Class 100 (Locobase 4979)

Data from 1929 SAL locomotive diagrams published on [] . NB: Heating surface area is tubes only.

Middleweight turn-of-the-century American delivered to the GF & A, which was nicknamed the Sumatra Leaf Line, which commemorated the type of tobacco grown in the area. Less formally, it was also picturesquely described as the Gophers, Frogs & Alligators. Its main line connected Cuthbert, Georgia with Tallahassee, Florida.

The Seaboard Air Line gave the engine #100 when it gained control of the GF & A in 1928.

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Class 104 (Locobase 9346)

Data from GF&A 5 - 1921 and SAL 1929 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 28, p. 57. Works number was 26198 in August 1905.

A single wood-burning engine supplied by Baldwin with a cabbage stack to roam about the piney branch lines of the GF & A. The total under fuel represents cords of wood.

Baldwin classified the locomotive by their system as 8-30-C-621. On the 1929 SAL diagram, the firebox heating surface area is not given, but the listing shows 11.7 sq ft of arch tubes. By this time the firebox had been converted to coal-burning and the tender held 12 tons of coal.

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Class 2 (Locobase 9375)

Data from SAL 9 - 1918 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See Locobase 9351 for a description for the elegant diagrams that held the data for these locomotives.

Produced two in August 1889 (works #2287-2288) and November 1889 (2434-2435), these locomotives were bought by the E & W at the time when it converted from 3 ft to standard gauge. In 1902, Seaboard Air Line bought the E & W, renaming it Atlanta and Birmingham Air Line Railway in 1903. The A & BAL was fully merged with the SAL a few years later.

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Class 3/B-7 (Locobase 16070)

Data from SAL 1907 locomotive diagrams supplied in August 2013 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See Locobase 9351 for a description for the elegant diagrams that held the data for These locomotives.

Just before the CC took delivery of the pair of light Eight-wheelers from Baldwin shown in Locobase 16054, it built this stablemate in its own shops. Differences in dimensions between home-spun and Philadelphia-made were minor, although Locobase cannot vouch for the materials.

After the CCRwy merged with the Seaboard Air Line, the 3 was renumbered 420 and placed in its own subclass.

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Class 300/B-4 (Locobase 15948)

Data from CofGa 1905 and CofGa 11 - 1927 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 13, p. 65. Works number was 8004 in May 1886.

This Eight-wheeler was originally part of a six-locomotive order agreed to by Covington & Macon and Baldwin in 1885 (Locobase 7924). Ultimately, the C&M would take delivery of three of the six, but road number 3, to be named Jasper County, was sold before delivery to the Palmetto.

The Palmetto, which opened in June 1887 with 5 miles of road and this engine, would swell to 18.7 miles by September. At that point, it became a subsidiary of the Raleigh & Augusta, itself owned by the Raleigh & Gaston. By agreement, the PRwy operated independently for several years before being merged with the Seaboard Air Line.

The SAL scrapped the 300 in September 1908

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Class 31 (2nd)/421 (Locobase 16054)

Data from SAL 9 - 1918 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 14, p. 240. See Locobase 9351 for a description for the elegant diagrams that held the data for these locomotives. Works numbers were 9716-9717 in January 1889 and 10456-10457 in November.

When the two Eight-wheelers described in Locobase 9356 were sold by the CC to the Raleigh & Gaston in 1888, their old numbers were assumed by this smaller pair of branch-line locomotives.

They later wore Seaboard Air Line 421-422. 422 was sold to the Aberdeen & Asheboro in June 1902 as their 32. 33-34 belonged to the November pair and were renumbered 423-424 when they were taken into the SAL in 1900. 424 was destroyed in a December 1905 wreck and 423, after renumberings as 506 and 127, was sold for scrap to W Z Williams in October 1917.

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Class 7/Odd (Locobase 14066)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 45, p. 154. See also SAL 1929 Locomotive Diagrams 2 supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. Works number was 41074 in January 1914.

The SCWE was one of several railroads in South Carolina that amalgamated under the Seaboard Air Lines banner. But first the SCWE was taken over by the Carolina Atlantic & Western in April 1914, shortly after the 7 was delivered. The Eight-wheeler had wide-set drivers and inside radial valve gear.

The specs required Eddystone to "give particular attention to the clause in the specification reading 'Details as far as practicable to be interchangeable with engines 5 and 6, class 10 D 30 633-36636, built for the South Carolina Western Ry." Given that those locomotives, the last two of a set of six Ten-wheelers with longer boilers, and longer-stroke cylinders (Locobase 13699), most of the duplication may have come in the special equipment.

The CA&W renumbered the 7 as 12. A year and half later in November 1915, the CA&W came under the SAL and the 12 was placed in class O odd and renumbered 166. By that time, boiler pressure was reset to 180 psi, which raised tractive effort to 19,260 lb (8,736 kg or 85.67 kN).

166 ran on the SAL until December 1936.

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Class 8 (Locobase 4974)

Data from 1929 SAL locomotive diagrams published on [] . See also DeGolyer, Volume 43, pp. 158+, and Donald R Hensley, Jr, "Charlotte Harbor & Northern Railway: The Boca Grande Route" Part II, archived on [] . (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 1 May 2016 email noting the original fuel, tender weights, boiler pressure setting, and estimated locomotive weights.) Works number was 39059 in January 1913.

The CH&N ran northeast from Boca Grande, a barrier island on the Gulf Coast guarding Charlotte Harbor, up to Arcadia, where it intersected the Atlantic Coast Line, then due north to Pebble, just southeast of Tampa.

Hensley comments in particular that in addition to its phosphate and timber traffic, the Boca Grande Route was well patronized by passengers. The CH&N "built up Boca Grande by building homes, a hotel and a golf course. A new magnificent railroad depot was built for the tourist to debark at Boca Grande and there was a stop at the Gasparilla fish camp on the north end."

Chris Hohl notes that this late-in-the-day American-type was delivered with a boiler set to 170 psi (11.7 bar) and trailing a heavily loaded tender weighing 108,000 lb (48,988 kg) when loaded with 10 tons (9.1 tonnes) of coal. Baldwin had estimated the 8's adhesion weight at 66,000 lb (29,937 kg) and its engine weight as 104,500 lb (47,400 kg)

After it arrived, the 8 served as the railroad's main passenger power. Its booked time from South Boca Grande to Mulberry 97 miles distant was 4 hours and 12 minutes (23 mph/37 km/h), which during the period of the CH&N's independent existence was easily competitive with any rival service.

Hensley notes further: "The Tampa-Boca Grande train was popular even after the automobile starting eroding passenger traffic. After the SAL takeover the train continued to run until the late 1950's."

The 8 taken into the Seaboard Air Line as 103 when the CH&N was absorbed by the SAL in 1928.

It was withdrawn in 1933 and sold to the Dowling & Camp Lumber Company.

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Class E1 (Locobase 4998)

Data from SAL 1907 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange collection. Works numbers were 2235-2238 in 1892.

Small-grate and relatively lightweight Americans used, presumably, on branch lines. Tender tank capacity in 527 was 4,000 US gallons (15,140 litres).

147 retired in December 1922, 145-146 left in July 1925, and 144 closed the class in May 1930.

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Class E16-B3/B-4 (Locobase 9351)

Data from SAL 9 - 1918 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 11, p. 242 and Volume 12, p. 214. Works numbers 7120-7121 in January 1884, 7386 in July, 7695-7696 in October 1895.

One of the most striking features of this diagram book is the quality of the diagram - it has an etched look as if it were illustrating a book published 75 years before. The copperplate lettering of the diagram and the printed script of the measurement descriptions lend their own grace to this utilitarian document.

In this instance, the diagram shows small Eight-wheelers that were supplied over a four-year period from January 1884 to 1888. By the time of the 1918 book, the 25 had been sold to the Ocala & Northern (in 1910) and all the others but 24, now renumbered 217, had been scrapped. 217 was retired in March 1919.

Unusually for an antebellum Southern railroad, the R & G was completed to the standard gauge. The R & G moved in and out of bankruptcy in the 1840s and was a major CSA line from Raleigh to Richmond during the Civil War. In November 1899, the New York Times, an upcoming company meeting had as its purpose "....considering a change of its corporate title of "The Raleigh & Gaston Railroad Company" to "Sea-any other name that may be selected and Board Railroad Company" or agreed upon."

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Class E16-B7 (Locobase 9352)

Data from SAL 9 - 1918 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See Locobase 9351 for a description for the elegant diagrams that held the data for these locomotives.

This engine was taken into the Seaboard in 1899 and renumbered in 1911.

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Class E16-B8 (Locobase 9353)

Data from SAL 9 - 1918 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 15, p. 204. See Locobase 9351 for a description for the elegant diagrams that held the data for These locomotives. Works numbers were 10456 -10457, 10462 in November 1889

The 3 accompanied a pair of identical engines headed for the Carolina Central (Locobase 16054) . The trio differed from another pack of Eight-wheelers delivered to the same railroads in having smaller cylinders and weighing considerably less.

The 502 was retired in 1919 and scrapped in 1924.

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Class E17-D1 (Locobase 9355)

Data from SAL 9 - 1918 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See Locobase 9351 for a description for the elegant diagrams that held the data for these locomotives.

Produced singly in September 1889 (works #2282 and 2254) for the SAL, these two mixed-traffic Eight-wheelers had the typical dimensions and power for the time.

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Class E40-E (Locobase 9356)

Data from SAL 9 - 1918 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See Locobase 9351 for a description for the elegant diagrams that held the data for these locomotives. See also DeGolyer, Volume 14, p. 12. Works numbers were 8769 and 8871 in September 1887.

These soon came under the Raleigh & Gaston and changed their road numbers from 31-32 to 223-224.

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Class E45-E3 (Locobase 9358)

Data from SAL 9 - 1918 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 15, p. 155. See Locobase 9351 for a description of the elegant diagrams that held the data for these locomotives. Works numbers were 10179 in August 1889; 10910, 10926 in May 1890; 11264 in October.

This railroad was the mainline of what would soon be called the Georgia & Alabama and it purchased these Eight-wheelers for local passenger work. They were all named as follows: John Cobb, B. P. Hollis, J. E. D. Shipp, Dupont Guerry.

When the G & A was folded into the Seaboard Air Line, these engines were respectively renumbered 148-151.

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Class E45-E4 (Locobase 5000)

Data from SAL 9 - 1918 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See Locobase 9351 for a description for the elegant diagrams that held the data for these locomotives. (See also 1929 SAL locomotive diagrams published on [].)

Richmond's order for this trio was filled in a block (works #2578-2580). A little bigger than earlier Georgia Ten-wheelers, these engines were of a piece with the earlier designs. They had the narrow firebox dropped between the axles, although the driving wheelbase was a bit longer and the boiler a bit higher pitched.

They were all taken into the Seaboard Air Line as their 125-127 in 1901.

After the Savannah, Americus (Ga) & Montgomery Railway failed, a successor known as the Georgia & Alabama was formed in 1895. Known as the "Savannah Short Line" because of its direct connection between Montgomery and Savannah, the G & A quickly took over the Abbeville & Waycross and the Columbus Southern. (It also passed through Plains, Ga, the home town of President Jimmy Carter.)

Only 5 years later, the Seaboard Air Line bought the G & A.

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Class E50-G3 (Locobase 4996)

Data from 1929 SAL locomotive diagrams published on [] and SAL 9 - 1918 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See Locobase 9351 for a description for the elegant diagrams that held the data for these locomotives.

A comparison between this class (works #4930-4931, 4963-4965) and the I-10 (Locobase 4995) suggests that the latter is a Ten-wheeler version of this engine. This American-type engine seems intended for passenger service on the main line.

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Class E55-G (Locobase 4983)

Data from 1929 SAL locomotive diagrams published on [] . See also "Seaboard Air-Line Passenger Engine," Railroad & Locomotive Engineering, Volume 8, Number 9 (September 1895), p. 553.

B Rumary's summary of Richmond production, supplied by Allen Stanley in March 2004, showed 2459-2465.

American type designed, said the R & LE report, by the SAL's superintendent of motive power W T Reed "...for handling heavy, fast passenger trains." The account described the design as "remarkably well-proportioned." Given its intended service, that's an odd assessment of a locomotive with such a high heating surface to grate ratio and relatively low firebox-to-heating surface ratio.

At the time of later renumbering, two of the 7 had already left the SAL.

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Class E60 - E6 (Locobase 4993)

Data from "Florida Central and Peninsular Railway", Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 3 (March 1899), p. 121-122; and "Eight-Wheel Passenger Locomotive, FC&P RR", Railway Review, Volume 39, (18 February 1899), p.87. See also SAL 1907 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange collection. See also (Thanks to Chris Hohl for 5 July 2020 email noting the original engine weight, tender weight and coal capacity, total wheelbase, and boiler pressure as well as supplying the Railway Review link.) According to a compilation of Cooke locomotives by B.Rumary (25 Kingscombe, Gurney Slade, Radstock, BA3 4TH, ENGLAND) and supplied to Locobase by Allen Stanley in March 2004, works numbers were 2415-2416 (December 1898).

Among the last of the small-grate Americans used, presumably, on branch lines. Note the relatively low axle loading. Continuing the line of passenger locomotives supplied to the FC & P, this duo had an unusually long stroke for an Eight-wheeler. Sinclair told readers that he had been curious about the long stroke and wrote to Mr T A Phillips, the F, C & P's assistant general manager about how they were performing.

Quite well, said Phillips. Why? The railroad decided to decrease cylinder diameter and lengthen stroke about four years earlier, and "...results attained have been far beyond our expectations." He explained that lengthening stroke by 2" to 26" in earlier designs had shown reduced coal consumption and better power, then commented: "The last two engines we had built by Cooke; had them 18 x 28 inches, and so far they have showed about the same percentage of improvement over the 18 x 26-inch ...and they have proven entirely satisfactory to us in every respect. As the fundamental principle of power is leverage, we find these engines with the long stroke give us better satisfaction than any other, as we get more leverage from them, consequently more power and better results in every way."

Pulling the vestibuled New York and Florida trains over the heaviest grades (60-80 ft per mile and tight curves, the engines were able to average 40 mph (64 kph) with seven vestibuled Pullmans. On a part of the road with light grades, the same engines ran 80 miles (129 km) and made five stops (for railroad crossings and drawbridges) in 2:10 pulling fourteen-car trains, of which five cars were sleepers.

The long stroke wasn't the only source of such improved results, he thought it "perhaps fair to say." In addition, "...the outside and inside lap and size of ports [in the slide valves] have a great deal to do with their satisfactory performance."

Regardless of the plaudits, the Seaboard Air Line retired the two only 16 years after their introductions, Locobase wonders if the long-stroke concept in a passenger 4-4-0 proved unsatisfactory or did the high 94:1 evaporative heating surface area to grate area ratio prove too limiting? (Only two other North American 4-4-0 designs in Locobase had such high stroke-to-bore ratios and both were built by Cooke; see Locobases 3943 and 11404.)

A Georgia railroad history site -- [] (visited 11 August 2004)-- tells us that the FC&P was created out of the bankrupt remains of the Florida Railway & Navigation in 1889. The FC&P ultimately ran a railroad through from Jacksonville to Columbia, SC and in a rather dense network in Central Florida. It was bought by the Seaboard Air Line in 1899 and formally merged with the SAL in 1903.

Within ten years, 1907 Seaboard diagrams showed an engine weight of 122,000 lb (55,701 kg), loaded tender weight of 95,800 lb (43,454 kg), and a reduced boiler pressure of 185 psi (12.76 bar). The increased engine weight was due solely to a growth to 47,900 lb in weight loading on the leading bogie. (It's also possible that the original bogie weight was a low estimate.)

The pair of FC&Ps adoptees were withdrawn from service in October and November 1915.

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Class E60-E5 (Locobase 9359)

Data from SAL 9 - 1918 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See Locobase 9351 for a description for the elegant diagrams that held the data for these locomotives.

Rogers works numbers for this quartet included 5065 (October 1895) and 5101, 5156-5157 (December 1895). The figure given for total heating surface in the 1918 book seemed awfully small at . The 1907 book supplies the value (1,404 sq ft) used in the specs.

The FC & P's layout resembled the state it primarily served in skeleton. The original line -- Tallahassee Railroad -- went from that city to St Marks and opened in 1837. Several amalgamations and name changes later, the FC & P on the eve of its merger with the Seaboard Air Line in 1903 had a Western Division -- Jacksonville to Chattahoochee -- and a Southern Division -- Fernandina (on the Atlantic Coast north of Jacksonville) to Cedar Key (across the peninsula from Daytona).

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Class E60-G1 (Locobase 4981)

Data from SAL 1907 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange collection. Works numbers were 3188-3192 in May 1900.

Small class of Americans delivered at the same time as the Baldwin G2. These had slightly larger grates, but they still seem awfully small for the boiler.

The entire class was retired in 1930, 181-182 in May, 180 and 183-184 in October.

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Class E60-G2/G2 (Locobase 4980)

Data from 1929 SAL locomotive diagrams published on [] . See also DeGolyer, Volume 23, p. 61. Works numbers were 18020-18021, 18059, 18065 in August 1900 and 18132-18133, 18161, 18171-18174 in September.

Relatively high-drivered class of Americans with small grates and narrower than usual fireboxes. Described as "sleek but chunky". The Seaboard's diagrams showed a firebox with 162 sq ft (15.05 sq m) of heating surfaces and a total of 1,878 sq ft (174.47 sa m) of evaporative heating surface arrea..Leading truck wheel diameters were reduced from 33" (838 mm) to 30" (762 mm).

They operated until the last retired in 1933.

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Class T55-E2 (Locobase 9357)

Data from SAL 9 - 1918 locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See Locobase 9351 for a description for the elegant diagrams that held the data for these locomotives.

Richmond (works #2309, 2324-2325, 2371-2373) and Rhode Island (works #2283, 2296-2298) contributed engines to this class of freight Ten-wheelers. Road #105 was later assigned to switcher service and had its boiler pressure reduced to 135 psi.