Class E (Locobase 7358)

Data from AB&SOU 6 -1919 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

This little railroad had little engines, like this Mogul, which was delivered to the M & O in October 1882 (works #6402). Unlike the others in the book, this engine's building date and original railroad are not recorded. One website that hosts A & S information -- http://www.trainweb.org/screamingeagle/roster_ab&so.html, accessed 22 Feb 2006 -- gives the building date as "1880s". With these clues and the Connolly list of all Baldwin locomotive works numbers, Locobase determined the above information. It was sold by the M & O by 1907.

The Abilene & Southern Railway Company was a 96-mile short line that connected Ballinger, Texas to Hamlin farther north. Laid between 1909 and 1911, the railway first ran south from Abilene to Ballinger, then north to Hamlin.

According to Bob Johnson of the "Frontier Trails" website http://www.frontiertrails.com/oldwest/Abilene.htm (accessed 1 Jan 2006), "...The concept of the line was to connect small west central Texas fertile agriculture towns to the main line between Fort Worth and Denver at Abilene." The site lists as the principal stops (with mileposts):

* Mile Post 0.0 Ballinger

* Mile Post 16 Winters

* Mile Post 27 Bradshaw

* Mile Post 34 Ovalo

* Mile Post 37 Tuscola

* Mile Post 55 Abilene

* Mile Post 79 Anson

* Mile Post 87 Radium

* Mile Post 96 Hamlin

The T & P took over the road in 1926. The line to Hamlin was abandoned in 1937 and the Winters-Ballinger section closed in 1972. The Missouri Pacific took over the rest in 1978. (See also the Handbook of Texas site at http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/AA/eqa2.html (also accessed on 1 Jan 2006) and the Abilene Reporter News article from 26 Jan 2006, preserved online at http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_lc_inside_abilene/article/0,1874,ABIL_7956_4420984,00.html and accessed 24 July 2006.