The ex Ääänekoski-Suolahden Railway H.K. Porter locomotive which has undergone a very long renovation was steamed up for the first time in 39 years on Saturday the 11th of June. The locomotive which has been in steam last time in 1966 had the fire lighted up at 9 o'clock Saturday morning and it was by early afternoon the steam pressure was at maximum of 12 kg/m2.
The heating of a locomotive built in 1901 in the United States went fine according to the Chief Mechanician Juha-Pekka Viitanen. Some difficulties came of the broken o-ring gasket of the right hand side cylinder which made it impossible to make a test run with the locomotive. There were similar problems already more than hundred years ago when the locomotive was first tested at Äänekoski-Suolahden Railway. The new date for the test run will be on the second half of June.
The locomotive will be taken in use at the Minkiö Steam Festival on Sunday 31st of July. Then the public has a possibility to take footplate rides in the locomotive.