Frisco 1630 is approaching Seeman Crossing down the line from the Illinois Railway Museum.

San Francisco Railroad (“Frisco”) 1630 is the Illinois Railway Museum’s most famous steam engine. A “Russian Decapod,” it was built in 1918 for export to Russia but was embargoed when the Bolshevik Revolution took place. The “Decapod” is a heavy freight locomotive ideal for low speeds and heavy tonnage.

Instead of going to Russia, the newly completed engine was sold to the Frisco, which used it in both freight and passenger service into the 1950s. The Frisco was later sold to Eagle-Picher Mining, where it was used to haul freight and aggregate trains until the mid-1960s.

Under the smokestack you’ll see the Baldwin builder’s plates in both English and old-style Cyrillic – a holdover from the engine’s intended destination of Imperial Russia.