Her Steaming days are Done

Outside a small town in North Central Illinois sits a lonely survivor of an earlier age of Illinois rail roading history.  She was born in Schenectady New York in 1924 at the American Locomotive company on order for the Grand Trunk and Western railroad. She was built as an 0-8-0 meaning she had 0 wheels under the pilot, 8 wheels under the main body and 0 wheels under the cab. She came out of the factory as a class P-5b switching engine and was designated #8305.

She worked hard for the next 30 years or so pulling cars from one part of a rail yard to another to be hooked up to larger, more powerful locomotives that would then carry its cargo all over the nation. By the 1950's however the age of Steam was drawing to a close. Diesel locomotives, more powerful and cheaper to operate, were making huge inroads onto the rail roading scene and so it was that in 1960 #8305 and 15 of her sisters were sold to Northwestern Steel and Wire in Sterling, IL to be scrapped.

Here is where Fate took a turn. The man who owned Northwestern Steel & Wire Loved the old steam trains. In his large industrial complex he already had a small fleet of  ex Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 0-6-0 switching engines which were worn out and near the end of their useful life. So....He scrapped His engines and kept the newly acquired 0-8-0's as replacements. Restoring them and putting them back to work at the same ob they had been doing their entire lives.

So it was that for another 25 years while other locomotives were being scrapped or gutted,  #8305, now shortened to just #05,  and her sisters chugged happily away moving cars and rolling stock around the freight yard. All good things must come to an end however and in the early 1980's she and her 11 surviving sisters were retired from service for the final time. Over the years some were donated to museums or city parks. One was restored and is at the Illinois Railway museum in Union,  In the end only #05 remains on that neglected siding but if you close your eyes you can almost hear the hissing of the steam and the mournful sound of her whistle blowing.