Southern Railway 4501 Story

History

182 2-8-2 "Mikado" type MS class steam locomotives were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the American Locomotive Company, and the Lima Locomotive Works between 1911 and 1917 to haul freight trains for the Southern Railway. They were designed with 63 in (1,600 mm) driving wheels, 53,900 lb (24.4 tonnes) of tractive effort, an operating boiler pressure of 200 psi (1.38 MPa), and their tenders had a capacity of 12 tonnes (12,000 kg) of coal and 8,000 US gallons (30,000 l) of water. Some of these locomotives were equipped with Walschaerts (Nos. 4501-4603, 4624-4635) and Southern valve gears (Nos. 4604-4623). In the 1940s, some of the locomotives were eventually re-equipped with Worthington "S/SA" feedwater heaters, mechanical stokers, bigger sand domes, larger tenders, and multiple-bearing (MB) crossheads.

No. 4501 was built by Baldwin in October 1911 at a cost of US$23,182 as the first of its wheel arrangement type for the Southern Railway (SOU). It worked on many different divisions of the SOU system from Tennessee, to Virginia, to Kentucky, and finally Indiana, hauling freight trains. The locomotive was retired from revenue service and was sent to be stored at a railroad boneyard at the Southern Railway's Princeton Shops in Princeton, Indiana. In October 1948, the Kentucky and Tennessee Railway (K&T), headquartered in Stearns, Kentucky, purchased the 4501 for $8,225.00 and renumbered it as their No. 12. No. 12 worked on the K&T hauling coal trains until 1964, when the K&T purchased three ALCO S-2s diesels from the Denver & Rio Grande Western, thus No. 12, along with the K&T's other steam locomotives, were retired from revenue service.

Railfan Paul H. Merriman bought No. 12 for the 4501 Corporation with $5,000 of his own money and renumbered it back to 4501. On June 6, 1964, after the 4501's journey to Chattanooga from the K&T, an initial restoration was done by Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) volunteers at the facilities of the Lucey Boiler Company in Chattanooga near the TVRM's storage facilities, which were at the time located on former Western Union Company tracks.

No. 4501 was stripped down for an extensive overhaul with the thin cab floor, the rotted ash pan, and the rusty smokebox front replaced. The dented cab roof was straightened and a radio antenna was installed. In addition, the cylinder cocks were reworked and the throttle was lapped with a new airline run to the repacked reversing gear. With the blessing of Southern Railway executives, the 4501 was repainted in a homage Southern Railway passenger Virginian green with gold linings instead of its original freight black livery.

After the restoration was completed in August 1966, the No. 4501 launched its first public run between Chattanooga and Richmond, Virginia officially starting the Southern Railway steam program. In 1969, No. 4501's original tender was replaced by a larger tender, which was originally used behind a Central of Georgia 2-10-2, before being used for a maintenance of way wreck train in Georgia. The new tender holds 18 tonnes (18,000 kg) of coal and 12,500 US gallons (47,000 l) of water, which improved the locomotive's range greatly. At the same time in November, during the 75th anniversary of the Southern Railway, an event called the "Steam-O-Rama" took place in Anniston, Alabama, along the Birmingham to Atlanta main line. It featured No. 4501, Savannah and Atlanta 4-6-2 No. 750, which was restored by the Atlanta Chapter NRHS, and London North Eastern Railway A3 No. 4472 "Flying Scotsman", which was in the course of its USA tour at the time.

In the summer of 1973, No. 4501 was run off of Southern Railway property for a series of excursion trips in the Midwestern United States on the Illinois Central (IC), the Chicago and North Western (CN&W), the Milwaukee Road (MILW), the Rock Island Line (RI), and the Norfolk and Western (N&W). During that time, the locomotive was famously assigned to pull the Schlitz Circus World Museum train via the CNW line between Baraboo, Wisconsin and Madison, Wisconsin and the MILW line to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On March 28, 1979, No. 4501 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.