Steam Locomotives
on Display

 

Albany. Georgia Northern No. 107.

Atlanta. The Texas, famous locomotive of the Andrews Raid, is displayed in the Cyclorama, a Civil War museum in Grant Park. The 4-4-0 American-type engine was built in 1856 by Danforth & Cooke of Paterson, New Jersey. It served the state-owned Western and Atlantic Railroad as No. 49. After retirement in 1904 it sat in a railroad yard until 1911 when it was moved to Grant Park. Originally displayed outdoors there, it was moved into the basement of the Cyclorama building in 1927.

Its co-star in the dramatic race, the General, is displayed in Kennesaw at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History.

The Cyclorama is the home of the world's largest painting, "The Battle of Atlanta," which depicts a battle on July 22, 1864 for control of the Georgia Railroad on the east side of the city. Railroad tracks are incorporated into the scene through a 3-D foreground that merges into the painting. The 50-foot high, 400-foot long panoramic scene was painted in 1886 by a team of German artists. (800 Cherokee Ave. S.E. Atlanta, GA 30315. 404-658-7625).

Augusta. Georgia Railroad No. 302.

Bainbridge. Louisville and Nashville No. 2132.

Camilla. Albany and Northern No. 9.

Chattanooga. This Tennessee city adjoining Georgia’s northern state line is home to two major railroad attractions: the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

Included in a wide variety of engines and rolling stock at the TVRM are a Central of Georgia steam locomotive and several Central cars. TVRM trains run every day April through October. They are pulled by locomotive No. 610, a Baldwin 2-8-0 built in 1952 for the U.S. Army, and No. 630, a 1904 ALCO 2-8-0 built for Southern Railway.

(No. 4501 has been removed from service indefinitely due to the prohibitive cost of boiler repairs.)

A wood-burning Baldwin 2-6-0 steam engine is on display at Chattanooga Terminal Station, now a hotel, restaurant, and shopping complex called the Chattanooga Choo Choo. The locomotive served the Smoky Mountain Railroad (Knoxville, Sevierville & Eastern) in the 1940's. (1400 Market Street, Chattanooga).

Cleveland-Helen area. 1904 ALCO 0-4-0T at Mount Yonah.

Columbus. Army Quartermasters Corps 2-6-2T.

(Central of Georgia No. 223, a Baldwin 2-8-0 formerly on display behind Columbus’ Iron Works convention center, was moved in 1998 to the Roundhouse Railroad Museum in Savannah.)

Conyers. Milstead Railroad No. 104.

Duluth. The Southeastern Railroad Museum in downtown Duluth has eight steamers. Five builders are represented: ALCO, Baldwin, Lima, Heisler, and Porter.

Savannah & Atlanta No. 750, a 4-6-2 Light Pacific built in 1910 by ALCO for Florida East Coast Railway. It was sold to the Savannah and Atlanta Railway in 1935.

Atlanta & West Point No. 290, a 4-6-2 Heavy Pacific built in 1926 by Lima.

Southern No. 1509 (nicknamed Maud), a 0-4-4T shop goat built in 1876 by Baldwin for passenger service. The original wheel arrangement of 4-6-0 was changed to 0-4-4.

Gainesville Midland No. 203, a 2-10-0 Decapod built in 1928 by Baldwin for the Alabama, Tennessee & Northern.

Chattahoochee Valley No. 21, a 2-8-0 Consolidation built in 1924 by Baldwin for passenger service on the Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia, where it was numbered 201. Chattahoochee Valley Railroad bought it in 1935.

Georgia Power No. 97, a 0-6-0T built in 1943 by Porter for the Army Corps of Engineers as #5050. This oil-burning, side-tank engine was used by Georgia Power Company in the construction of Plant McDonough in west Atlanta.

Campbell Limestone No. 9, built in 1924 by Heisler for Kentucky Lumber Company.

National Cash Register 0-4-0 built in 1913 by Lima.

Gainesville. Gainesville Midland No. 209.

Jefferson. Gainesville Midland No. 116.

Kennesaw. The General, one of the most widely known locomotives in American history, is displayed in the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in downtown Kennesaw.

The 4-4-0, built in 1855 by Rogers of Paterson, N.J., served on the state-owned Western and Atlantic Railroad as No. 3. Although it has been restored to operating condition, it hasn't been steamed up since the 1960s.

On April 12, 1862, James J. Andrews and his men stole the General and its cars here in downtown Kennesaw (then called Big Shanty) and headed north, planning to burn the railroad’s bridges to disrupt the flow of supplies to Confederate troops. They were pursued by conductor Fuller in the engine Texas. The raiders abandoned the engine after a chase of 87 miles.

The Texas is housed in the Cyclorama in Atlanta (see above).

Macon. Central of Georgia No. 509.

Marietta. Glover No. 81421.

Moultrie. Georgia Northern No. 105.

Savannah. Roundhouse Railroad Museum.

Sylvester. Georgia, Ashburn, Sylvester, and Camilla No. 100.

Tifton. The Georgia Agrirama Living History Museum has several steam locomotives:

No. 3, a 1924 Porter narrow gauge 0-4-0 once owned by New Jersey's Raritan River Sand Co. Before coming to Agrirama, it operated at the International Toy Train Museum in Orlando (now closed). It now pulls riders around the Agrirama's grounds.

There's also a 1917 Vulcan 0-4-0 saddle tank engine.

In his book Glover Steam Locomotives; The South’s Last Steam Builder (1996), Richard L. Hillman says the remains of two [Glover] locomotives are stored at Agrirama, a museum in Tifton, Georgia. A decision regarding restoration still needs to be made. These two units are believed to be #131810 and #131812.?

For more information on the Agrirama Museum, call 229-386-3344 or visit their website. (1392 Whiddon Mill Road, Tifton).

Waycross. A 1912 Baldwin 2-8-2 and a narrow-gauge 2-6-0 steamer.

Winder. Gainesville Midland No. 208.

Yonah. See Cleveland-Helen area above.

 

Note: A comprehensive web site for information on surviving steam locomotives is steamlocomotive.com. It's a remarkably informative online guide covering just about every remaining engine in the entire nation.

 

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CSX

CSX Corporation was formed in 1980 by the merger of Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line, each of which was the product of many previous mergers. Component railroads included some of the greatest names in rail history such as Baltimore & Ohio, Chesapeake & Ohio, Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line, and Louisville & Nashville, as well as Georgia Railroad, Clinchfield, the West Point Route, and others. The Baltimore & Ohio, chartered in 1827, was the country's oldest common carrier railroad; the Louisville & Nashville was one of the strongest railroads in the east, and the Atlantic Coast Line justifiably called itself the Standard Railroad of the South.

For legal reasons the Chessie and SCL railroads operated independently until 1986-87, during which time some rather confusing additional sub-mergers and name changes were made. In 1983, Seaboard Coast Line, Louisville & Nashville, Georgia Railroad, and the Clinchfield merged to become Seaboard System Railroad. Three years later, in 1986, Seaboard System changed its name to CSX Transportation. The Chessie's railroads, C&O, B&O, and Western Maryland, were not initially included in the merger, but the following year B&O was merged into C&O and, a few months later, the C&O was merged into CSX Transportation.

The name CSX is said to represent the merger by combining the first letters of Chessie and Seaboard along with an X to signify multiplying the combined strength of the two railroads. It must have worked because CSX is now one of the nation's largest railroad companies. In Georgia, like most of the eastern US, there are only two railroads of substantial size, CSX and Norfolk Southern.

Abandonments:
Richland (or Kimbrough?) to Dawson abandoned 1981.
Climax to Chattahoochee, Fla. abandoned 1984.
Sylvester-Pearson abandoned 1985.
Alma-Sessoms abandoned 1986.
Bladen-Riceboro abandoned 1986.
Mineral Bluff-North Carolina abandoned 1986.
Bladen-Seals abandoned 1988.
DuPont-Florida line abandoned in 1988.
Edna-Rockmart abandoned in 1988.
Ellijay-Blue Ridge abandoned in 1989.
Fitzgerald-Ocilla abandoned 1990.
Moultrie-Coolidge abandoned 1990.

(Bladen is in western Glynn County, 19 miles from Brunswick. Seals is about halfway between Woodbine and Kingsland.)