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Description
[Portrait of locomotives of Iron Mountain Railway and miners taken at Keswick, Ca. in circa 1898] "The engines shown belonged to the Iron Mountain Railway, incorporated July, 17th, 1895. The photo have reportedly and was taken in the yards of the company at Keswick, Ca. in 1898. The Iron Mountain Railway was built to the so-called harrow gauge, 36 inches. Standard gauge (the width between the rails inside measurements0 is 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches. In the photo, you can see the third rail in the track in the foreground; the 3-rail track came about in this way. The railway from the mines at Iron Mountain to the smelters at Keswick was built to narrow gauge, a distance of about 12 miles, to facilitate shipping, an additional 2 miles or so of 3-rail trackage was constructed from Keswick to a junction with Keswick smelter. The ore from the mines was hauled down a crooked grade with a maximum grade of 3.75% over 3-foot gauge trackage. The line opened for service on February 1st, 1896. The first five locomotives, three of which appear in the photo, were built by the H. K. Porter Locomotive Works, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They were of the 0-4-4 type (having no leading truck, four driving wheels, and four trailing wheels) and were of the saddle tank style, carrying water for their use in tanks mounted over their boilers; originally woodburners, (as in the photo), they were converted to oil burners about 1901. They were numbered 1 through 5; the road later acquired 5 shay geared engines for use on the steep grades leading from Iron Mountain to Keswick."
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