Chicago and North Western 1385 is an R-1 class "Ten-Wheeler" type steam locomotive owned by the Mid-Continent Railway Museum (MCRY). Built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in March 1907, the locomotive was one of 325 R-1s to be built for the Chicago and North Western Railway (CN&W) throughout the 1900s. The R-1s were among the most reliable classes of steam locomotives the C&NW rostered, and they could travel all across their network and serve various purposes, such as freight locomotives, passenger locomotives and switchers.
No. 1385 was mainly used to pull freight trains until 1956, when it was retired from the C&NW's roster, but it was briefly used as a stationary boiler for a short period afterward. In 1961, the original members of the MCRY purchased No. 1385 for $2,600 scrap value, and the locomotive was moved to the museum's original location in Hillsboro, Wisconsin. In 1963, No. 1385 was moved again to the MCRY's current location in North Freedom, Wisconsin, and the R-1 locomotive began pulling tourist trains between North Freedom and the end of the MCRY's line at a disused quartzite quarry.
In 1981, the C&NW was exploring public relations options before they reached an agreement with the MCRY to lease and operate No. 1385 for their steam program. The first train of the program, which was a promotion of the C&NW's rolling stock upgrades, took place in May 1982. From 1985 to 1987, No. 1385 pulled the Circus World Museum train between Baraboo and Milwaukee, for the annual circus parade events. By 1988, the C&NW's steam program was discontinued, due to liability insurance issues. No. 1385 continued to run on MCRY's trackage, and it also pulled some mainline excursion trains on other nearby railroads, such as the Wisconsin and Southern.
In 1998, No. 1385 was removed from service, since it was due for boiler and running gear repairs. Repairs were subsequently halted, due to a lack of funding, and No. 1385 was stored while the MCRY focused on other priorities. In 2011, the MCRY began to perform a complete rebuild on No. 1385, using a portion of a matching grant the museum received. SPEC Machine was hired to perform most of the repairs on the locomotive. As of 2026, No. 1385's rebuild is nearly completed, and it is scheduled to return to service sometime within the year.
Design and abilities
Throughout the 1890s, the Chicago and North Western Railroad (C&NW) experimented with different firebox designs to upgrade their steam locomotive roster. In 1899, it created a new boiler design with a firebox that would sit above the rear driving wheels, and it came with a working pressure of . After testing the new boiler on its D Class 4-4-2 "Atlantics" the following year, the C&NW designed the R-1 class 4-6-0 "ten-wheeler" locomotive; it would be equipped with diameter driving wheels and cylinders, and it would be capable of producing a tractive effort of .
While the R-1s were being developed, freight and passenger traffic began to constantly grow for various railroads, including the C&NW. Beginning in 1901, the C&NW ordered and received R-1 class 4-6-0s from the American Locomotive Company's (ALCO) Schenectady works and the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The first R-1s were originally built with cast iron materials, Stephenson valve gear motion with four-bar crosshead guides, and a small tender capacity of of water and of coal. They were so large and heavy that their route availabilities were drastically limited, and the C&NW had to restructure their trackage, bridges, and roundhouse stalls to accommodate them. The restructuring process was later completed in 1939, and the locomotives were able to travel all across the railway's network.
In 1902, the R-1 design was upgraded with steel materials and alligator crosshead guides, and the changes were applied to all R-1s built afterward. In 1905, the tender design was also upgraded to carry of water and of coal. The final major modification applied to the R-1s during their construction was the application of Walschaerts valve gear; 40 of the final 65 locomotives built in 1907 and 1908 were applied with Walschaerts instead of Stephenson. After the final orders were completed in 1908, the C&NW had rostered 325 R-1s, making them the most manufactured class of steam locomotives on the railroad.
The large size and tractive effort of the R-1s made them the most powerful locomotives on the C&NW until the introduction of the Z Class 2-8-0s in 1909. The R-1s were originally used as dual-service locomotives, being assigned to pull mainline passenger and freight trains in Wisconsin. After 1920, the R-1s were mostly relegated to branch line and switching services. Some of them were modified with steam heating equipment to continue pulling passenger trains, including the connecting section of the Flambeau 400 and the C&NW's commuter services around Chicago.
History
Revenue service No. 1385 was one of twenty-five R-1s to be built by ALCO in March 1907—the first of four batches of R-1s to be built throughout that year. The locomotive was mostly assigned by the C&NW to work within the Lake Shore Division, which consisted of routes that led to iron ore mines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In March 1931, No. 1385 was sent to Ashland, Wisconsin, to be rebuilt with a superheater; a modification that the C&NW had applied to most of the R-1s since 1915. No. 1385's last commercial assignment on the railroad was to serve as a yard switcher at Iron Mountain, Michigan, before it was taken out of service in 1956, when the C&NW completely dieselized their locomotive roster.
Since it still had serviceable flues in its boiler, No. 1385 was towed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where it was used as a stationary boiler at a C&NW-owned freight house. In early 1959, the R-1 was towed again to Escanaba, where its boiler was used to thaw frozen iron ore. No. 1385 was also retained as a backup for steam heating passenger trains. By 1961, with the C&NW acquiring electric generator cars, No. 1385's steam heating capabilities were deemed obsolete. By that time, No. 1385 was one of only two R-1 locomotives remaining under C&NW's possession, with the other being No. 175, and the company wanted to sell them both off.
Early preservation years In 1960, members of the Railway Historical Society of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, entered negotiations with the C&NW about acquiring one of the two R-1s. The Historical Society decided that buying the still-operable No. 1385 locomotive was the better option, since the railroad offered to sell it for its scrap value of $2,600, while they asked for more money for No. 175. To raise funds, the Society formed the Enginemen's Operating Club; each member would be asked to loan $100 to the society for two years, and any contributor would be rewarded with privileges to operate No. 1385.
Twenty-nine members contributed to the Historical Society's needs, and they purchased No. 1385 from the C&NW on November 24, 1961. Simultaneously, the Historical Society reached an agreement with the Hillsboro and Northeastern Railway (H&NE) to have their collection relocated to Hillsboro, and the group changed its name to the Mid-Continent Railway Museum (MCRY). In early 1962, No. 1385 was moved from Escanaba to Hillsboro, and it was repainted for display. On May 26, the museum hosted its grand opening ceremony, and a celebration train operated between Hillsboro and the C&NW-H&NE interchange at Union Center.
No. 1385 was scheduled to pull the celebration train, but shortly beforehand, inspectors from the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) had ruled the R-1 would be unsafe to run unless necessary repairs were made, so it was left on display while an H&NE diesel locomotive had to pull the train. By the end of 1962, the MCRY decided to relocate their collection again. Simultaneously, the C&NW obtained permission to abandon their Rattlesnake Line, a branch line that lies between North Freedom and a quartzite quarry near Rattlesnake. The MCRY bought the Rattlesnake Line from the railroad on May 17, 1963, and after the museum performed some minor repairs on No. 1385, the locomotive began operating for their first excursion season on the branch on May 27.
By the end of 1963, No. 1385 began experiencing boiler problems, so it was removed from service while the MCRY's trains continued to be hauled by other locomotives. In the early 1970s, work began to return the R-1 to active service. During the process, No. 1385's original tender, which held a capacity of of water and of coal, was found to be in poor condition, so the MCRY searched for a replacement. In 1972, the museum purchased a smaller tender (No. X-263579) from the C&NW; it had been paired with an older R-1, holding a capacity of of water and of coal.
No. 1385 returned to service for the MCRY on July 29, 1973, and it would be paired with the smaller tender for the next several years. A decision was also made to reduce the R-1's boiler pressure from to for the tourist operations. As the museum acquired and leased other steam locomotives, including Dardanelle and Russellville No. 9 and Western Coal and Coke No. 1, No. 1385 would swap places with them as it rotated in and out of service.
Chicago and North Western steam program
By July 1981, the bankruptcy of the Milwaukee Road generated public relations issues for other railroads within the Upper Midwest, and C&NW management explored ways to publicize their company's healthy operations. Chris Burger, the manager of the C&NW's Wisconsin Division, proposed an idea of a steam program to James A. Zito, the railroad's vice president of operations, and James R. Wolfe, the railroad's president. Burger felt No. 1385 would be the ideal locomotive for the program. While Wolfe envisioned the benefits, he felt the company couldn't afford to host a full-blown program with the state of the economy at the time. Burger then proposed a limited operation on the Wisconsin Division during the 1982 National Transportation Week, which Zito and Wolfe approved.
Burger approached the MCRY's board of directors about the C&NW leasing No. 1385 for the event, and he requested the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to inspect the R-1 for eligibility to operate on the mainline. The MCRY board approved the lease, and the FRA gave their approval, but they stated that the running gear required repairs, first. Since such repairs required a drop pit, Burger contacted the C&NW's repair facility in Green Bay, where railroaders with steam experience, including motive power foreman Al Kawalek, were still employed. To prepare No. 1385 for long distance operations, MCRY crews extended the coal boards on the tender for extra coal capacity, they paired the locomotive with a Milwaukee Road auxiliary car for extra water capacity, and they installed a multiple-unit device to control diesel locomotives. The R-1 left North Freedom for a two-day run to Green Bay on April 9, 1982, and the journey was unannounced to avoid attracting public attention. After it arrived in Green Bay, Kawalek's volunteer crews used a drop pit to remove the driving wheels and axle boxes from the locomotive for reworking, and they performed some minor repairs on the tender. On May 11, No. 1385 performed a test run northward to Oconto, where it subsequently met a southbound C&NW inspection train, led by EMD F7 diesels and hosted by the railroad's Vice President of Transportation, Edward Burkhardt. Upon arrival in Oconto, the F7s broke down, and Burger arranged to have No. 1385 pull the inspection train to Green Bay, with Burkhardt serving as the engineer.