September 16, 2008: Iron Horse Central Railroad 0-4-0 No. 4, tied onto Northern Pacific dynamometer No. 276 (later, BN B-10), undergoes a series of exhaustive tests. Within the dynamometer, thirty technicians in white lab coats dutifully record its coal and water consumption, and use their sophisticated instruments to calculate No. 4’s drawbar horsepower. At the end of the day, one technician was overheard to say, “We have positively concluded that No. 4’s horsepower rating lies somewhere between that of a Northern Pacific SD45 and the NP’s “Minnetonka” 0-4-0T of 1870.” (OF COURSE this is all made up. The IHC fired up the steam locomotive in order to switch the dynamometer over to a different track. But a good story, no? And it has to be the first time in decades that No. 276 has been moved by steam!)
