Gulf States Paper Corporation

Our 0-6-0 locomotive was built in November 1940 by the American Locomotive Company (Alco) of Schenectady, New York for the Alabama State Docks Commission. Number 63 was used to switch cargo at the docks in Mobile, Ala., from 1940 to 1956. This was the fourth and last steam locomotive ordered by the State Docks Commission from Alco. Number 63 is a standard gauge steam locomotive. This switch engine and tender weigh 106 tons, was fired by coal, had a maximum boiler pressure of 200 lbs., and its driving wheels are 51 inches in diameter. It is 67 feet long and can hold 8,000 gallons of water and 10 tons of coal. A total of about 112 0-6-0 type switch engines with tenders survive in the United States. Typically, they have a brakemen's footboard across the front of the locomotive instead of a pilot, and a similar footboard across the rear of the tender. Generally they featured one of three types of tenders: a standard rectangular tender (like ours), a slope-backed tender, or a Vanderbilt tender with its cylindrical tank. The 0-6-0 was probably the most typical of all switch engines. In 1957, #63 was sold to the Gulf States Paper Corporation in Holt, Ala. In 1959, it was donated to the Junior Chamber of Commerce of Tuscaloosa, Ala., where it was displayed from 1959-1980 in Jaycee Park. In 1980, the locomotive was donated to the Bluegrass Railroad Museum of Versailles, Ky. The board of trustees of the Kokosing Gap Trail moved Number 63 to Gambier, Ohio in April 2001. It has not been fired since 1959 and there are no plans to make this a functioning locomotive. Funds to purchase, move and restore the locomotive were provided by the community. Total cost of the project was $52,000.

Kokosing Gap Trail