I spent three summers of my teenage years working at the loco shop at the village and spent many mornings cleaning and coaling this loco. I believe you are correct that she is the only Mason Bogie type in operation, though through her long and eventful career she has been rebuilt so many times that we joked that we couldn't change the whistle because that was the only part left that was actually installed at the Mason Locomotive works. She was rebuilt and converted to standard gauge by C&H after a massive roundhouse fire that damaged her and her narrow gauge sisters. The Village replaced her ancient lap seam boiler with a new welded boiler, and I remember spending time in the Michigan Tech archives looking for drawings for the bolster that cracked in the early 90's. One curious bit of history on this loco and I will stop. The Torch and her sisters were the first major investment in the mining railroad associated with the up and coming C&H in the 1870's. The story goes that the railroad was standard gauge prior to the locos arrival, but was converted to narrow gauge when they arrived. The narrow gauge was rather curious as well - 49" gauge. The fable at the shop was that someone at mason missed the tick mark after 4'8-1/2" Gauge, and built the locos to 48-1/2" gauge. Rather than change their brand new locos, the C&H just rebuilt their tiny railroad to match. Mostly unconfirmed of course, (the railroad was 49" gauge) but a fun story none the less.
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I love it when unique finds show up on RP, and this is one of the best! Thanks for posting this shot and making this fantastic little loco known to us!
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Thank you so much for posting your comments, about your history here and the story of this loco. So wonderful this one is still in operation. Your comments were so enjoyable.
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