Steam & Excursion > Jones and Laughlin Porter 58

While half the railfan world was after the big steam engine I spent a few hours watching a very small one, a former J&L Porter number 58. It resides at the Youngstown Steel Heritage center in Youngstown, Ohio. Rick Rowland and crew have done a great job restoring it to running condition and it ran short trips on their 23" guage track that was recently completed. Here are 3 views of it in operation this past Saturday.

 

Roger Durfee
Akron, OH

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A neat little steamer. Thanks for sharing.

Ronnie McCallay
Cañon City, CO

They should name this locomotive "Small Boy".
Thanks for sharing these photos.
Bob

That thing has an insane amount of tractive effort considering it's small size!

Out

I spent the last four and a half years restoring that little but extremely powerful locomotive.  She is quite the oddball, built for a specific purpose in a Pittsburgh steel mill.  No longer inside those walls and no longer sitting around rotting away, 58 is now alive again running over a short length of track that we built for her.  

One interesting tidbit.  58 will fit completely inside of the Big Boy's firebox! 

Totally cool.  Reminds one of steam dummys used on early trolley lines so as not to frighten horses.  Last saw one operate in Brno, Czech Republic.  Derailed before we had a photo run.