Class 102 (Locobase 13808)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works datacard as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 39, p. 23. Works number was 36629 in May 1911.

As short as the Ocala Northern was, it was twice as long as the O&SW. The latter, also owned by lumberman EP Rentz and which never measured more than 6 miles in length, was intended to reach Tampa.

The 102 was a virtual duplicate of the Ocala Northern's 110 (Locobase 13715), but had a 4" longer driving wheelbase. In fact, this Ten-wheeler was an exact duplicate of the Paris & Mount Pleasant (102), which rolled out of Eddystone just ahead of it. It cost the O&SW $9,100.

The line's short history that ended in abandonment in 1923 at which time locomotive rebuilder/reseller Georgia Car & Locomotive bought the 102. GC&L soon traded the relatively new Ten-wheeler for an old engine from the Andalusia, Florida & Gulf, which was the product of the 1919 reorganization of the bankrupt 25-mile-long Florida, Alabama & Gulf . The line linked Galliver, Fla with several north Florida towns and the Alabama town of Falco, named for the lumber company that owned the railroad. The AFG lasted only a short time before being abandoned in 1925.

Class 50 (Locobase 13043)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 43, p.144. See also the Georgia Rails site at [] . Baldwin works number was 39431 in March 1913.

The Ocilla Southern was a relatively late starter, its first rails laid down in 1906. As it expanded in pursuit of its goal to connect Atlanta, Ga with Nashville, Tenn, it acquired trackage rights between Ocilla and Fitzgerald and built its way north to Pope City and south to Alapaha. Alas for visions, reality insisted that the OC amass only about 1/3 of the needed distance and it entered receivership in 1918. It was fully abandoned by 1923.

The Ten-wheeler in this entry was essentially identical to several other 4-6-0s sold to small Southern railroads during this period. It had smaller drivers and set its boiler pressure to a lower level, but otherwise the boilers were essentially interchangeable.

When the OC collapsed, the 50 was sold to the Live Oak, Perry & Gulf as their 101 and served that line until it was scrapped many years later in May 1955.