I fired that engine 29 in the summers of '68 and '70 for the Keweenaw Central. She is an old "soak", i.e., no super-heater. We'd bank the coal fire at night after our last run and I'd rake it down in the early morning fog that came off Lake Superior, just about the time the grizzled "cat woman" would appear walking her huge tom cat past the yard. We'd make 3 trips a day out of Calumet down St Louis hill. I'd have to shovel about 1 1/2 tons of coal to get back up the hill. Clint, my hogger, was pretty good on the Johnson bar, dropping her down in the corner when we commenced our ascent up the steep grade. We normally hauled one coach along the Trap Rock Valley, with distant scenes of towns having odd names, like Bumbletown and Dreamland. Leaving Calumet, I remember passing a small, well-kept house on the left where the couple would frequently be sitting on the porch and give us a wave. Memorable was their huge sunflower the size of a basketball in their garden. Our whistle was a Nathan 5-chime, but once in a while Clint would put on a different one for the fun of it. I remember a deep sounding 3-chime steam boat whistle we tried once, with its haunting sound that seemed to fit the fairy-tale like milieu of the Copper Country. Those were good memories I wouldn't trade for anything.
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