Grand Trunk Western No. 5030 is a Class J-3b 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1912 for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad.
No. 5030 had been involved in a notorious train wreck, known as the "Knights Templar Special Train Crash" on June 5, 1923. Due to poor ballast conditions the train jumped the tracks destroying the first two cars and derailing all but two of the cars behind it a mile west of Durand, Michigan. Five people lost their lives in the accident and an additional twenty-seven were injured. No. 5030 was later rel-railed, repaired, and returned to service.
The engine was donated to the City of Jackson, Michigan in 1957 when it was retired from service, going on display in North Lawn Park just off Lansing Ave next to a historical marker.
In January 2021, the locomotive was sold to the Colebrookdale Railroad, a Pennsylvania tourist line, for eventual restoration to operation for use in tourist excursion service.
Trivia[]
- This is one of Thirty-nine of these relatively small but handsome Class J-3-a Pacifics were delivered to the Grand Trunk Western Railroad over a two-year period, #100-#118 from the Baldwin Locomotive Works and #5030-#5050 from the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1912.
- At least twenty-three, including #5030, were later equipped with new boilers with substantial changes, including a 24% reduction in the small tube count from one hundred and eighty-one to one hundred and thirty-nine.
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