Northern Pacific 328

4-6-0 Steam Locomotive

Steam locomotive 328 is a light 4-6-0 "Ten Wheeler" which spent years running branch line trains to small towns along the St. Croix river, like Stillwater, Grantsburg, and Taylors Falls. Those tracks are gone, but 328 survived in a city park in Stillwater. In 1981 it was restored to operation by the Minnesota Transportation Museum. Today 328 is being refitted again for another return to service pulling excursion trains on the Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway.

Overhaul News

Donations and grants to help fund the work are being sought. Contributions may be submitted to: MTM, #328 Steam Fund, 193 E. Pennsylvania Ave., St. Paul, MN 55101. Also, a special excursion to Marshfield, WI was held in 2000 as a fundraising event. Skilled and unskilled volunteer labor will help return 328 to service as soon as possible, but museum membership is required. The work is being done at the Jackson Street Roundhouse, which includes a museum of Minnesota railroad history.

History

During the winter of 1906-1907, the Northern Pacific was experiencing power shortages on its Washington, Montana, Idaho, and Dakota branch lines. It purchased ten of the unfinished engines for $14,500 each. They were completed and delivered in February, 1907. The Northern Pacific assigned them class S-10 and numbers 320 to 329. In their early years, 321 and 322 were assigned to the Dakota Division, 320, 323, and 324 to the Pharoah Division, and the rest to the Minnesota Division. In 1925, 325 and 326 were re-assigned to the Montana Division. Small, light engines even when new, the great depression rendered them surplus. Between 1929 and 1933 eight were cut up for scrap.

The two survivors, 321 and 328, remained because of their light weight and a rickety old bridge. The Northern Pacific's mainline from the Twin Cities to Duluth sported a number of branchlines. The seventeen mile branch from Rush City, MN, to Grantsburg, WI crossed the St. Croix river on a very light bridge. Only D-3 engines or S-10 engines like 328 were light enough to cross it safely. 321 and 328 also frequented the branches from Wyoming to Taylors Falls and from White Bear Lake to Stillwater. By 1946, dwindling traffic and the new diesels resulted in 321's scrapping. On July 1st, 1948, 328 pulled the last train to Taylors Falls. In 1949 L-10 O-6-0 number 1167 replaced 328 on the Grantsburg branch. 328 still found work on the Stillwater branch and pulling railfan excursions, but in March 1950 was retired.

328 was also ordered scrapped, but was saved by the Minnesota Railfan's Association, who managed to get it donated to the city of Stillwater. It was put on display in the park along the river, a couple blocks from the depot. In 1976 the Minnesota Transportation Museum leased the 328 and restored it to operating condition in the BN's ex-NP Como Shops in St. Paul. It pulled its first excursion train in 1981 during New Brighton's Stockyard Days festivities.

Between about 1987 and 1991, NP 328 returned to the Stillwater branch. At that time the branch was owned by MTM, and 328 was a "crown jewel" of the historic experience.

From 1992 to 1999 NP 328 served as a regular locomotive on MTM's Osceola & St. Croix Valley Railway, giving train rides to an older generation who remember when steam locomotives ruled the rails and exposing a new generation to steam locomotives and passenger trains for the first time. It ran between Marine on St. Croix, MN and Dresser, WI, a mere few miles from the Stillwater and Taylors Falls branches it once frequented. It also made occasional special trips to other locations around the Twin Cities.

Photo Gallery

• NP 328 (St. Paul, Minn on August 1, 1937. From the collection of Martin E. Hansen.)
• NP spec/improvemnt card for 328, side 1
• NP spec/improvemnt card for 328, side 2
• NP328 circa 1910 (Photo courtesy Ronald E. Olmstead)

Specifications

References