Gulf, Mobile & Northern Railroad

arly power on the Gulf, Mobile & Northern's predecessor roads was a typical selection of second-hand Moguls and 4-4-0s. In 1904, as the road really began to expand, it started to acquire a small fleet of Ten-wheelers. In 1912 the New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago invested in a dozen more modern freight engines — eight 2-8-2s and four 4-6-2s. The Pacifies remained in freight service until 1921 when they were sold to the Louisville & Nashville and replaced with four more Mikados.

During World War I, dozens of Russian Decapods roamed the South, and shortly after the USRA relinquished control, the GM&N bought ten of these machines. Soon three of them were equipped with "auxiliary locomotive" tender boosters. The road was apparently much impressed with these engines; when the time came to purchase new power later in the 1920s, the GM&N chose 15 more Decapods. Meanwhile, the older Ten-wheelers were being reworked in the company shops. Most of them were superheated and modified with a variety of driver and cylinder combinations; these were renumbered in the 170 and 180 series. Some of them were also equipped for passenger service. A few unaltered engines were used as switchers. Several Eight-wheelers were retained in passenger service, supplemented by a pair of ex-BR&P Atlantic types.

In 1928 the GM&N bought two pretty little Pacifies from Baldwin. One of them, the 425, has been preserved, and it operates today in excursion service on the Blue Mountain & Reading in Pennsylvania. The GM&N's last purchase of steam power was a group of second-hand switchers from the Indiana Harbor Belt.

Lease of the New Orleans Great Northern in 1933 brought with it some more Ten- wheelers and three more Russian Decapods, plus a trio of the smallest 4-8-2s ever built for freight service in the United States. Also acquired were two gas-electric train-sets with power cars numbered 350 and 351.

In 1935 the GM&N achieved fame with two motor trains named The Rebel, billed as the South's first diesel streamliners. Their power cars bore numbers 352 and 353; the 354 arrived in late 1937, with more cars to operate from both New Orleans and Mobile to Jackson, Tenn. Just after the merger, two Alco DL1O9 passenger units were added to power the new GM&O's Gulf Coast Rebel trains running through to St. Louis. When the Alton joined GM&O it brought 34 more diesels, and simultaneously a large group of new Alco freight units were being received. In October 1949 the GM&O achieved complete dieselization, one of the very first large railroads to do so.

William D. Edson

The Rebel cars, including the power cars, were built at ACF's Berwick, Pennsylvania, plant with Alco-Westinghouse traction equipment. The trains were not articulated, and their operation required switching cars in and out en route. The power car had mail and baggage compartments. A Jim Crow buffet-coach and an observation-sleeper made up the basic consist of the original two Rebels, with an extra coach switched in between Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans, where traffic was the heaviest. Power car #354, added in 1937, was distinguished by having about twice the radiator space in the roof as compared to the original two cars, though mechanically it was nearly identical. It handled a sing combination sleeper and coach from Mobile, Alabama, to Union, Mississippi, where the northbound car was cut into the mainline Rebel and a sister car was picked up from the southbound Rebel for return with #354 to Mobile.

Jerry Pinkepank / Second Diesel Spotter's Guide

he 1920's were hard years for the fledgling GM&N, and every effort was made to control costs and attract more traffic. A rather unique customer relations ploy was devised by Glen P. Brock, who at that time was assistant to the general manager. Brock had letterheads printed up with a photo of the road's new engines, and the names of the train crews. The crews wrote to the customers whose cars were on their trains, thanked them for the business and assured them of careful handling and fast service.

R. R. "Dick" Wallin / Gulf, Mobile & Ohio: Color Pictorial / 1996