GREENWOOD RAILROAD
HISTORICAL CENTER
EST. 1970

Number 19 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, of Philadelphia, USA in 1906. The locomotive is known as a 2-8-2 "Mikado". The 2-8-2 comes from the Whyte Wheel Configuration of the locomotive's wheels, 1 small front wheel, 4 large driving ones, and 1 trailing wheel. Of course the pattern is the same on the other side, giving the final total of 2 small, 8 large, and 2 trailing wheels, or 2-8-2 in shorthand. Baldwin was the largest locomotive builder in the world, building engines for as far away as Africa, Australia, South America, and Japan. The first 2-8-2 type locomotive was one of those built for export, in this case Japan. The Japanese National Railways ordered it, ceremonially headed by the Japanese emperor, or "Mikado" as he is known in Japanese, thus giving all 2-8-2s, except for the US Army ones built in WWII, the name Mikado.

 

This specific engine, Baldwin No 29383, rolled out in September of 1906, destined for the Woodward Iron Company of Alabama for use hauling pig iron. After using the engine for 6 years,  the Woodward Co. liked No. 19 so much they had the No. 31 built as an exact copy, except for an increase in coal capacity.

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After 32 years of service, the Woodward Company decided to purchase one of the newer diesels, and the 19 was sent to a dealer in Atlanta; she still carries the dealer's brand stamped into her frame today. South Carolina's Rockton and Rion Railway, a granite hauling quarry railroad near Winnsboro, SC, purchased her in 1936 and used her into the 1960s, at some point replacing her old riveted tender body with a new all-welded one. In 1961, Alabama's Woodward Company parted with 31, and the Rockton & Rion purchased her as their fourth steam locomotive - the 19, 20, 31 and ex-ACL 712 - some of the last steamers in revenue freight service in America. All of these engines survive today! Sister engine 31 found a home in Waycross, Georgia: No. 20, a small tank engine used as the quarry switcher, found a home in Yonah station, Georgia; while the 712 remained in the Rockton & Rion quarry when it became the South Carolina State Railroad Museum.

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However, by 1963, Rockton & Rion succumbed to the new diesels, and put the 19 up for sale. Enter L.B. Adams and Charles Herndon, Jr., along with several other Greenwood area railway enthusiasts. In 1969, Adams and Herndon saw an advertisement for No. 19 for sale in a Greenville newspaper, for the grand sum of $11,000. They purchased the engine and tender to preserve the area's railway heritage for posterity, and Greenwood's Railroad Historical Center was born!

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No. 19 was cosmetically restored in 2014 and sits at the front of a display of railroading's Golden Age, at 908 South Main Street in Greenwood, S.C., a proud reminder of the immense role the railroad played in the prospering of the Southeast and, indeed, the country, in the latter half of the 19th Century and the first half of the 20th Century.

 

Something so special is how intact the locomotive is, with almost all gauges and knobs present in the locomotive, or safely stored inside. Visitors are welcome to ring her vintage bell on their tour as learn about operating a steam engine and the two men who ran No. 19 for many years.

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A Few Specifications:

- No 19 weighs over 103 tons.

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- The tender is purported to have held 7,000 gallons of water and 10 or 11 tons or coal,     with the bin mounted on top. This would have added about 140 tons of weight to 19.

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- As delivered the locomotive was painted tuscan red with gold lining and a silver in   

  Baldwin Style 291, completed to Finish "F10", complete with planished iron boiler

  jacket, and gloss black smokebox fitted with lipped chimney and acetylene arc

  headlamp. The tender tank was of a riveted pattern with flanged coal rail and archbar

  trucks.

 

- The locomotive had Stephenson inside valve gear, as opposed to the Walschaerts

  conversion it has today.

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-The firebox grate area is 57 square feet. Coal was hand shovelled, no       

  mechanised stoker.

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- The 8 powered "drive wheels" are 67 inches in diameter, and have a 14.5 foot

  wheelbase.

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