Bock Lumber Company 0-4-4 "Forney" Locomotives in the USA

Class 1 (Locobase 11092)

Data from Logging Locomotives 1913 (Philadelphia, Pa: Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1913), p 5 (previewed on Google Books at []), last accessed 16 January 2022). . See also DeGolyer, Volume 31, pp. 230; and "Bock Lumber Company No. 1 Coming to the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum" on the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum website at [], last accessed on 16 Janaury 2022.. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 24 December 2021 email correcting most of the dimensions in this entry. The mistake may have resulted from Locobase's copying a similar entry without checking for differences. Hohl also supplied information about the 1's HVRM update.) Works number was 32792 in May 1908.

This was another of Baldwin's small "off-the-shelf" designs that combined elements of high-volume manufacturing and the custom fitting that came with building steam locomotives of any size. Often described as a Forney type, the Bock #1 burned wood, which meant mounting a Radley & Hunter 9" (229 mm) diameter spark-arresting stack. Its fuel load of 1 cord of wood rode in a racks built around the water tank mounted on the frame behind the cab.

Operating conditions included relatively steep grades.The 1 pulled empties up a 4% grade, loaded cars up a 2% grade. All this happened on 35 lb/hard (17.5 kg/metre) rail.

The Baldwin guide says that the little balloon-stacker was sold to the Goldsboro Lumber Company of Dover, NC, but the Specifications book does not list that transaction. Baldwin's location of Bock Lumber in Gainesville, Fla in 1913 is confirmed by a 1 January 1912 news note in the Lumber Trade Journal (p. 43) that reported the 12 December 1911 fire at the sawmill located three miles from the city.

Gene Connelly's Baldwin list says Bock sold the 1 to Hanbury Lumber of Archer, Fla. Maddox Foundry & Machine later operated the engine before selling it to B J Pollard in 1965.

Remarkably, the 1 began a belated second career after lying idle "for more than a half-century", according to the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum, located in North Judson, Indiana. Fred Haberkamp found the disassembled locomotive on its way to the scrapper and rescued. His association with Dave Kloke in building the Leviathan led him to ask Kloke to restore the 1.

During a multi-year project, the 1 received a new boiler designed by Chris DeWitt, CMO of the Nevada State Railroad Museum. Welded instead of riveted, the new vessel met all quality standards with a hefty safety margin built in. Chris Hohl found out that the new boiler and firebox burn oil. The 1 carries 175 US gallons (662 litres) of fuel and 900 gallons (3,407 litres) of water..

Once completed, the Bock No 1's owners and HVRM struck an agreement for the Indiana museum to lease the engine for the long term. HVRM notes that the 1 "will be the only standard gauge Forney-type locomotive in operation on the continent."

As of August 2021, the 1 was due at the HVRM after six years of restoration work. It arrived on the railroad in mid-September.