Like Local 3 News on Facebook:
HANCOCK– The Quincy and Torch Lake Railroad Locomotive #6 was purchased by the Quincy Mining Company in 1912.
“To haul rock down to the stamp mill at Mason and to bring coal up from the coal dock to feed the boilers,” said Chuck Pomazal, Head volunteer, Quincy and Torch Lake Railroad. “This is the largest of the locomotives they had. This is the one that they usually used for hauling on the main line.”
When the mine closed in 1945, Locomotive #6 along with a couple of other engines were put into storage in hopes that the mine would one day reopen.
“But it never did and that’s why in 1975, the Pine Creek Railroad in New Jersey decided to try to borrow it and get it running,” said Pomazal.
But they never got it running. In 2009 people at Quincy, Pomazal and other volunteers acquired the steam engine. It was in great need of repair so the past six years volunteers have renovating it and it’s now complete.
This train is just one part of what is hoped to be a museum one day.
“We’re gonna try to get one of the other locomotives down here on site,” said Pomazal. “We want to restore the water tank that’s over there. Several years ago they got a grant from the Department of Transportation to restore the enginehouse. That was done in like 2010. And we laid some tracks so we can get some other trains displays, maybe some rock cars. But the Locomotive #6 will be the centerpiece of the enginehouse.”
To celebrate the restoration, people gathered today for Railroad Days to learn more about this piece of history.
“It’s a good thing to see some recovery of restoration after all of the years of decline and destruction,” said Pomazal. “For anybody interested in history and historical preservation, this is part of it.”
The open house continues at the enginehouse, which is next to the Quincy Mine tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
