The Atlantic Club – 501(c)(3)
BECOME A PART OF THE ATLANTIC CLUB AT RIVERSIDE AND GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY. DONATE TODAY TO BECOME A PART OF OUR HISTORY!
PURPOSE
Atlantic type 4-4-2 locomotives 128 and 127 were the main motive power on the Riverside & Great Northern Railway from 1949 to 1980. With the addition of 129, we have an oil-fired Atlantic that will give us another aspect of steam locomotive operation. When 128 and 127 eventually return to service we will have three powerful locomotives to pull longer trains. But we need funding to get these locomotives into service, so we’ve established The Atlantic Club to fund the rebuilding and maintaining of the R&GN’s Atlantics.
Atlantic Type 4-4-2 Locomotive
#127
Atlantic type 4-4-2 locomotives 128 and 127 were the main motive power on the Riverside & Great Northern Railway from 1949 to 1980. With the addition of 129, we have an oil-fired Atlantic that will give us another aspect of steam locomotive operation. When 128 and 127 eventually return to service we will have three powerful locomotives to pull longer trains. But we need funding to get these locomotives into service, so we’ve established The Atlantic Club to fund the rebuilding and maintaining of the R&GN’s Atlantics.
Atlantic type 4-4-2 locomotives 128 and 127 were the main motive power on the Riverside & Great Northern Railway from 1949 to 1980. With the addition of 129, we have an oil-fired Atlantic that will give us another aspect of steam locomotive operation. When 128 and 127 eventually return to service we will have three powerful locomotives to pull longer trains. But we need funding to get these locomotives into service, so we’ve established The Atlantic Club to fund the rebuilding and maintaining of the R&GN’s Atlantics.
#128
Built at the Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works Janesville shop in 1948 at a cost of $16,000 (Model Trains magazine, “A Model Railroad You Can Ride” June 1955), 128 is a 15” gauge 4-4-2 coal-fired steam locomotive inspired by the class D “Atlantic” passenger locomotives of the Chicago & North Western Railway. 128 was at the R&GN from the beginning to the end of operations under Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works management. There have been modifications over the years. Photos show a variety of minor changes in paint schemes. In January 1950 the Sandley-designed rotary valve gear was revised and then in a 1961 rebuild replaced with P.R.R. style Walschaerts valve gear. In 1951 the nameplate “North Star” was added to her running boards. In 1964 she received the “High Skyline” profile, which means a taller cab, steam dome casing, sandbox, and smokestack. Because of financial difficulties (since 1978 the Sandley Works had been on the market for sale) in 1981 the Sandleys made arrangements with Steam Railways, Inc. to build a 15-inch gauge railway at the Knoxville Zoo in Knoxville, Tennessee, which included 128 and several coaches. During service there, at two separate times, 128 rolled over because of going too fast into a curve. Because of the damage from the second rollover, she was taken out of service in 1988. In 1990 R&GN member Ron Krawczyk purchased 128 from the Knoxville Zoo for eventual use at the R&GN. When Ron passed away in 2007 Ron’s wife Fran donated 128 to the R&GN in 2008 in memory of Ron. In 2019 work began on the restoration of 128 with a planned return to service in time for the 2025 season.
#1916
No. 1916, a 15″ gauge 4-4-2 Class D Atlantic type steam locomotive was built in 1961 for the Milwaukee County Zoo. The Milwaukee Journal Company paid $29,646 for the 1916. The name Harry J. Grant (1881-1963) on the sides of 1916’s cab refers to the Milwaukee Journal’s chairman of the board, who started with the Journal as an advertising manager in 1916, which is also the number assigned to the locomotive. In January 2024 the Zoo sold 1916 to the R&GN.
