Georgia, Ashburn, Sylvester & Camilla 2-8-2 "Mikado" Locomotives in the USA

Class C W Jackson (Locobase 15497)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 80, pp. 600+. See also Georgia's RailHistory entry at [] . See also the extended essay on Pidcock's Georgia Northern in Locobase 15498. Works number was 61291 in April 1930.

The history site says that South Georgia businessman J.N. Pidcock organized the GAS&C Railway in May, 1922. Pidcock wanted the track to fold into his Georgia Northern system, so he bought it from the Gulf Line Railway. GLRwy was owned by the Hawkinsville and Florida Southern, which was then in receivership and being broken up.

This Mikado was a branch-line design fitted with a superheater, 15 sq ft (1.4 sq m) of arch tubes contributing to the firebox heating surface area, and 10" (254 mm) piston valves. A plummeting economy may have prompted the instruction that "Photo of RS [right side] of locomotive may be a snapshot view without special preparation of locomotive." That is, the background was not to be blanked out with white sheets (or whited out on the negative), the locomotive's running gear wouldn't be highlighted, and the photographer could just snap a picture instead of composing it on a large-format plate.

Besides, there were more practical detail design questions. The ash pan on the Georgia Northern locomotive described in Locobase 15498 had "caused trouble with ash pan slide working out of sides when dropping, and also in ashes falling to bottom of pan."

A 1955 schedule shows two trains, one in each direction, over the 51 miles (82.1 km) between Ashburn and West Camilla that angled down from a point northeast of Albany, Ga to the town of Camilla, about 25 miles south of Albany on the ACL.

The 100 was later donated to the town of Sylvester, which housed it in a covered bit of track in the town.