"Reuben Wells" 1868 0-10-0T loco for 5.9% Madison Incline -- and -- Madison Incline renovation

I found another photo of the "Reuben Wells" in 0-8-0T configuration. Information is scarce, but apparently it was first built as an 0-8-0T and soon modified to an 0-10-0T to lighten the axle load. Note that the saddle tank was removed, also.

http://madisoncamerunning.com/Holly/Rails.html

James and Dolly were the 8588 and 8589, the two specially equipped SD7 built for this specific assignment.....with factory weight at 373 K   plus whatever was added by PRR with the rail washer system and other goodies. They packed 567 BC engines and 65:12 stump puller gears plus full dynamic, of course.  They spent a good amount of time in Indy, as heavy transfer - switcher type power, when not needed down on the Ohio. An old head told us, back in the day, that they were the "startingest" machines the Penn ever owned !

I just watched a short You Tube video of a kid flying a drone in the "Cut" on the Madison Railroad. He made the flight video, I believe it was in mid summer of 2014, and they were at that time, regrading, and laying all new track from the top of the hill down to the main part of Madison, Ind.

They must have gotten a very large grant of some sort to do that job, as I was thru that neck of the woods back in late 2012, and you couldn't get a train or anything else down that grade. There were major landslides, and wash outs, above and through the old cut........

CarGuyZM10 posted:

I would imagine that the big space between the drivers would be for the ashpan.

 

Thanks for sharing

Not just the ash pan - the space is for the entire firebox.

Interestingly and rarely seen except with Porters - the steam dome is inside the cab.

Some discussion and picture links here: were there two incline locomotives? There's a photo of the 0-8-0T with a nameplate that says "M D Bright" or similar, and the two numbers; 435 and 635. Any ideas?

http://www.in.gov/library/exhi...es/JeffersonCo11.jpg

http://indianarailroads.org/bo...ndex.php?topic=690.0

http://madisoncamerunning.com/Gallery5/RAILROAD.html

I found some more pieces of info:

"America's Steepest Railroad: Pennsy's Madison Hill takes honors at 5.89 percent" Elmer G.Sulzer

7012 ft of track, climbs 412 ft for a grade of 5.89% ...

"The first successful steam engine on the incline was the MC Bright [0-8-0 type] built by Baldwin. 5 cylinders, 2 inclined 15.5"x20" to power eight 42" Driving wheels. 2 cylinders 17"x 18" placed vertical over the boiler, midway between the firebox and the smoke box, the connecting rods worked by these cylinders joined with cranks on a shaft under the boiler, this shaft carried a single cog wheel which engaged another of about twice its diameter on a second shaft adjacent to it , and in the same plane. The cog wheel on this latter shaft worked in a rack rail placed in the center of the track. The fifth cylinder by means of a Rube Goldberg arrangement, raised and lowered the cog wheel that engaged the rack rail." This arrangement was used from 1848 to 1868.

The Reuben Wells was originally built as an 0-8-0,  JM&I #645 was rebuilt as an 0-10-0, in 1910 another 0-8-0 was added to assist the Reuben Wells.

Reference: TRAINS, July 1962

These pics from Firewood's third link:    http://madisoncamerunning.com/Gallery5/RAILROAD.html

The way the incline was built in a straight line suggests there may have been plans for cable haulage.

"Reuben Wells" was "subbed" by the "M.G. Bright" which ran the hill road until a Sunday morning in 1877 when water tipping off the crown sheet during the descent triggered a thunderous explosion that killed two. The line saw its first coal burner in 1895. Engine #8434 served the incline until 1932, assisted by other locomotives.

http://www.oldmadison.com/madview2.html

Same pic with legible nameplate but fewer details beyond the loco.

Brandy posted:

I just watched a short You Tube video of a kid flying a drone in the "Cut" on the Madison Railroad. He made the flight video, I believe it was in mid summer of 2014, and they were at that time, regrading, and laying all new track from the top of the hill down to the main part of Madison, Ind.

They must have gotten a very large grant of some sort to do that job, as I was thru that neck of the woods back in late 2012, and you couldn't get a train or anything else down that grade. There were major landslides, and wash outs, above and through the old cut........

Is this the video? Made August 6, 2014. Appears to be construction of new track on the Madison Incline.

Railroad Incline, Madison IN

Bizarre news: it appears that the Madison Incline and railroad tracks have had a cosmetic restoration !   New ties and new ballast with old rails!

Madison Railroad receives grant to improve incline for hikers

Although safety and historic preservation are the main concerns behind the incline project, Sedam Contracting’s work will restore the area’s aesthetic qualities as well. Corrected rails will be put in with the new ties, making the historic section of the railroad appear operable.
“We won’t be running a train down the incline,” Hale said, “but it will look like we could.”

... The Madison Railroad has other improvements in mind, including a pending grant that, if received, would fund the replacement of 4.7 miles of lightweight rail ... New rails of consistent weight would make the Madison line adequate for industrial development and related business, which, Hale said, is “good for the local economy.”

Great find there ACE!

That makes a lot of since, as I thought when watching the drone video the 1st time, the fill /ballast didn't look like anything that a railroad would use. They did do a real nice job on the relay though.

I guess that they are hoping for more grant monies to make additional rail work at the top of the hill, back toward the Old Jefferson Proving Ground.

It supprised me that, they didn't keep that line open all the way to the Power Plant on the river. I used to know some folks that were operators at that plant.

It maybe one that they are going to switch to gas fired operation, but who knows!!!!

Thanks again ACE, for your post!............... 

I have been to the Indianapolis Children's Museum several times. The display is really nice. They have a nice little G Scale mock up of the Madison Line and a nice collection of Pre and Post War Lionel.

Some info about the locomotives that preceded the Reuben Wells on the Madison Incline:

http://www.gearedsteam.com/bal...n_n_indianapolis.htm

From: Illustrated catalogue of Baldwin Locomotives - First Published by J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1881

"Forty-two engines were completed in 1846, and thirty-nine in 1847. The only novelty to be noted among them was the engine "M. G. Bright," built for operating the inclined plane on the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad ... A similar machine, the "John Brough," for the same plane, was built by Mr. Baldwin in 1850. The incline was worked with a rack-rail and these engines until it was finally abandoned and a line with easier gradients substituted."

The last sentence appears to be in error because the incline continued to operate on the same alignment with the Reuben Wells loco, but without the rack rail, after 1868. Construction was begun on an alternate line with easier grades but it was never completed due to cost overruns.

I always wondered why, after riding the Cass Railroad in Wv, that the Madison Group didn't opt for a Shay, Heisler,or Climax geared locomotive. 

There are a couple of grades at Cass, that are 9+%. Those little geared locomotives don't have any problems what so ever. 

Yeah I know, what about the tonnage! That varies do to ridership,as well as, more loaded cars more locomotives!

I remember taking a trip there with my folks when I was a kid, and remember seeing a Pennsy Steam locomotive down in town with a string of freight cars. I don't remember what the wheel arrangement that that locomotive had, other than it had a very large air tank just above cow catcher/pilot!

This is still a great post, thanks again ACE! 

Ace posted:

"Reuben Wells" was "subbed" by the "M.G. Bright" which ran the hill road until a Sunday morning in 1877 when water tipping off the crown sheet during the descent triggered a thunderous explosion that killed two. 

Same pic with legible nameplate but fewer details beyond the loco.

Well, that's interesting. If the Bright was running firebox-downhill on this incline, (which would be normal operating procedure I guess) you would think that the crown sheet would be covered with water all the time. I wonder if there were circumstances where the substitute engine was forced to run firebox-uphill, (against all advice maybe) and the firebox crown seeing no water and overheating.

http://www.herculesengines.com...ction/Boiler%202.jpg

ACE, great post!

Brandy posted:

I always wondered why, after riding the Cass Railroad in Wv, that the Madison Group didn't opt for a Shay, Heisler,or Climax geared locomotive. 

 

The Reuben Wells was built in 1868, the Shay was invented in 1877 (although Ephriam Shay built his own personal prototype in 1875 to move logs on his property) and patented in 1881. 

The Climax was patented in 1891, the Heisler in 1892.

Simply put, the geared locomotives weren't around when the incline was built.

Rusty

Firewood posted:

Ace posted:

"Reuben Wells" was "subbed" by the "M.G. Bright" which ran the hill road until a Sunday morning in 1877 when water tipping off the crown sheet during the descent triggered a thunderous explosion that killed two. 

Same pic with legible nameplate but fewer details beyond the loco. 

 Well, that's interesting. If the Bright was running firebox-downhill on this incline, (which would be normal operating procedure I guess) you would think that the crown sheet would be covered with water all the time. I wonder if there were circumstances where the substitute engine was forced to run firebox-uphill, (against all advice maybe) and the firebox crown seeing no water and overheating.

http://www.herculesengines.com...ction/Boiler%202.jpg

The comment about "water tipping off the crown sheet during the descent" suggests to me that the explosion happened when the track leveled out at the bottom of the incline. Like they didn't allow for the sudden shift of water level. That's my guess, anyway.

I was in Madison, Indiana, last week and took some pictures of the Madison Hill Incline and Cut.  The cosmetic restoration is complete and looks really nice.

Cheers!

Keith

Hi Keith! you should have rotated your pictures 90 degrees, my neck hurts now!

Sorry about that...

Actually, I had rotated and saved the pictures on my computer before attaching them to my post, but when I attached them, they rotated back.  When I attach them to an email, they stay rotated.  Any ideas?

Cheers!

Keith

Keith, Thanks for the on-site report. It's curious how the tracks have been cosmetically restored for a hiking trail!

I saw your sideways pics, wish you could repost them. Depending on the program you used to rotate them, different programs might still see the pics as not rotated. I use "Windows Live Photo Gallery" (standard feature with Windows 7) to rotate and crop pics without issues. Might help to also rename the pic when you modify it, so it doesn't get confused with the original by other programs.

The last time I was there, in early 2015, I don't remember much evidence of wharves or warehouses this line served.  I also don't remember the station that I thought was a little way up the slope from the river at a right angle to the grade and cut.  When a teenager, I vaguely remember seeing a diesel in the cut, but don't remember buildings other than that station or where the line and engine went.    There was/is? an antique mall in a building down there, but on one earlier trip (within last ten years) I was looking for info on the brewery and did not look for info on the incline or its industry.  I wonder if there are any photos around of the buildings/industries  served, goods being transported from riverboats to rail, etc.?

The station is still there.  It's a small but neat railroad museum (it even includes a small HO layout).  I think the antique mall is closed.  I'm not sure, but a few buildings that may have been warehouses are still there.  The last time the incline was used was in 1992, when the power plant in Madison shipped a large transformer down the incline to the plant, which is to the west of the incline.  They spent $100,000 to fix the line for the move.

Cheers!

Keith

The Madison Incline was part of the first railroad to be constructed in Indiana, essentially to provide a connection from the river port at Madison to inland parts of the state. The line became of secondary importance early on, as other railroad networks developed and diminished the preeminence of river transport.

http://abandonedonline.net/loc...-lafayette-railroad/

The incline section was built relatively steep but straight to climb out of the river valley, I suspect because cable haulage was envisioned by the original planners.

It appears the recent efforts to preserve the line are a recognition of its historical significance in development of the state.

Perhaps someone else would like to elaborate on this historical-summary-in-a-nutshell.