Lake Superior and Ishpeming 23

In the early 20th century, the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railraod[1] needed locomotives to pull passenger and iron ore trains between West Ishpeming and Marquette.[2] In 1909, to replace their aging fleet of 0-6-0s, the railroad designed and ordered five small 2-8-0s "consolidation" types[3] from the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and they arrived the following year, being numbered 9-13. No. 23 was numbered 9 at the time and was the very locomotive of its class. The railroad expected great power from these little consolidations, as the freight traffic was getting heavier. However, No. 9 and its class mates never met their expectations, because they had multiple problems that nearly plagued them; they had smaller boilers than the slightly older B-4 class locomotives, and they were only capable of 34,000 pounds of tractive effort. Not only that, but their their fireboxes, which were very narrow with a low grate area, were tucked in between the rear set of driving wheels. Without a wide enough firebox to create enough steam, the little consolidations were poor performers compared to the B-4s, or even the 0-6-0s they were intended to replace. They had a bad habit of stalling on grades or giving up when the trains they pulled grew longer, so railroaders often flew curses at them. This earned these locomotives the nickname "Monkie Motions". After a few years of disappointing performance, No. 9 and its classmates were re-assigned for light mixed trains, as stand-by locomotives when there was power needed for extra ore trains, or just use as dock switchers.

In 1924, the LS&I received some additional locomotives, including three more "Monkie Motions", after purchasing the Munising, Marquette and Southeastern Railway. No. 9 and its class mates were reclassified as SC-4s and were renumbered 18-24, albeit No. 9 was renumbered 23, and the number 9 was given to an 1896-built 2-8-0. Between 1928 and 1934, all the SC-4s, with the exception of No. 25, were sent to the railroad's new facility in Presque Isle and completely rebuilt to wipe away most of the problems that nearly plagued them, and No. 23 was the first one to be rebuilt. Their boilers were raised, their fireboxes widened to increate the grate area, they received new super heater cylinders with cylinder saddles, feedwater heater systems, and thermic syphons, their smoke stacks shortened, they received staircases on their pilot decks in a "V" shape, and their domes and bells swapped places. These modifications have vastly improved their performances and efficiency compared to how they did in their older saturated days. As the 1930s progressed, No. 23 was offered the name "Philip Smith", the name of an old engineer who used to work on the Princeton-Munising run. The SC-4s resumed in freight and passenger service on the LS&I’s branch lines between West Ishpeming, Marquette, and Negaunee, during the ore seasons until even the LS&I completed Dieselisation by the end of 1962. By that time, No. 23 was stored as an emergency backup locomotive.

Between 1962 and 1963, the railroad sold twelve of their 2-8-0s, as well as some of their passenger cars, to the Marquette and Huron Mountain Railroad,[4] a Tourist Railroad founded by former LS&I employee Mr. John A. Zerbal.[5] The rails that the M&HM ran on were the LS&I's abandoned "Big Bay Division", which lied between Marquette and Big Bay. The line ran 24 miles with the official count at 25.07 miles long.[6] Mr. Zerbal had plans to operate all of the locomotives he had purchased on the line to help provide intensive services at a resort complex he had planned to serve. However, only four SC-4s ever operated on the M&HM: No. 24 only operated on the M&HM for less than one year right before being purchased by the National Railroad Museum[7] of Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin for static display. Nos 19 and 22 also operated on the M&HM for a short time before being taken out of service in 1966 to join the rest the locomotives in storage as a 'scrapline', but were held for preservation. Only No. 23 operated on the M&HM for the longest time period, and was the main flagship of that line. The M&HM ran a decent trip from a railfan standpoint, but they were too far from a large population to meet their demand for a huge amount of money. Thus, the grand plans for the resort at Big Bay never materialized. August 12, 1974 was the last day No. 23 operated for the M&HM right before they ceased steam operations due to a lack of funds to keep their steamers operable, and they acquired a GE 70-ton diesel switcher for cheaper operational costs. A few years later, even the diesel switcher was retired, as the M&HM ran into some more financial trouble to the point they could no longer afford to operate any trains.

In 1984, Mr. Zerbal passed away, and almost all the 2-8-0s were sold off at auction to pay debts of the estate. The rest of the M&HM was abandoned and eventually ripped up. No. 23 was sold to the Empire State Railway Museum,[8] who moved the locomotive to their property in Kingston, New York in 1985. No. 23 received a partial cosmetic restoration to be placed on static display just outside the Catskill Mountain Railroad's depot.[9] In 2002, the ESRM made considerations about restoring No. 23 to operating condition for use on the CMR, and beginning in the summer 2003, the locomotive was stripped to the boiler shell and running gear.[10] Ultrasound testing was completed with good results, and repairs to the firebox, as well as the tender, began. In 2007, the restoration on No. 23 was estimated to be completed in 2010 for the locomotive's 100th birthday. However, those plans never came to be.[11] In the spring 2016, the locomotive was moved next to the CMR's depot for temporary storage while the ESRM constructed a two-stall car barn to make restoration easier, and in that summer, No. 23 was moved back to ESRM property[12] and pushed inside the partially-finished building safely out of the weather. As of 2021, No. 23 is still awaiting its restoration to be completed. The number plate, headlight, and whistle have been cosmetically restored and put on display inside the museum since May 2020, and the restoration project has slowed down since the Coronavirus Pandemic[13] from early 2020. It will likely be a few more years before No. 23 will be ready to run again.