Iron Range & Huron Bay 4-8-0 Locomotives in Canada

Class 300 (Locobase 15787)

Data from "Heavy Freight Locomotive: Iron Range & Huron Bay Railway," Engineering News, Volume 28, No 1 (7 July 1892), p. 7. See also John Player, "Piston Valves", Railway Age, Volume 32 (20 December 1901), p. 727. Dale Wilson, "Bear Watching-Then and Now, Part 1", Canadian Rail, No.335 (December 1979 ) , pp. 360-361, and Mikel B Classen, "$2 Mil Railroad Scandal - Iron Range & Huron Bay Railroad', archived at [], last accessed 28 August 2014. .Brooks builder info from B.Rumary, 25 Kingscombe, Gurney Slade, Radstock, BA3 4TH, ENGLAND and Jeremy Lambert as supplied by Allen Stanley in March 2004. Works numbers were 2072-2073 in April 1892.

As laudatory as was the Engineering News about this latest feat of Twelve-wheeler locomotion, the pair of powerful engines had a very short life on the IR&HB. Similar to the Great Northern's G-1s with a prominent Belpaire firebox over the last two driving axles, the Iron Range differed in having smaller-diameter tubes and more firebox heating surface area.

In his survey of piston valve development for steam locomotives, John Player described one of the first installations in these engines. The valves moved within a cage set inside a slide-valve steam chest. He described them as giving "very good results." but the complication of using a separate cage and in the increased cylinder clearance meant "there was nothing to be gained by them." In part, this was because "port area was precisely the same as used in the slide valves." One clear benefit, however, was "freeer handling of the engine on account of the reduction of friction on the valves."

The Engineering News correspondent omitted a few details. According to Classen, by the time the engines arrived in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the 45-mile (72.5 km) road's construction had burst through the deliberately lowballed estimates by $2 million. These were the only two engines on the property.

Mikel Classen quotes from an account of what happened after the two engines were unloaded at Huron Bay:

"A former hotel proprietor from L'anse named Sam Beck worked as a railroad watchman told newspaper reporters about the first trip on the new railroad. 'The engines were unloaded from the boats at Huron Bay. As the last eleven miles of the road was downgrade, it was decided to make a test run.' The engine was fired and Beck climbed into the cab with the engineer. 'We had proceeded up the grade when the roadbed gave away and we went into the ditch.' The engine lay in the Peshekee [river]."

This was the last straw for this road. Both engines were sold to the Algoma Central and Huron Bay and the rails pulled up and sold off to the Detroit Urban Railroad.

Dale Wilson quotes a writer who summarized the hapless IR&HB"In the end," says Classen, "nothing remained of the Iron Range and Huron Bay Railroad except an empty roadbed and some shattered dreams. It was a one-time train that never carried a single pound of cargo."

The two IR&HB orphans sat idle for more than a decade. The Algoma Central bought the pair in 1903 and operated them until 1917. They are said to be the only 4-8-0s ever to operate in Canada.