2-8-0 "Consolidation" Steam Locomotives in the USA

Class 33/333 (Locobase 7344)

Data from TC 1941ca Locomotive Diagrams and Miscellaneous Data supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

These two later Consolidations had Alco works #54632 and 54635.

The Tennessee Central was the brainchild of Nashville railroader and investor Jere Baxter (who had presided over the Memphis & Charleston RR at one point). Eastern Tennessee was unserved by railroads at the turn of 20th Century and Baxter sought to remedy that by connecting Nashville with Knoxville. Baxter's hope was to exploit the coal and timber resources lying on and under the Cumberland Plateau.

The railroad's profile consisted of a climb out of the Nashville bowl in the Central Basin and over the Highland Rim (at Cookesville 60 miles away). Alexander Crawford began building this section in the 1880s, an effort that ended with his death in 1890.

Baxter took up the cudgels in 1893 and extended the line east, ultimately to Emory Gap, not quite to Knoxville (the line later inched further to connect with the Southern at Harriman). He also sought to strike out west from Nashville and here he excited the protective instincts of both the Louisville & Nashville and the Southern. The L & N refused the TC permission to use its new Union Station in Nashville, while the Southern built a terminal in Knoxville for its exclusive use.

Baxter lost money in the Panic of 1893, but put together a new syndicate to rejuvenate the TC in 1897. By his death in 1904, the Western Division was complete to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, 95 miles northwest of Nashville. Much of the work had had to be performed under stringent budgetary constraints, which resulted in steeper grades, tighter curves and lighter ballast than Baxter might have liked. Still, although much of his network was never completed and the railroad struggled with profitability most of its life, the TC served a purpose and remained more or less independent until 1968. (Locobase wonders whether the NC & StL (the Dixie Line) ever considered taking over the TC -- it would offered a good fit.)

Several websites offer information about the TC. When accessed on 20 December 2005, they were:

tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID-R008 (an entry written by Carroll Van West of Middle Tennessee State University)

64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:BebVCHjNq8J:deckard.duhs.duke.edu/~cef/History/TC-History.html+Tennessee+Central+Railroad&hl=en.

[]. J Allen Hicks' detailed account of the construction of the railway that includes a detailed time line.

Class 35/335 (Locobase 7345)

Data from TC 1941ca Locomotive Diagrams and Miscellaneous Data supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Exchange.Works number was 5362.

This is a relatively early Consolidation on the TC (see Locobase 7344 for a short history of this interesting road). The diagram doesn't show firebox heating surface. Brooks delivered this engine from its Dunkirk works in November 1899

Class 648 (Locobase 6980)

Data from the IC 1911 Locomotive Data book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See Locobase 7344 for an account of this railroad. Works numbers were 25134-25139 in July 1902; 26602-26603, 26632-26636, 25139 in September.

Tennessee Central bought this set of Consolidations from the New Hampshire builder as their entire complement of 2-8-0s. But three years later, the TC leased tracks and locomotives in 1905 to the Southern Railway to the east of Nashville and the Illinois Central west of Nashville.Illinois Central. IC took the 11-12 and 17 and renumbered them 648-650. SRS renumbered the rest 242-250. Neither buyer could make a profit and didn't renew the least.

The IC returned the three 2-8-0s in 1908 and the Southern followed in 1909. From then on, they served the TCRR for 15 years and more before retiring some and selling the rest:

Six retirements:

220 in October 1923, 217 in March 1927 and 222 in April, 213 in March 1929, 212 in September 1936, 215 in June 1944.

Five sales:

222 to Southern Iron & Equipment in 1922, to P Dunlap on 10 October 1922

211 to Isoline Coal Company of Isoline, Tenn in February 1936

216 to Norton Coal Company of Nortonville, Ky in January 1939

221 to Jeffrey Coal Company of Obey City, Tenn in October 1940

219 to Hart Coal Company of Mortons Gap, Ky in December 1943