Posted June 10, 201015 yr Hesston Steam Museum Opening Weekend, 2010 May 30, 2010 North of La Porte, Indiana, off Indiana 39 - just a short drive from Chicago The 3-foot Shay Locomotive was built in Lima, Ohio in 1929. Shay locomotives use a side-mounted driveshaft, universal joints, and gears to deliver power from a 3-cylinder vertical side-mounted engine to trucks that swivel like those under a freight car. This enables them to deliver great pulling power and move heavy loads on hastily-laid uneven track with steep grades and tight curves often encountered in logging, quarrying, and mining operations. This locomotive was heavily damaged in an engine house fire in 1985 and was restored by volunteers at Hesston. Eighteen tons of sophisticated design and remarkable power, this two-footer was built in Germany in 1938 by Orenstein & Koppel, survived World War II, and continued to work in East Germany into the 1960s. Founded in 1875, Orenstein and Koppel today manufactures mining and excavating machinery. I don't know anything about the provenance of this 2-foot gasoline-powered locomotive, but I did learn that it came to Hesston with a four-cylinder Jeep engine and was overhauled and equipped with a 6-cylinder, 300 cubic inch Ford truck engine for more power. It's very smooth and sweet souding. The handsome green car was built on a German 2-foot-gauge flatcar for use mainly on Christmas trains, where its windows and good insulation keep it comfortably warm. It shows beautiful craftsmanship and historic style. These 1/4, or Grand, Scale locomotives once operated at Kiddieland amusement park in Melrose Park, Illinois, just west of Chicago. They have been acquired on loan by Hesston and restored to operating condition. The lead locomotive is a Northern type built in 1950 and the second one is patterned after the New York Central's famed Hudson type. It was built in 1941 "Stet" and "Query" are proofreaders marks, so they were appropriate to a railroad built and operated for many years by someone in the printing business. Much of Hesston's large collection of 1/4 scale equipment came from the estate of Chicago Publisher Elliott Donnelly. Donnelly also was a major benefactor for the Hesston Steam Museum in many other ways. 1/8 Scale Cars & Other Rolling Stock Structures An Aultman-Taylor steam traction engine prowled the grounds, and had to stop for a drink.
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