Clinchfield No. 1 is a 4-6-0 "Ten Wheeler" type steam locomotive it was built as #423 in 1882 by the Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Central in Logansport, IN.
It was built to haul freight trains, then later in 1899, the locomotive was renumbered #543 and, the following year, was sold to the Ohio River & Charleston Railway where it was renumbered #5.
Seven years later, #5 was sold to Black Mountain Railway in Burnsville, NC, where it was renumbered #1. It ran there until 1955, when it was sold back to the Clinchfield.
In 1968, the locomotive was completely overhauled at Clinchfield's shops. Sporting brass trimmed domes and air pump, and a graphite smokebox and smoke stack, it made its first trip on 23 November that year from Erwin to Kingsport, TN, and back. It was the first steam locomotive to operate over the Clinchfield line in fourteen years.
It was retired in 1979, having completed nearly one hundred years of service. It was then donated to the B&O Museum where it is today placed on static display.
Trivia[]
- It is one of only two Clinchfield locomotives to survive.
- In 1955, the town of Erwin, TN, bought #1 intending to put the locomotive on display, but this never materialised, and #1 sat behind the Clinchfield shops at Erwin rusting.
- It once headed the Clinchfield Santa Claus Special on the CSX Line back in 1977.
Gallery[]
