Steam Locomotive NS&W #76

This locomotive is a 0-8-0 steam engine originally built in 1929, by the Baldwin Locomotive Works as switcher #8376 for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad.

When retired from service in the Detroit area in 1958, this engine, along with 15 other similar locomotives, was sold as scrap. However, the owner of the nearby Northwestern Steel & Wire (NS&W) Company in Sterling, Illinois, was both a steam fan and shrewd businessman. Instead of melting down these locomotives, he ordered them renovated to replace the aging locomotives that were internally switching in his sprawling steel mill. This particular locomotive was brought out of storage, restored, and officially re-commissioned in 1976, as NS&W #76, making it the last steam engine to be commissioned for regular freight service (industrial switching) in America. This renovated switcher then worked in daily service until the mill owner's death in 1980. Corporate interests at the steel mill soon thereafter ended this country's last industrial application of regular daily steam locomotive service.

Ultimately, after this second retirement, the locomotive was obtained by the Amboy Depot Commission and moved to a place of honor in front of the depot where it is maintained in static display.