Southern Railway 4501

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Southern Railway 4501**
Power type	Steam
#4501 on display in 2006
Builder	Baldwin Locomotive Works
Build date	1911
Configuration	2-8-2
Gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm)
Driver size	63 inches
Fuel type	coal
Cylinder size	27x30
Valve gear	Walschaert
Career	Southern Railway
Class	Ms
Number in class	1st of 182
Number	4501
Retired	1963 (revenue) 1998 (excursion)
Current owner	Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
Disposition	Static display at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum

Built in October of 1911 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, 2-8-2 or "Mikado" steam locomotive 4501 (better known as Southern 4501) was the very first locomotive of her type that Southern Railway acquired. She had a great service life; she worked around the Southern Railway system from 1911 to 1948, first in Virginia, then in Kentucky, and finally in Indiana. In 1948 the Kentucky and Tennessee Railway found 4501 on Southern's "dead line", bought her, and renumbered her as their 12. When 12 was retired by the K&T in 1963 and again destined for scrap, railfan Paul H. Merriman bought the locomotive for The 4501 Corp. with $5,000 of his own money, and restored it for excursion use on the Southern Railway System.

The 4501 launched the Southern's steam program, which ran for several decades until the program was ended by Southern successor Norfolk Southern in 1994. 4501 is currently owned by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee (which Merriman founded with Bob Soule), and the current status is "mothballed", but on static display. It last ran in 1998 and probably won't be operating any time soon because the TVRM is overhauling a smaller locomotive that is more appropriate for its 3 mile main line and other facilities. It has been called "The Green Mikado" because, for some of its excursion career, it received the green paint with gold trim that was historically used only on Southern Railway's passenger locomotives (4501 was built primarily to haul freight).

Note: 4501 was stared in Johnny Cash's music video for the cover song "Hurt". About a minute into the video he is seen at the throttle of this locomotive.

The 4501 was also used as the locomotive in the 1999 movie October Sky. Its role was as a coal hauling locomotive and was shown several times in the film. A short clip of famed rail photographer O. Winston Link as the engineer was shown in the movie.

[edit] References

Wrinn, Jim (2000). Steam's Camelot: Southern and Norfolk Southern Excursions in Color. TLC Publishing. ISBN 1883089565.
Drury, George H. (1993). Guide to North American Steam Locomotives. Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0890242062.