Substantial restoration work was actually completed towards the end of 2016 but the locomotive's first appearance in public service at IRM will likely be this coming weekend for Members Day. This is a unique piece of equipment, as it is the only existing locomotive built by McGuire-Cummings. That firm built a number of similar steeplecabs for a variety of interurban lines, many of them in Iowa (for some reason McG-C was popular among Iowa lines), but most examples succumbed relatively early.
This locomotive was originally acquired by IRM in 1972 as a parts source but its historic significant was recognized fairly quickly and it was retained, in dead storage for many years and then as the subject of a restoration effort that lasted some 15 years. It was designed for operation on either 600v or 1200v DC with the air compressor running off 1200v while the motors and control ran off of 600v via a dynamotor. The restoration has replaced the original CP-30 air compressor with a 600v example of the same type and has simply wired around the dynamotor to feed the various 600v systems, leaving the dynamotor itself in place as a relic.
This locomotive was originally acquired by IRM in 1972 as a parts source but its historic significant was recognized fairly quickly and it was retained, in dead storage for many years and then as the subject of a restoration effort that lasted some 15 years. It was designed for operation on either 600v or 1200v DC with the air compressor running off 1200v while the motors and control ran off of 600v via a dynamotor. The restoration has replaced the original CP-30 air compressor with a 600v example of the same type and has simply wired around the dynamotor to feed the various 600v systems, leaving the dynamotor itself in place as a relic.
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