Mobile & Gulf 2-6-0 "Mogul" Locomotives in the USA

Class 9 (Locobase 14693)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 62, p. 297+. See also the history at Mississippi Rails ([]). Works number was 53142 in April 1920.

The W P Brown Lumber Company had leased the railroad in 1914 from the Baskett Lumber & Manufacturing Company soon after the latter was established in Fayette, Ala. In 1918, Brown took over Baskett and its remaining railroad. At the time, the railway was about 25 miles (40.3 km) long.

This small logging Mogul came to the line about two years later and was lettered for the M&G as well as W P Brown. Bought for $18,100, the small and light-footed 9 ran over 56 lb and 60 lb/yard (28 kg and 30 kg/metre relay rail.

At the same time, the new owners were extending the line to Buhl, about 31.9 miles (51.4 km) south of Fayette. When the project was completed in 1926, the M&G converted to common-carrier status and offered a junction with the Mobile & Ohio at Buhl. According to Mississippi Rails, the M&G ran along "the bottom lands of the Sipsey River for its entire length. Some of this land was quite swampy and subject to flooding." The line was laid chiefly with 56 and 60-lb. relay rail.

Such conditions may have contributed to the 9's wreck in 1929. After its salvage, the engine was repaired for service on the Brown-Florida Lumber Company of Caryville, Fla.

The M&G remained in service for decades, but a sawmill fire in Fayette in 1946 led to the abandonment of the 19 miles between Fayette and Brownsville, Ala in 1948. For another 22 years, steam hauled freight over the remaining 11 miles until 1970 and the line closed only in 1984.