Could it be? A rusted old hulk of a streamlined Hiawatha steam engine left in some farmers field only to be recently discovered?
Unfortunately the answer is NO.
While searching the internet for images related to the Milwaukee Road, I came across this photo. I had the same thoughts as above. Why hasn’t someone started a preservation project for this? How could such an important engine in Milwaukee Road history be left in a field to rot? After some further investigation, I discovered the following information:
It was built in the Milwaukee Shops as a parade truck in 1941 for the American Legion Convention in Milwaukee
, using the styling of the class A Atlantics.
It is still sad that it will probably never be resurrected, but a fascinating find just the same. To learn more about this piece of history you can click on the links below.
http://www.coffeedrome.com/hiawatha2.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MILW/conversations/topics/28357
