Sweet Line Railroad Fireless CookerSteam Locomotive

Описание: PLEASE READ ALL OF THE EXPLAINATION BEFORE COMMENTING
THIS VIDEO WAS TAKEN WITH A(AT THE TIME) STATE OF THE ART RCA VHS CAMERA AND TRANSFERRED TO MP4. THERE WERE NO DIGITAL CAMERAS LIKE THERE ARE TODAY. THANKS.

See a fireless Steam Locomotive in action during Carson City Michigan Carson City Days ran on compressed air. Learn how a steam locomotive can make steam with no fire. These were used anywhere as spark from a diesel, steam or electric locomotive could cause an explosion such as a munitions or chemical factory. I was told this came from Proctor & Gamble. It was bough by Dennis & Harold Kellogg from the Kellogg Elevator Company In Carson City. It soon fell to disuse and sat there for years until it was sold or donated to a museum.

SOME SWEET LINE HISTORY
The Sweet Line was named after Mr Sweet to whom was a prominent businessman in Carson City Michigan. Located about 25 miles east of Greenville and on M57, this farming community was served by the Toledo Saginaw & Muskegon Railroad. It was known to railroaders as the “Turkey Trail” because of its many curves. It never made it to Toledo let alone Saginaw, But it did make it to Muskegon via Sparta and Greenville going through Carson City, and Middleton then to Ashley were it joined the Port Huron to Detroit line going through Durand on the Grand Trunk Western. The TS&M was fully merged into the Grand Trunk Western in 1928. After WW2 the TS&M was ripped up east of Walker Road in Muskegon to Greenville. There was a TS&M depot in Moorland Mich which was there until the Muskegon Waste Water facility (Off M46) tore it down. The GTW ran from Greenville to Carson City to Ashley until about the late 1970’s. The GTW wanted to tare up the track through Carson City to Middleton. But the Kellogg brothers bought the line to service their elevator from Carson City East for about 7 miles ending about 1 mile west of Middleton. There they interchanged with the GTW and later the Tuscola & Saginaw Bay. The Sweetline leased an EMD GP7 briefly. But they didn’t have the business to pay for the lease. The Kellogg Brothers rigged up Hi-Rail adapters with motorcar wheels that attached to the bucket of the John Deere Tractor, built an adapter that bolted to the three point hitch with motorcar wheels affixed to a thick steel plate with a modern “Jennings coupler”. They would haul 5 empties from the TS&BY and pull 3 100 ton covered hopper grain cars up hill to the TS&BY interchange at Middleton. All with no air brakes. Brakes were set via an employee manning the hand brake. Later the TS&BY embargoed the Sweet Line and refused to deliver cars even though most derailments I’ve seen there was on “Tissbee” track. The Kellogg Elevator Company went out of business and is in the process of being torn down. There is a tourist line originally called the “Big Little Railroad” but now is simply the Sweet Line Railroad.

Fireless Cooker.
The Kellogg Brothers bought the Fireless cooker. They tried to use steam from the near by Crystal Refining company to run the engine. But their boiler didn’t have the steam capacity or high enough water and steam temperatures for it to work. So once a year during the Carson City Days Motorcar meet, they mounted a large air compressor on a small flat car and pressurize the “boiler”. After three hours, they get 100 PSI and pull an empty 100 ton grain hopper car back & forth with the compressor running. The Engine sat at Carson City for years not running. It was sold or donated to a museum. The location I do not know.