SOO Line 4-6-2 H-3 #735 is on display at the entrance to Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, North Dakota

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SOO H-3 #735, Minot, ND

This is one of eleven H-3 Class Pacific type (4-6-2) locomotives built at Alco’s Works in Schenectady, NY, between 1911 and 1913 for the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad, more generally known as the Soo Line (#727–#737).

#735 was outshopped in 1913 and started life carrying passengers through Minot, ND. It was retired and presented to the City of Minot in 1956, and is on display at the entrance to Roosevelt Park Zoo. Although visible from the entrance, to get up close, you need to pay for entrance to the zoo.

#735 weighs 259,000 lbs, 158,500 lbs on its 75” drivers (it was built for speed). It has an engine wheelbase of 34’ 7”, driver wheelbase of 13’ 6”, and 25” x 26” cylinders. With a 52.5 sq ft grate and 207.4 sq ft firebox, it has a total heating surface of 4,197 sq ft, provided by two hundred and seventeen 20’ long 2” tubes and 805 sq ft of superheating provided by thirty-five 5⅜” flues.

Apparently built to operate at a boiler pressure of 180 psi, this appears to have later been raised to 200 psi increasing tractive effort from 33,200 lbs to 36,833 lbs.

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The tender weighs 143,000 lbs light with a 7,500 gallon water and 12 ton coal capacity.

Concerns regarding its asbestos lagging meant #735 came close to being buried in a landfill but, by 2004, a fight to save it had resulted in its successful restoration.

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