Torch Lake: Oldest operating steam locomotive in the US. Sitting on a turntable lead beside the Weiser Railroad Roundhouse is Calumet & Hecla Mining Company #3, "Torch Lake", the sole surviving example of a Mason Bogie Locomotive and what I believe to be the oldest operating steam locomotive in the US. With the recent retirement of B&O #25, that torch has been passed to "Torch Lake". Calumet & Hecla #3 was built in 1873 by the Mason Machine Works in Taunton, Mass. Calumet & Hecla was a mining company based in Boston, but with copper mining operations in Michigan. It saw service for roughly 60 years from the time it was delivered until its retirement in 1933, mostly as a switcher in the company yards. Upon retirement, it was then stored by C&H for another 3 decades before being donated to the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in 1970. The Ford people then decided to replace her worn-out boiler and put her to work, hauling the shuttle trains around the Greenfield Village, a task she's been doing ever since.
Of the roughly 700 "Bogie" Locomotives built by the Mason Company, "Torch Lake" is the sole survivor. Although these engines appear configured much like Forney Tank Locomotives, they were unique and different in that their cylinders and driving wheels were part of an articulating truck which allowed them to navigate very tight curves and uneven track. Obviously, such a design involved some interesting valves and piping to get the steam from the boiler to the cylinders and then back up into the smokebox, but the company succeeded in perfecting the techniques, which were used decades later in the development of much larger articulated giants. "Torch Lake" is also unique in that she was built as a narrow gauge engine, but later converted to standard gauge. So if her proportions look a little strange, that's why.
Today, C&H #3 "Torch Lake" is in the regular rotation of 3 steam engines which are used to pull the shuttle trains around Greenfield Village. Because she has a completely enclosed cab, she's popular with the crews during the cooler months, so expect to find her out and about in April and October, and taking a break during the warmer months, as we see here in this August, 2018 photo.
