Aberdeen & Rockfish 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" Locomotives in the USA

Class 10 (Locobase 11722)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works datacard as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 43, p. 148. Works number was 39287 in March 1913.

Possibly because the A & R had reoriented itself to serving the Fayetteville area, the next Ten-wheeler it ordered from Baldwin was a bit bigger than the #7, which had been delivered in 1910 (Locobase 13356). Even so, it was only a modestly scaled standard-gauge 4-6-0.

After almost 25 years, North Carolina's A & R sold the 10 in 1937 to the Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Company. The BR & L then sold the engine to Moore Central Railway.

Class 11 (Locobase 13557)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works datacard as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 59, p. 415+. Works number was 52405 in September 1919.

Operating under the aegis of the United States Railroad Administration from 1917 to 1920 led the A&R nearly to bankruptcy as it failed to merit funding for many improvements even as the high traffic volume strained its infrastructure.

One small bright spot must have been this superheated Ten-wheeler. Although its power dimensions remained almost identical (except for a small increase in boiler pressure), the new engine compared favorably with its older Baldwin brother (Locobase 11722) in its use of a superheater and the concomitant adoption of Walschaert radial valve gear actuating 9 1/2" (241 mm) diameter piston valves.

The 11/25 would operate on the A&R until 1930, when it was sold to locomotive rebuilder/reseller Southern Iron & Equipment. SI & E found a buyer in the Alabama Central as their 34. The AC scrapped the engine in 1941 because it didn't serve the road's coal-centered business focus and it abandoned the Manchester-Sunlight segment. (See the account of the Alabama Central at [], last accessed 20 December 2011.)

Class 4 (Locobase 12467)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 23, p. 194. See also a history of the A & R at [], last accessed 20 December 2011. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 24 November 2023 email correcting the 4's driver diameter.) Works number was 18670 in January 1901.

John Blue's railroad was organized in 1892 as the A&R to exploit the pine forests in Moore County for their turpentine potential. The first locomotives on the line had to be sized to travel on the 40-lb/yard (20-kg/metre) rail being laid The history observes that Blue's ambition continued to expand: "Raeford in 1898 (later the county seat of Hoke County after it divided from Cumberland County), Dundarrach in 1901, the community called Rockfish in 1902, Fenix in 1904 and Hope Mills in 1905."

According to the website, the logging business played out in 1912. Blue foreswore the precipitous decline in business that usually followed such a downturn by reoriented the railroad to serve the busy junction town of Fayetteville. (See the site's excellent account of the middle-of-the-night emplacement of a railroad diamond that allegedly frustrated the Atlantic Coast Line's attempt to freeze the shortline out of the city.)

Once the A&R lost its logging business, it sold the 4 to locomotive rebuilder/reseller Georgia Car & Locomotive. GC&L found a buyer for its stock #226 in Reeves, Louisiana-based Clear Creek Lumber Company, which renumbered the engine #2.

Class 5 (Locobase 11723)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works datacard as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 27, p. 106. Works number was 39287 in September 1904.

The 5 sported the wide-mouth spark-arresting stack used on locomotives operating in the woods. Good thing, for at the time the 5 entered service, the A & R's chief business was extracting pine logs for conversion to turpentine.

Twenty years after it entered service with the A & R, the 5 went to the Moore Central Railway.

Class 7 (Locobase 13556)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works datacard as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 34, p.174 . Works numbers were 34316 in February 1910

The 7 was small for a Ten-wheeler at the time it was built, and its service on the A&R may have been abbreviated for that reason. It was sold within 15 years of its arrival on the A&R to locomotive rebuilder/reseller Georgia Car & Locomotive in February 1924. GC&L then sold it to the Live Oak, Perry & Gulf as their 103. The LOP & G operated it for another 10 years before its retirement.