Southern Railway 722

Southern Railway 722 is a class "Ks-1" 2-8-0 " Consolidation" type steam locomotive built in September 1904 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Southern Railway (SOU)..

History

Revenue service

The No. 722 locomotive was assigned to work on the Southern Railway's Murphy Branch, where it was primarily used to haul freight trains between Asheville and Murphy, North Carolina.. In August 1952, No. 722 was retired from revenue service after it pulled the last steam-powered freight train on the Murphy Branch. Three months later, No. 722 and sister locomotive No. 630 were both purchased by the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC) and renumbered to Nos. 208 and 207, respectively... After ET&WNC's acquirement, Southern cut down the size of the two Ks-1 locomotives' tender coal bunker to give the engineer a clear view during numerous switching moves and reverse operation.

Excursion service

On December 8, 1967, No. 208 (No. 722) and No. 207 (No. 630) were both traded back to the Southern Railway for use in their steam excursion program in return for a pair of former Central of Georgia ALCO RS-3s.. While they retrieved their old numbers, No. 722 had a cracked firebox, but No. 630 was in better condition, and has been given minor repairs as it began excursion service in February 1968..

Two years later, No. 722 had its firebox repaired and a brand new paint scheme of Southern's Virginian green with gold linings to match the fellow excursion locomotive No. 4501.. The No. 722 locomotive made its first public excursion debut in September 1970 with Nos. 630 and 4501 for the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) convention in Charleston, South Carolina..

In May 1979, Southern loaned No. 722 to the Wilmington and Western Railroad (WWRC) to operate on their Wilmington and Northern Branch line... In September 1980, Southern loaned the locomotive again to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) in Chattanooga, Tennessee along with No. 630 to make way for larger superpower steam locomotives such as Canadian Pacific 2839, Texas and Pacific 610 and Chesapeake and Ohio 2716 to pull the longer and heavier excursions on Southern's system.

In November 1985, No. 722 was retired due to its boiler ticket certificate and sat on display at the museum. In 1992, the locomotive was moved to Asheville, North Carolina by Southern's successor, Norfolk Southern (NS) to be on display at the city's Biltmore section. In late 1999, NS has sold the Biltmore property for redevelopment and removed No. 722 from its display site to the Asheville roundhouse for storage..

Disposition

In late 2000, the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad (GSMR), which operates the same Murphy Branch where No. 722 was used in revenue service, purchased the locomotive with the hopes of restoring it to operating condition. However, when No. 722 was being disassembled for restoration work, the plan was thwarted when the GSMR's other steam locomotive ex-U.S. Army No. 1702 went out of service in 2005, leaving them both remaining disassembled outside the GSMR's workshop area in Dillsboro, North Carolina, exposed to the elements. Although No. 1702 was restored back to service in 2016 and the restoration cost for No. 722 is $700,000, GSMR stated that they were still determined to rebuild the latter locomotive from the ground up, depending on its current condition..

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

Great Smoky Mountains Railroad website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Railway 0722
Individual locomotives of the United States
2-8-0 locomotives
Steam locomotives of Southern Railway (U.S.)
Baldwin locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1904
Standard gauge locomotives of the United States
Preserved steam locomotives of North Carolina