Ashland Coal & Iron 2-6-2 "Prairie" Locomotives in the USA

Class 14 (Locobase 13957)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 43, p. 300. See also Locobase 13082 for a description of Georgia Marble's business. Works number was 39340 in February 1913.

Authorized as the Lexington & Big Sandy in January 1865 to mine a four-foot vein of coal along the Williams Creek, this raw-materials carrier took its later name in 1880. A 1908 history of Kentucky describes the "millions of tons" of coal that came out over the years as of the "best quality".

The AC & I spared little expense in building its railroad in Kentucky or so the specifications suggest. Maximum grades were held to an unusually gentle 1% (52 feet in the mile) and the rail weighed 90 lb/yard (45 kg/metre). It intended the 14 for freight and switcher duty.

When the AC & I was closed in 1924, they sold the 14 to locomotive/rebuilder Birmingham Rail & Locomotive. That July, BR & L sold the engine to another rebuilder/reseller Georgia Car & Locomotive, who found a buyer in July 1924 in Georgia Marble Company of Tate, Georgia, who gave their new engine #5. It joined the 4, a Mogul bought new by GMC in 1907.