Southern Railway 4501 is a preserved "Mikado" type steam locomotive, the first of its wheel arrangement ordered by the Southern Railway (SOU). Built in October 1911 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, No. 4501 pulled freight trains on the SOU system until 1948, when it was retired amid dieselization. It was sold to the shortline Kentucky and Tennessee Railway (K&T) in Stearns, Kentucky, to haul coal trains.
When the K&T dieselized in 1964, No. 4501 was purchased for $5,000 by railfan Paul Merriman, who brought it to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Repainted in SOU's passenger Sylvan green and gold paint scheme, No. 4501 became the primary excursion attraction of Southern's steam program from 1966, when it was operated by Merriman's 4501 Corporation. In 1975, he donated it to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) in Chattanooga, and until 1985, when No. 4501 was replaced with larger locomotives. The locomotive returned to mainline excursion service from 1991 to 1994, then sidelined when the SOU's successor, Norfolk Southern (NS), discontinued the steam program as insurance costs rose and rail network availability decreased.
In 1996, TVRM repainted No. 4501 in its original freight black livery and it continued to operate until 1998, when the locomotive's boiler flue time certificate expired. In 2011, after NS launched its 21st Century Steam program and TVRM returned Southern Railway 630 to service, the museum launched a restoration of No. 4501. The work included upgrades such as a feedwater heater and mechanical stoker; it was completed in 2014. Around 2026, TVRM repainted the locomotive back into the SOU Sylvan green paint scheme; it is used for tourist excursions, including longer trips to Summerville, Georgia.
History Background and revenue service
From 1911 to 1917, the Southern Railway (SOU) ordered 182 2-8-2 "Mikado" type Ms class steam locomotives from the Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW), American Locomotive Company (ALCO), and Lima Locomotive Works (LLW). They were built to replace the "Consolidation" type K and Ks classes that pulled heavier freight trains. The Ms class locomotives were numbered 4501-4635 for SOU, 6250-6284 for the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific (CNO&TP) division, and 6600-6611 for the Alabama Great Southern (AGS) division. Designed with diameter driving wheels, cylinders, superheaters, and an operating boiler pressure of , these locomotives produce of tractive effort. Their initial tenders could hold of coal and of water. Most of the Ms locomotives had Walschaerts (Nos. 4501-4603, 4624-4635) and Southern valve gears (Nos. 4604-4623), while the rest of the class had Baker valve gear. In the 1930s and 1940s, most of them were re-equipped with Worthington feedwater heaters, mechanical stokers, larger sand domes, larger tenders, and multiple-bearing crossheads to improve their performances.
No. 4501 was built by BLW in October 1911 at a cost of $23,182, the first of its wheel arrangement type ordered by the SOU. It was first assigned to work in the Washington Division, hauling freight trains between Alexandria and Lynchburg, Virginia. In 1912, the locomotive was moved to the Knoxville Division, based in Bulls Gap, Tennessee. During that time, No. 4501 was photographed along with its crew members for the SOU officials, before being moved within the division to Knoxville, Tennessee, around 1917. In 1926, No. 4501 and 24 of its fellow Ms-class locomotives were moved to Somerset, Kentucky, on SOU's Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific (CNO&TP) division to replace the 2-10-2 Ss class locomotives, which were too big for the CNO&TP tunnels. To reduce the amount of smoke inhaled by their crew in the tunnels, No. 4501 and the other Ms-class locomotives were given an air-actuated bonnet smoke deflector. By 1935, No. 4501 was moved to the St. Louis Division, where it was based in Princeton, Indiana. Due to weight restrictions in St. Louis, No. 4501 would only run freight trains from Princeton to Evansville; Huntingburg; and West Baden Springs, Indiana.
During visits to various locomotive shops in Knoxville, Somerset, and Princeton, No. 4501 received numerous modifications, such as the headlight being moved from the top of its front smokebox to the center of its smokebox door. The bell was moved from the top of the boiler to the top front of the smokebox. The long, sharply pointed wooden pilot was replaced with a shorter "boiler tube" style steel pilot to accommodate the locomotive to couple front to front. The manual Johnson bar was removed in favor of the power reverse gear. The ladder steps were added from the pilot beam to the running boards. Its original small round sand dome was replaced with a larger rectangular arched sand dome, mounted behind the stack. The double-guide alligator crossheads were also replaced with the single-guide multiple-bearing crossheads to reduce maintenance. At some point in 1928, No. 4501 visited SOU's Ferguson Shops in Somerset, where its boiler pressure was upgraded to , which made the locomotive produce of tractive effort. Unlike most of its fellow Ms class locomotives, SOU did not retrofit No. 4501 with a feedwater heater or a mechanical stoker, because it was regularly assigned to branch line work in the St. Louis Division.
By 1939, SOU began dieselization under President Ernest E. Norris. In July 1948, the No. 4501 locomotive was retired from revenue service and put up for sale in good condition at SOU's Princeton Shops in Princeton. On October 7 that same year, Kentucky and Tennessee Railway (K&T) General Manager and Master Mechanic L.C. Bruce, who was a former SOU employee, purchased No. 4501 for $8,225 and had it moved under its own power to the K&T in Stearns, Kentucky. The locomotive, renumbered to 12, was deemed capable enough to handle the K&T's ruling 3.5% grade between Oz, Kentucky and the SOU interchange in Stearns, hauling heavy coal trains of , compared to K&T's Nos. 10 and 11, which could only haul and , respectively. As a result of that, No. 12 was affectionally nicknamed The Big Engine by K&T employees. On June 17, 1953, the last steam-powered freight train arrived into Chattanooga, Tennessee, marking the end of steam on the SOU.
A new life in preservation
On August 11, 1961, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) was founded by DuPont electronic engineer Paul H. Merriman and General Railway Signal Company field representative Robert M. Soule Jr. to preserve and operate obsolete locomotives and rolling stock at a museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In February 1964, the K&T purchased three ALCO S-2 diesel locomotives from the Denver and Rio Grande Western, and consequently retired No. 12 and its other steam locomotives. Merriman jumped at the chance to purchase the No. 12 locomotive for his newly-formed 4501 Corporation for $5,000 of his own money. He also spent another $2,000 on spare parts. Merriman made plans to bring No. 12 back to Chattanooga under its own power, but SOU President D.W. Brosnan did not want a steam locomotive run on SOU trackage. Merriman enlisted the help of W. Graham Claytor Jr., an SOU vice-president of law and a steam locomotive enthusiast, who persuaded Brosnan to grant one-time approval. Merriman and Soule had No. 12 renumbered as 4501, then refurbished with the help of TVRM volunteers.
On June 6, 1964, No. 4501 moved under its own power via the CNO&TP line from the K&T to Chattanooga. It pulled a consist containing the Shenandoah Valley lightweight sleeper, gondola No. 117852 outfitted with benches and a roof, and SOU office car No. 6. The engineer at the throttle of the locomotive was Walter C. Dove, a former SOU road foreman of engines in Mississippi. Upon arrival in Chattanooga, No. 4501 underwent an initial restoration by TVRM volunteers at the facilities of the Lucey Boiler Company in Chattanooga near the TVRM's storage facilities, which were located on former Western Union Company trackage at the time.
No. 4501 was disassembled for an extensive Class 3 overhaul, approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). This included the thin cab floor, the rotted ash pan, and the rusty smokebox front being replaced. The dented cab roof was straightened, and a radio antenna was installed. The cylinder cocks were reworked, and the throttle was lapped with a new air line run to the repacked reversing gear. The locomotive's headlight was positioned at approximately below the center of the smokebox door. Its bell was now hung by a new bracket hanger leaning into the front top of its smokebox, replacing the original bracket platform shelve. Claytor requested to have No. 4501 resplendent in SOU's passenger Sylvan green and gold paint scheme, paying homage to the Ps-4 class 4-6-2 locomotives that were also painted in the livery with corporate blessings from the SOU.
First excursion service Late 1960s
After the restoration work was completed in August 1966, the No. 4501 locomotive hauled its inaugural excursion runs from Chattanooga to Richmond, Virginia, officially kicking off the SOU's new steam excursion program, launched by Brosnan himself per Claytor's request. Dove became No. 4501's regular engineer at the time. It initially departed the Chattanooga Terminal Station on August 18, heading towards Louisville, Kentucky, arriving there on the 19th, where a theater group organized an August 20 excursion from Louisville to Danville, Kentucky for an outdoor drama, before returning to Louisville. This would be the first time a steam locomotive was present in Louisville since 1959, when the Louisville and Nashville (L&N) hosted a centennial excursion with Illinois Central (IC) No. 2613 pulling it between there and Nashville, Tennessee. No. 4501 then went to Louisville's neighboring New Albany, Indiana, where it pulled two round trip excursions between there and Corydon Junction, Indiana on the 21st and 22nd, under the sponsorship of the Floyd County's Sesquicentennial Commission.
After its visit in Kentucky and Indiana, No. 4501 continued its journey to Richmond the next day. On the way, No. 4501 received a broken spring saddle on its third driver just north of Somerset, Kentucky in the afternoon. The next morning on August 24, No. 4501 was repaired with a spare spring shipped from the K&T shops in Stearns and continued on. After running via Knoxville, Tennessee; Asheville and Salisbury, North Carolina, the locomotive finally arrived in Richmond on August 26. During its stay in Richmond, No. 4501 pulled two round trip excursions between there and Keysville, Virginia on September 5 and 24, sponsored by the Old Dominion Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS). On September 25, No. 4501 pulled another NRHS sponsored round-trip excursion, where it ran between Richmond and Alexandria, Virginia, via Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) rails. Before leaving Richmond, No. 4501 became the first steam locomotive to enter the RF&P's Bryan Park Terminal diesel locomotive facility in the Acca Yard, where it was getting its pony truck journals repaired. It then headed to Washington, D.C., to haul the October 1 and 2 round trip excursions between there and Front Royal, Virginia. On October 8, No. 4501 left Washington, D.C. on its deadhead run back to Chattanooga. At Lynchburg, Virginia, it transferred over to the Norfolk and Western (N&W) rails, where the locomotive stopped in Roanoke, Virginia to be serviced at the Shaffer's Crossing engine terminal and stayed there for the night. The next day, it continued its journey and arrived back in Chattanooga on October 15. Throughout the 1966 excursion season, No. 4501 ran , carrying 5,090 revenue riders, and grossed at $14,415.