History

The "Rotary Cannonball" was built as Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway number 457 in 1912 at a cost of $18,456.03. Number 457 was part of an order placed by the M&StL for 12 identical consolidation-type locomotives, which were numbered 450 through 461. 'Consolidation' refers to a steam locomotive with two leading wheels, eight powered wheels and no trailing wheels. Using the Whyte system of classification, a consolidation is known as 2-8-0.

Over the years, steam locomotives were updated and improved. Some of the noticeable improvements included extended sides on the tender's coal space to increase the coal carrying capacity in 1916. In 1930, seats were installed in the cab for the fireman and brakeman, and a back was added to the engineer's seat. A mechanically operated fire door was also added to make the fireman's job easier.

Air pipes were added in 1937 for operation of a Jordan spreader. A power reverse gear was added in 1938 and the running board on the engineer's (right) side was raised to pass over it. A second ladder was added to the back of the tender's coal space in 1942 and, in 1944 the fireman's job was finally mechanized with the addition of a Standard stoker. Still later, footboards and a backing headlight were added so that the 457 could perform switching duties in the switching yard.

By late 1950 the M&St.L no longer operated steam locomotives. It was sold to the American Crystal Sugar Company in Mason City. The sugar beet plant used the 457 to switch carloads of sugar beets during the annual beet harvest season. Use of the 457 probably ended when the federally required boiler certification expired.

Exactly when the 457 was last used remains the subject of some speculation but the 'Friends' do know that in September 1959, the locomotive was moved to East Park. The Mason City Noon Rotary Club funded the relocation of the 457 and the nickname "Rotary Cannonball" was first applied.

During its working years, the 457 currently located in Mason City's East Park, moved south from Albert Lea, Minnesota, passing through Mason City and Marshalltown on the way to Oskaloosa in south central Iowa.

As far as the 'Friends of the 457' know, this is the only remaining M&StL steam locomotive of this class in existence, and on public display. One other 2-8-0 locomotive, the 471, was recently rescued with plans for restoration in St James, MN.

457 Lantern

On August 10, 2011, the Friends of the 457 were excited to accept donation of a signal lantern with commemorative markings for the Minneapolis & St Louis RR #457. Recently, David Bublitz from St. Ansgar brought his cousin Jerome Lenz from Minnesota, who is a railroad collector, to Mason City to see the 457. Mr. Lenz said he had acquired a signal lantern sometime ago that had the 457 engraved in the top along with the date on the number plate that he'd bought on E-bay from someone in Duluth.

He felt strongly about returning the lantern to the Friends. The lantern was presented by Lucille Bublitz of St. Ansgar, who will celebrate her 100th birthday in 2012, which is also the Centennial Year of the 457's birth.

The exact history of the lantern is unclear and is currently being researched for additional information. Here's what we can determine so far about the lantern itself;

The lantern was purchased by Jerome Lenz of North Branch, MN in about 2003 through eBay from a person in Duluth. It did not have a globe or wick assembly. Mr. Lenz provided a modern tall globe reproduction marked "W. T. Kirkman No. 39 R.R." and a Kirkman Convex wick assembly. The lantern is clean and restored and lacquered. It appears to be a steel brakeman signal lantern with a flair base. The top of the smoke vent appears to be painted brass. The unique, two-wire globe construction identifies it as being made by the C.T Ham Manufacturing Co. started in 1886 in Rochester, NY and went out of business in 1914. Ham's assets were later acquired by Deitz Lantern in 1915, and some old stock may have been available through Deitz for a time. The markings visible on the lamp are on the top, "No. 39. RAILROAD". On the base, "PATENTED DEC. 26, 1896" is faintly visible, and "DEC 98" is stamped onto the latch strap. This appears to be stamped after manufacture. What is clear is that this lamp is contemporary to the building of the 457 which occurred in 1912, Schenectady, NY.

The history of the connection with the 457 is unknown at this time. The lamp is decorated with a brass band circling the smoke vent that is lettered "MINNEAPOLIS & ST LOUIS RAILWAY DEC 1912 52307" which is the date and number on the builder's plate of the 457. On the lantern hood, three brass tacks numbered 457 are pressed through the metal and soldered from beneath. We speculate that this is likely a commemorative lamp for the 457 rather than an individual, since no person's name is on the lantern, but rather the significant engine numbers. Was it created to observe the delivery of the locomotive, or it's retirement? Did the M&StL have a tradition of assigning a lantern to an engine? Was it an employee's personal lantern? Who knows??? Help us solve the mysteries that come with this excellent gift!

Regardless of the history, the lamp is a wonderful addition to the 457 legacy and will be a valued treasure to the Friends of the 457.

Many THANKS to the Lenz and Bublitz families for their generosity!

Bill of Sale

The retirement of the 457

The 457 Bell

In November 2008, an original bell from the M&StL was located and prepared for mounting on the locomotive just in time for the final dedication of the 457 renovation, and observance of the 50th anniversary of the locomotive in East Park, in 2009. Here is the story, as best as can be pieced together at this time:

The 457 was built in 1912 by the American Locomotive Company. Instead of being scrapped after 38 years of service for the the Minneapolis & St Louis Railroad, the 457 was sold to the American Crystal Sugar company at Mason City, IA in 1950 for hauling coal and sugar beets. Diesel power made the steam locomotive obsolete by the mid 50's, and in 1959 it was given to the City of Mason City and placed in East Park. It still had its original bell from 1912. Sometime after 1986 the bell was stolen. As the old engine was in a sad state, nobody noticed it was gone. Not until restoration was started in 2003, did it become apparent that the bell was gone. An effort was made to purchase a bell with funds raised through the sale of brass items that were donated by members of the community.

Finally in 2005, a bell was purchased and a yoke was cast from aluminum. Although the bell was smaller than the original, it still served its purpose. Thousands of kids between the years 2005- 2008 visited East Park to ring the bell on the Rotary Cannonball.

The Friends of the 457 were convinced that we'd never find an original M&StL bell until one of the Friends noticed a dinner bell resembling a train bell at his church's summer camp in Brainerd, MN. On closer examination he discovered that it was an original M&StL train bell. History about how the bell ended up at the camp is sketchy. Sometime in the early seventies, someone who worked for the M&StL brought the bell to the camp and it was mounted on a tall tree stump. There it remained until the stump rotted out, then it was transferred to the camp's new assembly hall roof. The camp used it as a dinner bell, but as the area surrounding the camp became more populous, the camp agreed with its neighbors to ring it only to announce emergencies (it is loud!). The bell retained a special place in the hearts of decades of campers, but when the church decided to sell the campgrounds, an opportunity to obtain the bell presented itself. After a couple years of negotiations with the camp, it was agreed to swap their bell for the one we had on the Cannonball.

Friday, late evening, Nov 1, 2008 Dennis Wilson, Cliff Hagman, and their wives left for Brainerd, MN with the Cannonball's bell, to swap for the camp's bell. There were some concerns, especially the idea of carrying a brass bell and its cast iron yoke down the slope of a frost covered roof. Fortunately, the sun had melted frost off one side of the roof, and the day was beautiful. The camp caretaker had driven up from Minneapolis, and along with his son and granddaughter, had a tractor with its loader in place at the roof's edge to load the bell into. They had the bell unbolted from the roof waiting to help carry the two hundred pounds of brass and iron down to the loader. Once the bell was in Cliff's van, we inspected it closer. Stamped around the top of the bell we found the numbers 413, 475, and 631.

Thanks to our good friends Clark Propst and Gene Green, who have a wealth of M&StL knowledge and history, we found out the M&StL purchased a Baldwin 2-8-0 steam engine on Dec 12, 1910 sporting a shiny brass steam activated bell. The M&StL numbered the new engine 413. Later for some unknown reason it was renumbered to the 475. In August of 1935, the 475 was retired, and scrapped in Marshalltown, IA on November 22, 1935. Its bell was transferred to engine 631, another 2-8-0. Fifteen years later the 631 was scrapped in 1950. Most likely, our 457 was in that same batch of decommissioned locomotives in 1950, but got sold instead. Was it, "saved by the bell"?

We wonder, where was the bell for almost twenty years before it ended up as a dinner bell for the church camp?

We now have an original M&StL bell that was born in 1910. It graced two different M&StL engines before disappearing for almost twenty years, and then found a home at a church camp for the next thirty years. In the spring of 2009 the bell was mounted on the M&StL 457, a journey of almost one hundred years from when it first crowned a M&StL engine.

Owen and Brenda Currier cleaned up a hundred years of scratches and nicks and restored the bell to it's original brass finish The bell originally was steam activated. That assembly is missing, along with the original clapper. We want to restore that assembly along with an original clapper and have already begun our search.

Many thanks to Cliff Hagman, Dennis Wilson, Owen & Brenda Currier, and the Community of Christ Eagle Lake Campgrounds for this incredible addition to the 457 Cannonball.

Whistle a Tune

As the restoration of the M&StL 457 began it was with profound sadness that so many important attachments had been vandalized or stolen. Anything brass or copper had been striped off, and gauges gone. One bright spot of discovery was the solid brass Nathan 6-chime whistle. It was still there! Painted black by some previous painting crews, vandals had overlooked it. We think. As we attempted to remove it from the small steam dome it became apparent that years of heat, age, paint, etc made it nearly impossible to remove. Finally it detached, and with many hours of labor ahead of them, Terry Harrison and others took on the onerous task of removing layers of paint, crud and corrosion.

The whistle was remounted, and as the project progressed, the Friends attempted to blow the whistle using industrial size compressed air. It blew, but disappointingly. The following year it was taken to a steam tractor show in Forest City where it was mounted on a tractor and we attempted to record the sound. The weather was on the cool and damp side. Again it blew, better, but not impressive. Somewhat disappointed we packed up the audio gear and started out of the field. We couldn't detach the whistle because the tractor was up to full steam for the show. As we started to drive away and the tractor headed to the field they pulled the chord again and the whistle blew load and clear! The metal had warmed up enough to resonate with the steam and it sounded pretty sweet. We quickly broke out the sound gear and got a quick recording as the tractor moved to the show. Exhilarated, we headed back home with the recording that you can hear at the train. Some years later we again took a road trip with it to Boone, where it was mounted on their locomotive and used on excursions for a weekend. That recording is also in our presentations.

Want to help out?

Donate

Or

Thank you for your support

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse