Chesapeake & Ohio No. 1308 is a Class H6 2-6-6-2 "Prairie-Mallet" that was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1949.
In the 1940s, during the Second World War, the C&O needed more steam locomotives for their usage within the United States to tackle the issues of the Second World War. So Baldwin had decided to go back to the drawing board and reuse the drawings from the USRA 2-6-6-2s. Enter the Chesapeake & Ohio Class H6, these locomotives were built for usage domestically within the US with No. 1308 being the penultimate member of the class to be built.
No. 1308 was retired on February 29, 1956 and placed in storage at Russell until the C&O gave it to the Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society, Inc., a group founded in 1959. Collis P. Huntington is best known as one of the Big Four who built the Central Pacific Railroad from San Francisco to Promontory, Utah, but following that he spent at least ten years as a leading figure of the C&O. The town where 1308 sits is named for him. The C&O donated the engine to the New River Train Group in 1962 as has been on since been on static display at the Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society, Inc.
Chesapeake & Ohio No. 1308 Historical Marker
The locomotive was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Chesapeake and Ohio 1308 Steam Locomotive in 2003.
As of today, No. 1308 is on static display at the Collis P. Huntington Railroad Historical Society, Inc. where it is unlikely it will ever run again. It along with No. 1309 are the last two surviving members of the C&O Class H6.