Southern Railway #630

CLASS K CONSOLIDATIONS

n 1903 the motive power department of the Southern together with mechanical engineers from Baldwin and Richmond Locomotive Works designed what was to be the Southem's standard main line Consolidation type freight locomotive, the Class K. With minor modifications, over 400 engines of this class were built for the Southern Railway and its affiliates.

The K and later Ks classes operated in all types of service from Pinners Point, Va., to New Orleans and from Jacksonville, Fla., to East Saint Louis, Ill. As originally built they had 22" x 30" cylinders, 56 or 57-inch drivers, weight of engine 200,000 lbs, and with 200 lbs steam pressure exerted about 44,000 lbs of tractive effort.

After superheaters were installed in the boilers of these engines, many of the Ks class had their cylinders bored to 22"x 30" size and steam pressure raised to 215 ibs resulting in a tractive effort of 46,000 lbs.

Although originally built with the "D" slide valve, most of the steam chests of the Ks class were converted to piston valves by the application of the Universal type valve chest. A variety of valve gears were represented on these engines and for a while the Southern Valve Gear was the most popular. Mechanical lubricators, feed-water heaters, and stokers were applied to a limited number of these engines in later years. Several of the K and Ks class were rebuilt using new cylinders with piston valve type steam chest. When this was done the size of the cylinders was increased. Those engines equipped with 24" x 30" size were designated Ks-1 while the Ks-2 received a 25"x 30" bore. Steam pressure was reduced to 190 lbs on the Ks-1 class and to 175 lbs on the Ks-2. Tractive effort therefore remained fairly constant at 46,700 lbs.

The K, Ks, Ks-1, and Ks-2 classes on the Southern Railway were numbered 566-883.

Southern Railway System: Steam Locomotives and Boats - Richard E. Prince - 1970

outhern's W. Graham Claytor was intent on running excursions more and more frequently, and he desired a true passenger engine that would recreate the graceful look of the Southern's locomotives. He looked to the Midwest, where steam preservationist Dick Jensen had rescued a former Grand Trunk Western 4-6-2 5629 that was a dead ringer for a Ps4. Jensen was running excursions with the engine in the Chicago area, but Claytor could not strike a deal with Jensen.

Ironically, Southern's new boss found a substitute, although it was not the giant passenger engine he sought, in his hometown of Roanoke. A Consolidation belonging to a Tennessee shortline, the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railway, was in Roanoke to help celebrate the 1967 opening of the city's transportation museum. The 207 was in steam with a handful of passenger cars on June 17, 1967. Graham's brother, Robert Claytor, had arranged for the 207 to give free rides on the N&W Belt Line, a switching line bordering Wasena Park where Class J 611 was on display. Graham Claytor rode the train, admired the spry 1904 Alco and made a note to check with the "ET" (the standard-gauge survivor of the famous "Tweetsie" narrow gauge line) about the engine. What he found out was astounding. The Johnson City, Tennessee-based ET&WNC rostered not one, but two Consolidations, and both were former Southern engines. The 207's sister, 208, had been built by Baldwin in 1904. They were former Southern Railway locomotives used in Western North Carolina most of their careers. The ET had acquired the duo from the Asheville, N.C., roundhouse as Southern was dieselizing.

Late in 1967, Claytor did something no railroad president had ever done before. He traded a pair of operable diesel locomotives -- in this case two well worn but still useful ex-Central of Georgia Alco RS3s -- for the two ET&WNC steam locomotives. The steam engines were towed to a little-used diesel shop at Ernest Norris Yard in Irondale, Ala., on the outskirts of Birmingham. Claytor had solved his motive power problem. Now he needed a master mechanic to keep the engines running. Volunteers like Merriman and Soule could do a lot, but he needed someone who could work on the engines full-time. He needed a man who knew steam, who cared about it enough to spend the countless hours it takes to rebuild an engine. He needed a taskmaster who could perform the backbreaking job of maintaining an engine on the road. He needed Bill Purdie. Purdie was the Pegram Shop foreman Claytor had met atop 750's tender in Fort Valley, Ga., in 1965. Purdie had seen the two Alco diesels being prepared for transfer to the ET&WNC and heard rumors about the railroad trading the diesels for two steamers.

Steam's Camelot: Southern and Norfolk Southern Excursions in Color - Jim Wrinn - 2000

he American Locomotive Company, also known as ALCO, built the 630 for the Southern Railway in 1904. The wheel arrangement of this engine is a 2-8-0, known as a Consolidation. 630 spent many years in service out of Asheville, North Carolina serving on the Murphy and Lake Toxaway Branches until sold to the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad in 1952. The engine came to TVRM in 1978 and operated until 1989 when removed from service, being in need of a major overhaul. The engine was restored over a period of ten years, at a cost of almost $700,000. This restoration was completed in 2011 and has been called one of the most extensive overhauls on a steam locomotive since the end of the steam era.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum