I am deeply indebted to narrow gauge historian Bob Richardson for finding this image of EBT 2-6-2 No. 11. Bob found it buried in a pile of $2 "foreign" locomotive cards at a swap meet in Ohio in July, 2001 and kindly purchased it for me. No. 11 is perhaps the most important locomotive that the EBT ever purchased. She was the railroad's first locomotive with a trailing truck, which allowed for a larger firebox and boiler. Built by Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, PA in 1908, No. 11 marked EBT's transition into the modern age of American railroading and featured automatic knuckle couplers and applances for supplying compressed air to Westinghouse automatic braking systems on the cars she pulled. The absence of a generator indicates she was delivered with an oil headlight, but later photos of No. 11 in service show that a generator was added. Also note that the pilot coupler has a slot to allow for old-style link-and-pin couplers to be used. At the time the EBT received No. 11, the federal Safety Appliance Act mandating use of automatic knuckle couplers was in effect, but the narrow gauge line continued to use the dangerous link-and-pin couplers for several more years.
No. 11 was so successful that she became the prototype for three of the six 2-8-2 locomotives the EBT purchased from Baldwin during the next decade. Mikado (2-8-2) No. 12 (see below) was virtually a stretched copy of No. 11. Unfortunately, No. 11 became a victim of the very modernization program she helped begin. Rendered redundant by the EBT's larger, more modern locomotives, she was being canabalized for parts by the late 1930s. Her final disposition is unknown; one report says she was sold for scrap during World War 2, while another suggests she was shipped to an unknown railroad in Central America. At any rate, No. 11 left the EBT's roster in 1943.
EBT 2-8-2 No. 12 is the oldest steam engine on the property. It was delivered from Baldwin Locomotive Works in December, 1911. No. 12's maiden voyage, on a bitterly cold Sunday in January, 1912, nearly ended in disaster. After pulling a string of empty hoppers up the steep grade from Saltillo, the engine and train entered Sidling Hill tunnel. Ground water, seeping through the rock walls of the tunnel, had puddled and frozen over the rails in the tunnel. The wheels of the pilot truck derailed, but the crew didn't notice this until the wheels struck the south switch at Kimmel Siding, just beyond the north portal. No. 12 left the rails and came to rest at a precarious angle.
Despite this ill omen, No. 12 went on to become a favorite of the engine crews, and it operated on the abbreviated 5-mile tourist line from 1960 until 2001. As of 2002, No. 12 is stored inop requiring major repairs to its boiler and drivers. In the picture above, No. 12 was near the coaling bunker at the south end of the EBT's Rockhill yard in the early 1990s -- far removed in place and time from that long-ago winter day, but a timeless image nevertheless.
Baldwin boiler no. 37325; 48-in. drivers; cylinders 17x24; 22,100 lbs. tractive force; 88,000 lbs. wt. on drivers.
By the way, the frozen water problem was found to be caused by the almost constant draft of cold air through the tunnels. The EBT installed wooden doors, operated by watchmen, and the problem was fixed. In the late 1940's, EBT management replaced the wooden doors with electrically operated roll-up steel doors.
Quicktime clip of No. 12 Southbound at McMullins Summit, June 1990 695 kb
With the success of No. 12, EBT asked Baldwin to design a Mikado of the maximum weight supportable by the railroad's 60-pound rail. No. 14, delivered in October, 1912, was 25% heavier and produced that much more tractive effort than No. 12. In January, 1913, No. 14 pulled a string of 40 empty wooden hoppers up the 2.7% grade to the mine head at Robertsdale. This performance spelled the end for the EBT's older consolidations, which were capable of handling less than half that many empties on the same run.
In the 1980s No. 14 was overhauled in the EBT locomotive shop, the only engine to undergo such work since before the inauguration of tourist service in 1960. Since 2002 it has been the only EBT steam engine in service, but a cracked driver wheel spoke prevented its operation for opening day, 2005. The EBT reportedly plans to return it to service by mid-July 2005. In the picture, above, No. 14 was spotted over the inspection pit by the boiler shop on the roundhouse lead in 1992.
Baldwin boiler no. 38625; 48-in. drivers; cylinders 19x24; 27,600 lbs. tractive force; 122,700 lbs. wt. on drivers.
The EBT's Rocky Ridge Branch was opened in November, 1905 to serve several privately owned coal mines along Trough Creek. By 1913, the output of these mines was sufficient to justify the purchase of Mikado No. 15 to handle the increasing coal traffic. With three new, state-of-the-art 2-8-2's in operation, the EBT retired several of its older 2-6-0, 2-8-0, and 4-6-0 locomotives.
No. 15, Baldwin, February, 1914, is a virtual twin sister to No. 14. In this view No. 15 takes water next to the coaling bunker at the south end of the Rockhill Yard during a Fall Spectacular weekend in the early 1990s .
In 2002 No. 15 was taken out of service for overhaul to meet new FRA safety standards. After more than three years, the railroad finally expects to return it to service during late-Summer 2005. Here is an engineer's-side view of No. 15 and crew ready for the start of another weekend hauling tourist excursions on a Saturday morning in June 2001. The stone building in the background pre-dates the railroad and housed the yard office.
Baldwin boiler no. 41,196; 48-in. drivers; cylinders 19x24; 27,600 lbs. tractive force; 125,700 lbs. wt. on drivers.
In June 1916 the EBT entered the age of "modern steam" when Baldwin delivered 2-8-2 No. 16. No. 12, 14, and 15 featured saturated steam boilers, slide valves, and Walschaerts valve gear. No. 16 was much heavier than her older cousins and came equipped with superheaters, piston valves, and Southern valve gear. Although operational when the railroad shut down in April 1956, she has not returned to service. In this image, No. 16 has been given a fresh coal of paint and posed cold at the head of a string of cosmetically restored steel 3-bay hoppers on October 12, 2002.
Baldwin boiler no. 43,562; 48-in. drivers; cylinders 20x24; 30,600 lbs. tractive force; 134,000 lbs. wt. on drivers.
All of the EBT's six Mikado's are still in the Rockhill roundhouse. But of the three superheated Mikes, only No. 17, Baldwin, March, 1918, was operated in tourist service. No. 17 made powered the last revenue run of the EBT's common carrier era on April 6, 1956. A regular in annual Winter and Fall Spectaculars for many years, No. 17 suffered major flue leaks during the Fall of 2001. In 2002 the engine was stored, inop. In the scene above she's running north past a string of restored steel hopper cars in the Rockhill Yard during a Fall Spectacular in the early 1990s.
Baldwin boiler no. 48,075; 48-in. drivers; cylinders 20x24; 30,600 lbs. tractive force; 133,500 lbs. wt. on drivers.
Quicktime clip of No. 17 Southbound at McMullins Summit, October 1990 516 kb
No. 18, Baldwin, August, 1920 completed the brace of super-heated triplets that were the main work force in the EBT's last years of common carrier operations. No. 18 was to have made the last freight runs in April 1956, but she broke down near the end and was never repaired. For years both No. 16 and No. 18 were stored in the Rockhill roundhouse, covered with dust and grime. But in 1990 EBT management cleaned them up and posed them in the yard during the Fall Spectacular weekend. Here No. 18 sits in the foreground, with No. 16 behind her.
Baldwin boiler no. 53,541; 48-in. drivers; cylinders 20x24; 30,600 lbs. tractive force; 134,600 lbs. wt. on drivers.
The EBT held a U.S. Mail contract for almost its entire existence and operated four scheduled main line passenger trains for that purpose. By the 1920's, the automobile had severely reduced the EBT's passenger revenues and dedicated steam-powered mail trains were no longer economically viable. To maintain cost-effective service during periods of low coal traffic during periodic strikes and the warm seasons, the EBT turned to the internal combustion engine.
Gas-Electric M1, seen here idling in the Rockhill Yard in 1992, entered service in January, 1927. A scaled-down copy of a Brill Model 350 Gas-Electric, the M1 was built by the EBT shop force from plans and parts supplied by Brill and Westinghouse. In addition to periodic mail and passenger service, the M1 was often pressed into impromptu service as a switcher. Today it is still operable, its prime mover and other components completely original. This one-of-a-kind motor car is lovingly preserved and maintained by a small volunteer crew from the Rockhill Trolley Museum, located next to the EBT's historic Rockhill yard and shops complex.
This concludes our look at the EBT's stable of motive power.
For more images of the EBT, visit EBT Non-Revenue Equipment - Images & Historical Narrative.
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