Steam engines don't work underwater. (Photo: Terry Irvine/YouTube)
When we think of sunken wrecks, we usually flash on some downed Spanish galleon waiting to be discovered in the murky depths. But sometimes a shipwreck is a train. As Michigan Live is reporting, some wreck hunters recently discovered a locomotive at the bottom of Lake Superior that sank over a century ago.
The Canadian Pacific Railway Locomotive No. 694 was chugging along in 1910 when it collided with a rocks that had covered the tracks. The crash sent the train careening into Lake Superior, taking the lives of three crewmen, one of whom died trying to jump from the train before it hit the rocks. Once derailed, it fell 60 feet into the waters, where it remained undisturbed until just recently.
In 2014, a small team of shipwreck hunters discovered a number of the train’s boxcars, but the locomotive remained elusive. However, last month, another team of hunters was able to locate the locomotive using the previous teams coordinates. The steamer was hiding over 230 feet below the surface amongst a field of boulders.
Initially, the hope was that if the locomotive was found it could be dredged up and placed on display. But the train was so damaged and destroyed that the salvagers seem content to just leave it where it lays.