Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic 0-6-0 "Switcher" Locomotives in the USA

Class 53 (Locobase 16375)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 30, p. 268; and AB&C 6 - 1928 Locomotive Diagrams and All Equipment List supplied in August 2013 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange collection. For more on the Wilmington & Western's history of this locomotive, see "0-6-0 Switcher 58" at [], last accessed 18 November 2018. Works numbers were 31292-31294, 31321 in July 1907; 31898-31899, 31926 in October.

Locobase has created very few entries for the all-adhesion switchers that were so commonly used in rail yards across the United States and elsewhere. But he bent the rule in favor of the 58 of this class because of its use on the Wilmington & Western Railroad. The compiler volunteered to work on this tourist railroad in northern Delaware for about a year and half, but never encountered the 58, which was in storage.

Compared to other three-axle small freight locomotives of similar size (i.e.2-6-0s and 4-6-0s rolling on drivers of between 52"and 57" drivers) of the time, the 53s had one of the highest adhesion weights and a healthy amount of tractive effort. (Although specifications called for 200 psi, it seems that the 53s operated at a 190 psi setting.) Its heating surface and grate areas put them about in the middle. They had short tubes and an equally short wheelbase, which were in keeping with their duties.

When the AB&A was reorganized as the Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast in 1927, the class was renumbered 22-28. Continuing in service for almost two decades more, the septet's fates divided them into two groups. The smaller of the two--23, 25, and 28--remained with the railroad until it was absorbed by the Atlantic Coast Line in January 1946 and reclassified AS-1 with road numbers in the 7023-7028 range. 7028 must have required too much repair to be worth saving and was scrapped in September 1946. 7023 and7025, on the other hand, didn't face the torch until early 1952.

The other four locomotives were sold to locomotive rebuilder/reseller Georgia Car & Locomotive in 1942-1943. Magnolia Petroleum Company bought the 24 in April 1943, West Palm Beach Terminal the 22 in November. 26-27 served in the US Army as their 6562 and 6561, respectively. 26 apparently was scrapped by the Army.

27's (ex-58) post-military service career included stints on the Virginia Blue Ridge (4) and the Mead Corporation (300) before being purchased for preservation by Malcolm Ottinger in 1963 to run the Valley Forge Scenic Railroad and Brian Woodcock in 1973. Woodcock donated the 58 to the W&W in 1997, which restored it to operating condition. In November 1917, the 58 reentered service after its 1,472 day inspection.