| Nast Bros. Lime & Stone Co. narrow gauge locomotive and stone car preserved at the Historic Galloway House & Village at Fond du Lac, WI, as seen on 31 May '15. As you can tell by the side of the frame, it was built by the Milwaukee Locomotive Mfg. Co. It had a 26" gauge, a 4-cylinder gasoline engine, and chain drive. This one was purchased in 1917 and was one of three locomotives that replaced horse-drawn cars and worked the quarry at Marblehead until trucks took over the work in 1947. The cars had 1,500 lb. capacity and each locomotive could pull up to six cars. The Milwaukee Locomotive Mfg. Co. faded into history a few years after it was taken over by Whitcomb Locomotive Co. in 1932. The Marblehead quarry was the flagship of the Nast Bros. (William, George and August) operations and was opened in 1880 by their father, William, near the family farm at Eden, WI. The patriarch had originally started a small quarry on the family farm in 1871. Other Nast Bros. quarries included Germantown, Hamilton, Knowles, Kewaunee, and Nasbro, WI. The latter community's name was derived as a contraction of Nast Bros. The Nast Bros. Lime & Stone Co. merged with Western Lime and Cement Co., Union Lime Co., and Empire Lime Co. to become The Western Lime and Cement Co. in 1921. The latter company morphed into Western Lime Corp. at some point and operated as such for many years until it was acquired by Graymont, Ltd. in 2012. |