|
 |
DM&N Ry Toolcar X-3000
History
Exhibited alongside the Groningen depot is one of the rarest items at the Ironhorse Central: Duluth, Missabe & Northern tool car W-3000 (later X-3000). This unique car spent all of its working life on the Iron Range, first working for the Duluth, Missabe & Northern and then for successor Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range. Preserved by the Ironhorse Central in 1998, today it’s being restored back to the way it looked in the 1920s.
Through much research the museum has determined that X-3000 started life as a DM&N boxcar, built in May of 1892 by the Duluth Manufacturing Company of Duluth, Minnesota. The build date comes from looking at information written in the original DM&N equipment registers as well as older photographs of the car, some of which have this date stenciled on the side. We know that boxcar No. 3000 was the first one of the “L” series boxcars ordered by the Duluth, Missabe and Northern, which were numbered 3000 to 3034. The original records that shows that the “L” series cars were ordered in 1892. They were probably received fall of 1892 and spring of 1893. According to Railroad records as of October of 1892 there were 394 new cars “in service” or “on order”, 200 of them being 25 ton ore cars.
By 1906, according to a DM&N equipment book, the “L” cars became “M” cars. This book also gives a “received” date of 1893, which is probably when the last of the order arrived and they began revenue service.. Two cars from the “L” series, Nos. 3011 and the 3019, were reconstructed into refrigerator cars Nos. 5000 and 5001. According to the 1895 DM&N equipment book these cars weighed 25,800 pounds and had a capacity of 50,000 pounds; they were equipped with Westinghouse air brakes, cast drawheads, and swing motion trucks.
In 1896 the DM&N received 10 more boxcars built by Pullman. The missing 3011 and 3019 numbers were replaced, and the new order and subsequent orders continued to 3042.
To save money (The panic of ’93 caused some heartache.) some of the earlier boxcars were transferred to and from wrecking service and thus car 3000 was assigned to the Wrecking Department at this time. The 3000 made its first appearance as a tool car in the May 1896 issue of the Official Railway Equipment Register. In the previous edition of the register (April 1896) car 3000 is listed as a boxcar, but as of the May 1896 issue boxcar 3000 is absent and tool car W-3000 is present in the wrecking department list. (Flat car 2000 is also missing from the list and W-2000 is present in the Wrecking Department). Tool car W-3000 appears from that point on in the ORER list.
In April of 1900 No. 3000 was completely rebuilt by the DM&N at Proctor, Minnesota for wrecker service, at the cost of $794.65. This information was acquired from the original DM&N construction expense registers (in particular, April 1900) and from the DM&N work car history reports that date from the 1890s to the 1930s. Car W-3000 was stripped down and rebuilt; the length and the width were increased. The changes were made to accommodate end platforms, and the width increase was made for insulation purposes (thicker walls and inside tar paper made a noticeable difference in the cold Northern Minnesota weather). The other end of the W-3000 was outfitted with a tool storage area.
To add room for a sleeping area and probably to keep the sliding door in the very center of the car, both ends were increased by 1-foot, 9-inches; this length increase is visible when viewing the car from the inside. Beam splices are visible inside each end. The height was unchanged at 11-feet, 9 ½ inches. During the rebuild the W-3000’s trucks were changed from the older archbar swing hanger style to Barber swing motion trucks, which were invented in the 1890’s. Other parts such as truss rods, sliding doors, and end doors probably came from DM&N cabooses 7 and 13, also built by the Duluth Manufacturing Company, which were 36-foot and 41-foot cabooses that had been dismantled around the time the W-3000 was rebuilt. To accommodate the Barber trucks, the W-3000’s center pin-to-center pin distance increased by 1-foot, 5 inches to lengthen the wheelbase.
Interestingly, the W-3000 retained its cast drawheads with link and pin couplers until just before 1906, when it was outfitted with Chicago (knuckle) couplers. Records indicate that around 1911 the W-3000’s Barber trucks were replaced with “T” class trucks from ore car No. 7275, which was part of a series built in 1900 that were retired between 1910 to 1912. On the end with the bunks the coil springs were replaced with leaf springs for a more comfortable ride.
In 1925 the W-3000 was shopped again and fitted with a steel center sill, and the roof was likely rebuilt at that time to cover the entire platform. Steel ends and ladders were added along with Miner brakes. The “T” class trucks were still in good shape and were not changed out. The number was changed at that time from W-3000 to X-3000, and the car was assigned to crane W-5. It remained in this configuration for the duration of its career on the Missabe, with the exception of being renumbered back to W-3000 in 1937 when the Duluth & Iron Range and the the Duluth, Missabe & Northern were merged to become the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range.
Car W-3000 was periodically repainted over the years. Originally painted brown, it later wore gray, yellow, and red as the DM&IR changed the colors used on its MOW equipment.
The last modification to the W-3000 came in the 1960’s when the end ladders were cut off and the catwalk was removed. After nearly 100 years of service, the DM&IR retired and donated the W-3000 to the Lake Superior Museum of Transportation around 1989. At the time it was one of the last wooden cars in use on a major railroad in the United States.
Deemed surplus by the Duluth museum, W-3000 was acquired in 1998 and trucked to Chisago City, where it was put on display at the Ironhorse Central Railroad Museum. Restoration is ongoing; it received a one piece rubber roof in 1999, and was lettered X-3000 and Duluth, Missabe & Northern in 2003. At the present time the car is being sanded and primed for another new coat of paint.
|
|
|
|
|
