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Central of Georgia Railway 509 is a 2-8-0 configuration steam locomotive and tender consolidation on static display in downtown Macon, Georgia, United States. After being removed from service at the end of the steam era, it was given to the city of Macon.
Central of Georgia Railway (CofG) 509 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works as one of 24 C-4 class locomotives for the railway in December 1906. [2] This was the fourth generation in the C class series that was delivered to CofG. [3] The locomotive was originally built under road number 1709 along with the other C-4 locomotives consisting of numbers from 1700 to 1724. It was then renumbered in 1925 to the current number of 509. [4] CofG started to increase its numbers in more powerful steam locomotives and the C-4 class locomotives were then put to branch line use. While some of the C-4 locomotives were used for switching, the others were operating between Macon, Athens, Gordon, Milledgeville, Machen, and Porterdale. [2]
As the use of steam engines declined and they were replaced with diesels, most of the C-4 locomotives were retired by September 1950 with the rest of the C-4 locomotives retired in next three years. 509 was selected as one of the few engines to be kept for preservation by CofG. A letter from November 12, 1953, stated that one 450-class engine, one 500-class engine, and one engine that is the smallest and oldest were to be kept. They would be placed in various places in Georgia; the 500 allocated to Macon, the 450 to Columbus, and the smallest to Savannah. The letter stated that the engines should be kept undercover to prevent deterioration. [2]
In 1959, CofG decided they would transfer 509 to the city of Macon. Before being transferred, 509 received a brand new wooden cow-catcher, a fresh coat of paint, and new stencils. In order to move the locomotive to the display area, which did not have direct rail access, temporary track was laid and part of brick wall was removed. On October 16, 1959, the locomotive was officially handed over to the City of Macon. [2] Since then it has been sitting in Central City Park as a display along with other railroad monuments. Most of the other railroad monuments are no longer standing. One of the only ones left that are still standing today are locomotive 509 and an old CofG coaling tower.
Outside the display is a plaque in memory of Benny A. Scott. He was the locomotive's fireman for the last run of 509, and was also the railroad's first black fireman. Over the years, 509 has stayed in its place with little action. It was repainted in 1999 for a project on a children's television network, and decorated with what looked to be Christmas lights. [2] The Right Way [2] published an article in 2011 about 509 and discussed the complete restoration of the locomotive to fully operational condition by Hartwell Railroad Company in Bowersville, Georgia. The cost of the restoration was estimated to be around $450,000. The locomotive would then run excursions runs. [2]
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material to heat water in the locomotive's boiler to the point where it becomes gaseous and its volume increases 1,700 times. Functionally, it is a steam engine on wheels.
A geared steam locomotive is a type of steam locomotive which uses gearing, usually reduction gearing, in the drivetrain, as opposed to the common directly driven design.
A Climax locomotive is a type of geared steam locomotive built by the Climax Manufacturing Company, of Corry, Pennsylvania. These had two steam cylinders attached to a transmission located under the center of the boiler, which sent power to driveshafts running to the front and rear trucks. Some 1,000-1,100 were built in three classes between 1888 and 1928.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-8-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. In the United States and elsewhere, this wheel arrangement is commonly known as a Consolidation, after the Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad’s Consolidation, the name of the first 2-8-0.
Barrow Hill Roundhouse, until 1948 known as Staveley Engine Shed, is a former Midland Railway roundhouse in Barrow Hill, near Staveley and Chesterfield, Derbyshire, now serving as a railway heritage centre.
The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, commonly known as the "Frisco", was a railroad that operated in the Midwest and South Central United States from 1876 to November 21, 1980. At the end of 1970, it operated 4,547 miles (7,318 km) of road on 6,574 miles (10,580 km) of track, not including subsidiaries Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway and the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad; that year, it reported 12,795 million ton-miles of revenue freight and no passengers. In 1980 it was purchased by and absorbed into the Burlington Northern Railroad. Despite its name, it never came close to San Francisco.
The Central of Georgia Railway started as the Central Rail Road and Canal Company in 1833. As a way to better attract investment capital, the railroad changed its name to Central Rail Road and Banking Company of Georgia. This railroad was constructed to join the Macon and Western Railroad at Macon, Georgia, in the United States, and run to Savannah. This created a rail link from Chattanooga, on the Tennessee River, to seaports on the Atlantic Ocean. It took from 1837 to 1843 to build the railroad from Savannah to the eastern bank of the Ocmulgee River at Macon; a bridge into the city was not built until 1851.
Pere Marquette 1225 is a class "N-1" 2-8-4 "Berkshire" type steam locomotive built in October 1941 for the Pere Marquette Railway (PM) by Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio. No. 1225 is one of two surviving Pere Marquette 2-8-4 locomotives, the other being 1223, which was on display at the Tri-Cities Historical Society near the ex-Grand Trunk Western (GTW) coaling tower in Grand Haven, Michigan, and both have the distinction of being the only surviving Pere Marquette steam locomotive left in preservation. No. 1225 was well known to be the basis for the locomotive used in the 2004 film The Polar Express, earning itself the nickname "the real Polar Express".
The NZR F class was the first important class of steam locomotive built to operate on New Zealand's railway network after the national gauge of 3 ft 6 in was adopted. The first locomotives built for the new gauge railways were two E class double Fairlies for the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway Company. The F class was the first class ordered by the central government, and between 1872 and 1888, a total of eighty-eight members of the class were constructed.
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Southern Railway 4501 is a preserved Ms class 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive built in October 1911 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the first of its wheel arrangement type for the Southern Railway (SOU). In July 1948, the locomotive was retired from the Southern Railway in favor of dieselization and was subsequently sold to the shortline Kentucky and Tennessee Railway (K&T) in Stearns, Kentucky, to haul coal trains.
Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700 is the oldest and only surviving example of the class "E-1" 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive and the only surviving "original" Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway steam locomotive. It was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in May 1938. Nearly identical to the class "A-3" Northerns built for Northern Pacific Railway, it burns oil instead of coal.
The Central of Georgia Railway (CofG) K class were a class of 4-8-4 steam locomotives produced by Lima Locomotive Works for the CofG during World War II.
The Georgia State Railroad Museum is a museum in Savannah, Georgia located at a historic Central of Georgia Railway site. It includes parts of the Central of Georgia Railway: Savannah Shops and Terminal Facilities National Historic Landmark District. The complex is considered the most complete antebellum railroad complex in the United States. The museum, located at 655 Louisville Road, is part of a historic district included in the National Register of Historic Places.
Atlanta and West Point 290 is a P-74 steam locomotive built in March 1926 by the Lima Locomotive Works (LLW) in Lima, Ohio for the Atlanta and West Point Railroad. It is a 4-6-2 heavy "Pacific" type steam locomotive, which was remarkably similar to the Southern Railway's Ps-4 class. With sister locomotive No. 190 built for the Western Railway of Alabama (WRA), No. 290 ferried the Southern Railway's Crescent passenger train on the West Point Route between Atlanta, Georgia to Montgomery, Alabama until its retirement from revenue service in 1954.
The Dixie Flyer was a premier named American passenger train that operated from 1892 to 1965 via the "Dixie Route" from Chicago and St. Louis via Evansville, Nashville, and Atlanta to Florida. However, the train continued until 1969 as an Atlanta to Florida operation, run solely by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and its successor, the Seaboard Coast Line. The Flyer's route varied in early years, but by about 1920 was set as follows:
Chattanooga Union Station, more commonly known as the Union Depot in Chattanooga, constructed between 1857 and 1859, served as a train car shed in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Located at Broad and Ninth Streets, the station was one of two major railroad terminals in the city, the other being the Southern Railway's Terminal Station.
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The Macon, Dublin and Savannah Railroad was chartered in 1885 as the Macon and Dublin Railroad. It was built to connect its namesake towns, Macon and Dublin. Eventually, it became a 96-mile short line operating between Macon and Vidalia.
