0-6-0 Steam Locomotive

This 0-6-0 switcher locomotive and tender were built by the American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, N.Y., in November 1940 for the Alabama State Docks Commission and carried road number 63 while switching cargo at the docks in Mobile, Ala. It was the fourth and last steam locomotive the State Docks Commission ordered from Alco. Alco was known for steam locomotives including the 4-6-4 Hudsons and 4-8-4 Niagaras built for the New York Central Railroad and the 4-6-6-4 Challengers and 4-8-8-4 Big Boys built for the Union Pacific Railroad. This standard gauge locomotive and tender weigh 106 tons, was fired on coal, had a maximum boiler pressure of 200 lbs, and has driving wheels 51 inches in diameter. It is 67 feet, 8 inches long and 10 feet, 8 inches wide, and it can hold 8,000 gallons of water and 10 tons of coal. A typical load for a 0-6-0 switcher was about six cars. Because switchers spent more time waiting than moving, they needed only a small firebox, boiler, and tank. Most driving wheels on this type of locomotive were 51 inches in diameter, though some railroads preferred other sizes, and switching engines almost always had forward and rear sand boxes; on this locomotive the rear box was dome-shaped like the front one. In 1957, the locomotive was sold to the Gulf States Paper Corporation in Holt, Ala. In 1959, it was donated to the Junior Chamber of Commerce at Tuscaloosa, Ala., where it was displayed in Jaycee Park from 1959 to 1980. In 1980 it was donated to the Bluegrass Railroad Museum of Versailles, Ky. The Kokosing Gap Trail board of trustees purchased the equipment and moved it to Gambier in April 2001. It has not been fired since 1959, and there are no plans to return it to running condition. The purchase, moving, and restoration expenses came from donations of funds or services. Its 0-6-0 designation refers to its wheel arrangement: no leading wheels, six driving wheels, and no trailing wheels.

Gambier, Ohio · United States