Escambia 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" Locomotives in the USA

Class 101 (Locobase 13953)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 43, p 260 and Vol 62, pp. 281+. See Jerry Simmons's work in progress history of Alger Sullivan at [], last accessed 16 March 2012. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for finding the differences between these two 1912 engines and the 1920 engine shown in Locobase 16013.) Works numbers were 39276 and 39285 in February 1913.

The Escambia was the railroad that served the Alger Sullivan Lumber Company of Century, Fla on a line laid with 45 lb/yard (22.5 kg/metre) rail that ran 100 miles from Fowler in southern Alabama to the Century sawmill. Another 200 miles of temporary track opened up thousands of acres of timber.

These logging Ten-wheelers were wood-burners that had traditional Radley & Hunter spark-arresting cabbage stacks and 3 1/2 cords of wood in the tenders. The specs also called for engine frames of "extra heavy section for rough track." (The 103, which had a new Baldwin stack design and Walschaert gear, appears in Locobase 16013.)

According to Simmons, a typical train would consist of a single engine pulling 24-30 log cars and trailed by a caboose. He describes a typical run:"The log cars were connected by long timbers with link and pin couplers on each end. Only the engine had brakes. Since grading and embankments were kept to an absolute minimum, the rails tended to run up one hill and down the next. At 50 mph [!], it made for a very exciting ride."

He also notes that the country through which the trains passed was "virtual wilderness" and that the Escambia provided a lifeline for the settlements that began to appear.

Most of the timberland had been cut over by 1922 and the Escambia began a long decline that ended in its abandonment in 1942.

The railroad operated freight and passenger service and finally closed in 1942.

Class 103 (Locobase 16013)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 62, pp. 281+. See Jerry Simmons's work in progress history of Alger Sullivan at [], last accessed 16 March 2012. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for the 28 February 2015 pointing out the several differences between this engine and the earlier pair described in Locobase 13953.) Works number was 53634 in September 1920.

Almost eight years (and a World War) after purchasing the two Ten-wheelers shown in Locobase 13953, the Escambia ordered a third wood-burner. There were some changes, most notably the adoption of outside radial valve gear in place of the link motion, an increase in weight, and the updated Rushton Improved spark-arresting stack. Like the earlier engines, the 107's tender held 3 1/2 cords of wood and had engine frames that were to be of "extra heavy section for rough track."