Townsville 2-6-0 "Mogul" Locomotives in the USA

Class 3 (Locobase 14971)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 65, p. 309+. See also Richard E Prince, Seaboard Air Line Railway: Steam Boats, Locomotives, and History (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1969 ), p. 123. Works number was 53256 in May 1920.

Purchased for a North Carolina short line, this Mogul was described as intended for "passenger and freight" service. A small engine, its chilled cast iron plate truck wheels made the 26" (660 mm) solid disks look quite large. The TRR opened in 1919 when it bought 11 miles (17.7 km) of the defunct Roanoke River Railway for $70,000. (The RRRY had made several stabs at profitable running over two decades. Its latest failure was caused in part by a March 1918 bridge collapse.)

The TRR was located entirely within Vance County, NC. One terminus was a junction with the Seaboard at Manson (northeast of Henderson), the other lay to the northwest at the town that footed the bill for its purchase and gave the line its name. At the time the 3 came on the road, the TRRR employed eleven people. The act authorizing the issuance of bonds worht $75,000 to cover the purchase was ratified on 15 December 1921.

Townsville operated its railroad until 1933. When it closed, locomotive rebuilder/reseller Birmingham Rail & Locomotive bought the 3 and sold it in July 1934 to the Carolina Southern as their 103. (Note: Although the CS operated well into the diesel era, its poor condition and demand in 2012 appeared ready to defy efforts to keep it in service.)