No.200 was eventually scrapped, but a better fate was in store for 300. It is unclear when 200 and 300 were retired, but by 1960 the plant had switched over to diesel operation and both locomotives were out of service. The last days of steam at Ironton came in the late 1950s. With Geneva occupying over 1500 acres and being much more modern in design, most steel production in the area shifted to that plant. No.300 became "Geneva Steel 300" on paper, though in all likelihood it never worked at that mill. United States Steel purchased Geneva in 1946, and The 300 worked faithfully for both companies.ĭuring the early 1940s, the Ironton plant began a slow decline after the Defense Plant Corporation constructed the huge Geneva Steel works at Orem, Utah. Columbia Steel operated the plant until 1930 when United States Steel Corporation acquired it, although USS kept Columbia as a subsidiary company for a time before the two were combined. No.300 toiled at Ironton well into the 1950s. A slope-back tender was necessary for visibility while switching. By comparison, sister 200 was a bit older in design, having just one single-stage compressor. Modern in design, the 300 features piston valves, power reverse and a Westinghouse cross-compound air compressor.
Verted to coke for use in the by-product ovens) was mined locally and delivered to the plant by Columbia's own short line, the Carbon County Railway.Ĭolumbia returned to Baldwin shortly after the plant opened for an additional 0-6-0, No.300, which was built and delivered in May 1925.
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By the next year the plant was in full production, and the first pig iron was produced. To move slag cars between the coking plant and blast furnaces, Columbia ordered a single 0-6-0 from Baldwin that was delivered in 1923 and numbered 200. The Ironton Works, as it was known, was one of the largest pig iron plants in the west, and was built beginning in 1922 by Columbia Steel on a 385-acre site near Springville. No.300 spent all its working life as a switcher at the Columbia Steel Corporation's iron smelting plant at Ironton, Utah. Plans call for the locomotive to be moved to the railroad's shop at Heber City during the spring of 2003, and after a complete overhaul it should be back in steam by 2005.
A true "Utah" engine, the 300 worked all its life in the Beehive State, and has slumbered in relative obscurity since it was placed on outdoor display around 1960. THE HEBER VALLEY RAILROAD of Heber City, Utah, has acquired a rare 0-6-0, former Columbia Steel Corporation 300, which is currently on exhibit at a park in nearby Provo. 300 will be removed from display at the Geneva Recreation Association park at Provo, Utah, and rebuilt for service on the Heber Valley Railroad this year.
Along with its museum tours and excursion train trips, it offers a spendier “Be the Engineer” experience, wherein railfans-hardcore train enthusiasts-can drive a real steam locomotive along 14 miles of track in a cartoonishly perfect Wild West landscape.Steam Locomotive Information Lineside Legacy - June, 2003Ĭolumbia Steel 0-6-0 No. Centered at the old depot in the remote town of Ely, Nevada, a few hundred miles southwest of the Golden Spike, the 114-year-old NNRY is the best-preserved short-line railroad in the United States. This wasn’t a dream, although the Nevada Northern Railway is something like a tear in the fabric of reality. With the rope dangling on the right, I blew the whistle- whee-whee-oo-whee-a warning for any cows or cars that might traverse the tracks. I cranked the air brakes, listening for a tss before releasing and repeating until we came to a complete stop. ELY, NV-Thick black smoke spewed from Locomotive 40 as she chugged towards the crossing, a sign that the coal in her firebox wasn’t burning efficiently.
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