the GG-1; a very impressive venue.

Members eating their lunch. Afterwards I resumed my photography.

Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway E-1 class 2-10-2 506 built by American Locomotive Company in 1919..

Rock Island Aerotrain 2 built by General Motors in 1955. Following World War II, with greater car ownership, growth of the nation's interstate highway system and air services, railway passenger numbers began to decline. In response, railroads sought ways to attract passengers back, including introducing stylish trains that combined speed and added luxury. One such effort was General Motors' "Aerotrain", unveiled in 1955. The trainset is essentially a combination of GM bus bodies re-styled and adapted to run on rails and hauled by a diesel engine. The GM "style" is evident in the windshield design, smooth front end lines with recessed headlights, and the fin-like wrap-around just above the pilot.

The first railroad to test one of the new trains in February 1956 was the Pennsylvania Railroad, but the lightweight coaches, single-axle trucks and a suspension system designed for buses made for a very uncomfortable ride at high speed. The Pennsy was not convinced and returned the train to GM after a year of use. GM took the trains on a tour of the country in an effort to drum up interest, but the same problems arose and no-one was willing to buy. Finally, in 1957, they were sold to the Rock Island for commuter services in Chicago, where lower speeds applied but after only nine years, in 1966, both trains were retired.

Sumter & Choctaw Railway 2-8-2 102 built by Baldwin in 1924. The Sumter & Choctaw was owned by the Allison Lumber Company in Bellamy, Alabama, serving the two namesake counties in western Alabama. 102 was donated to the museum in 1964. In 1988, the museum sent the locomotive to the Green Bay & Western Norwood roundhouse, where it spent nearly eighteen months being rebuilt with a diesel engine from an old center-cab switcher fitted to the tender so that it can haul trains, although not in steam.

Museum scene.

Great Northern S-2 11 built as South Buffalo 73 which became Fort Howard Paper Company 63-146, then Georgia Pacific 63-146.

Milwaukee Road H-10-44 767 built by Fairbanks-Morse in 1945 as 1809.

Anheuser-Busch Plymouth 15 ton switcher.

Pardee and Curtin Lumber Company Shay 12 on a flat car. It was built by Lima Locomotive Works in 1917 as a 36" gauge coal-burner and is one of thirteen Shays rostered over the years by the Pardee & Curtin Lumber Company of Webster County, West Virginia. It was sold to the Ely Thomas Lumber Company in Fenwick, West Virginia, in 1947 and renumbered 5. In 1955, it was purchased by the railfans Harold Allen and Casimir Samborski and placed in storage in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was finally purchased by George Banta Jr., and donated to the museum in 1972.

Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad 2-8-0 24 built by American Locomotive Works in 1910 as Marquette & Southeastern Railway 40, which operated a sixty mile line between Big Bay and Lawson, Michigan. In 1911, the Marquette & Southeastern merged with the Munising Railway, a short line between Munising and Princeton, Michigan. The Munising, Marquette & South Eastern Railroad merged with the Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad in 1923. The LS&I then renumbered the locomotive 24. .

Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad 4-6-2 2718 built by American Locomotive Company in 1923. The Soo Line was started in 1883 by a consortium of flour mill owners in Minneapolis to connect its two namesake cities and avoid sending shipments through Chicago. It was never a major passenger carrier as its line between Chicago and Minneapolis/St Paul was much longer than its competitors, the Milwaukee Road, Chicago & North Western and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. 2718 was in service for twenty-five years until 1958, when the Soo Line donated it to the museum..

Santa Fe 2-10-4 5017 built by Baldwin in 1944. 5017 worked on the Santa Fe Pecos Division between Clovis and Belen, New Mexico but travelled as far afield as Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado. It ran up a total of 750,000 miles in its fifteen year life. Retired in 1959, it was donated to the museum that year..

United States Army RSD-1 8651 built by American Locomotive Company in 1945..

Southern Pacific S-6 1203 built by American Locomotive Company in 1955 as 1036. It is lettered for the Green Bay Route and numbered 106.

Inside the restoration shed.

Minnesota & St Louis NW-1 D-538 built by Electro-Motive Corporation in 1938. It was sold to the Marinette, Tomahawk & Western in 1957 and continued in service on that railroad until 1973, when it was donated to the museum.

Canadian National SW1500 1563. I waited for my 12:30 tour to start.

Bob Lettenberger, the Education Director, would lead this tour. Fifteen of us met in the lobby of the museum then walked to the drumhead room where Bob started his interesting topic of 'why do we preserve railroading items'. He then went through some histoy about railroads before we went upstairs into the upper vault. Here are scenes from that room.

He talked about how the museum acquire their displays, the process by which they decide what to use and how they get rid of items that are no longer of use or pertain to the collection anymore.

The door from the London and North Eastern sleeping car 1591 that can not be used because of the steps used with this car.

Railroad track tools in a corner.

A Fish Box used by railroads to deliever fresh fish for restaurants. From here we went back down the stairs to the lower room and we were able to see all the paper materials they have.

All of the books, slides, images and other paper items are in this room. Next we went into the reading room.

Our tour group in the reading room.

Bob put on gloves then showed us one of the books that was from the surveys for the transcontinental railroad before it was built.

The United States Transcontinental Surveys and Route Map, This ended our behind the scenes tour which was most excellent. I went to the depot to wait for my 2:00 PM train to arrive.

The train returned into the station and we waited underneath the station's eaves until it was time to board as it was pouring. The train consisited of Canadian National SW1500 1563, open air car with screen 'Cdr Buerschinger' and Reading Company "Josephine".

NRHS members aboard the 2:00 train. After the train ride I returned to the main building for additional pictures.

The cab of British Railways (London and North Eastern) 4-6-2 60008 "Dwight D. Eisenhower".

The cab of the Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 4017. I watched a little of the Big Boy film before going outside.

The wig wag crossing signal as you enter the museum. I got on Bus 1 and the rain stopped about twenty minutes later but started again as we came into Milwaukee through heavy traffic. Elizabeth and I had the buffet for dinner and then she went to her seminars (Center for Railroad Photography and Art and North Shore Line) and I finished one story then started on today's story. After that, we called it a night.

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