Article: Engine Pulls Big Ore Train - 1947

C&NW J-4 Locomotive Hauls 110 Cars With Ease

Iron River, Mich. That deep-throated mournful wail you've heard reverberating up and down the Iron River valley every few days for the past month is the whistle of a huge North Western railway freight engine, transferred to the Peninsula division from mainline road service for testing in the iron ore traffic between the Menominee range and dock at Escanaba.

The giant locomotive, No. 2810 is a big J-4 type road engine formerly in service between Chicago, the Twin Cities and Omaha, and on coal haulage in Illinois.

It hauls 5,200 tons of dead weight out of Stambaugh ore yard to Antoine at Iron Mountain and then doubles the load, hauling 10,300 tons from there to the Escanaba docks. A long, low, powerful  monster 110-foot-long from cow-catcher to rear coupling, the J-4 carries 20 tons of coal and 15,000 gallons of water to keep it rolling at the maximum of 20 miles an hour allowed for ore trains.

Stalled With 124

The "big Jay" needs assistance from a pusher engine only twice on the 10-hour run from here to the docks, at the outset on the steep grade between Stambaugh and Caspian depot, and again at the long Sumac hill grade near Loretta on the Schlesinger ore line.

The "Jay" tried to get over the Sumac grade with the unprecedented load of 124 cars last week but stalled, its eight powerful drivers spinning vainly on the tough ascent. It can easily maneuver the Sumac grade with 108 or 110 cars, and once over the summit, the downhill grade all the way to the docks is accomplished without effort.

The big locomotive with 59 cars of ore and 5,165 tons of weight strung out behind moves slowly away from Stambaugh yards every second or third day with a pusher which drops off at the Caspian depot. The train pauses at Stager while crew men check the cars and journal boxes. At Antoine, the train stops for an hour and one half while coal and water are taken on, and the crew lunches. At Sumac, the train is checked again for the long coast into the docks.

Natal Maroni of Iron Mountain was the engineer on the big locomotive as it steamed away from the Stambaugh yards Friday at 1:45 p.m. John Ohman of Escanaba was the conductor, and George Anderson, Escanaba, division road foreman of engines was also in the cab. The oscillating red headlight beam above the regular headlight was swinging its warning beam, the bell clanged, and the whistle sounded its melancholy blast.

Booster Helps

"She hauls too much ore at one crack," quipped a yard employee as the big engine pounded by. "The ore will run out soon at that rate."

Next year, railroad men expect there will be four or five J-4s on the Peninsula division hauling ore from Iron River to Escanaba. The giant steam locomotives are being replaced on mainline freight and coal hauling runs by big Diesels.

A booster engine under the J-4 cab applies power to wheels under the tender and cab, adding 10 cars to the capacity of the train, and give impetus needed to get the train underway.,

There are 12 J-4's in service on the North Western system, and one by one they are being replaced by Diesels on the main freight runs out of Chicago and the coal runs in central Illinois.

A comparison of the power of the ordinary road engine and the big J-4 is seen in the tonnage each can pull. The JS-type engine regularly assigned to ore train hauling pulls 3,900 tons out of Stambaugh yards to Antoine. The J-4 handles 5,200 with east.

89¢ A Ton

Rail freight rates on ore this season assess mining companies 89 cent per gross ton for the haul from Stambaugh yards to Escanaba docks. This rate includes handling from car to vessel. The same ton of ore is transported by lake freighter from Escanaba to lower lake ports for 90 1/2 cents to Lake Erie and 75 1/2 cents to lower Lake Michigan ports.

[From the Escanaba Daily Press, Escanaba, Michigan - July 15, 1947]