(The Missoulian posted the following article by Sherry Devlin on its website on April 23.)
MISSOULA, Mont. — Over the past century and a year, Locomotive No. 1356 has seen its share of rescues.
The Missoula Redevelopment Agency mounted yet another Monday, this one intended to rescue the old locomotive from the ill effects of its many years of service – first pulling Northern Pacific trains across the mountains of western Montana, more recently as an icon to railroad history in downtown Missoula.
Asbestos used to insulate the locomotive’s boiler is slowly working its way out of the rusting metal works, and all of the woodwork is in disrepair, said project manager Chris Behan. Thus a pair of asbestos removal and locomotive repair projects that began Monday at the north end of Higgins Avenue in Market Plaza Park.
That’s where Locomotive No. 1356 has resided since 1955, when Northern Pacific donated the engine to the city of Missoula, so long as the city agreed to its maintenance and care.
The railroad was phasing out its coal-fired engines in favor of diesel. The city wanted a locomotive in recognition of western Montana’s railroading history. The deal saved No. 1356 from demolition.
Over the years, historians and railroad buffs have pieced together the locomotive’s story, Behan said. Rescues, it turns out, have been a recurring theme.
Northern Pacific No. 1356 was built in 1902, and was used in both passenger and freight service out of Missoula from then until 1955.
On Aug. 20, 1910, the locomotive was among several dispatched by the Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Road to rescue railroad workers and their families trapped in the Bitterroot Mountains west of Missoula by a raging wildfire.
As hurricane-force winds blew the fire across 3 million acres of western Montana and northern Idaho, the trains saved the lives of countless men, women and children in Kellogg, Wallace, Taft, Avery and Saltese – sometimes carrying the evacuees across burning trestles.
Many of the backcountry railroad towns and work stations were destroyed by the fire, but hundreds of townspeople were saved by the engineers – and their engines, including No. 1356.
Years later, in the early 1950s, the locomotive itself needed rescuing after a flood weakened a bridge near Florence and the engine fell into the water. Then the crane sent to pull the engine out of the creek fell in as well.
“Neither the crane nor the engine were very recognizable when they finally got them out of the water,” Behan said. “But the locomotive was taken to Tacoma and rebuilt, only to be scheduled for demolition a few years later when the Northern Pacific converted to diesel engines.”
That’s when the locomotive pulled its last 100-car train to Missoula and took up residence at the end of Higgins Avenue, eventually at its present-day site in the little park that is home to the Farmers Market.
In 1990, the Missoula Redevelopment Agency made an initial attempt at repairing portions of the locomotive that had deteriorated and to clean up asbestos that was exposed along the boiler and brake piston seams.
Some of the asbestos – about enough to fill a bread sack – had washed onto the rocks beneath the locomotive, Behan said. “We removed as much as we could, sealed the corroded spots and repainted the engine. But there wasn’t any concerted effort to maintain it, so the corrosion has continued.”
Now comes the work that started Monday and an $8,750 contract with Environmental Contractors of Billings, which will remove all the asbestos from the boiler, so the problems will not continue. Then will come $8,500 worth of work by Rainglow Services of Missoula, which repairs and paints Montana Rail Link’s cars.
Rainglow will patch and replace the corroded and rotten metal and woodwork, seal the old smokestack, repaint a few rusty panels, replace some of the cab and give it a new roof, and generally get No. 1356 back into shape.
Finally, with help from the city Parks and Recreation Department, will come a wrought-iron fence, grass and irrigation so the engine will look a little snazzier as another season of Farmers Markets begins. All work will be finished before the first market on May 10, Behan said.
The Redevelopment Agency did wonder whether it should spend the money to again repair the aging engine, he added. But every time anyone asked local residents, the answer was the same:
“Mount a rescue. Save the locomotive.”
One more time.