Little River Railroad No. 110 is a 4-6-2 'Pacific' type steam locomotive built by the Baldwin locomotive works in 1911 for the Little River Railroad. The locomotive was built with a blind middle drive wheel; this means that the middle drive wheel doesn't have a flange on it. This allows 110 to take curves that an engine without a blind driver would have a hard time negotiating.
No. 110 served as a logging engine, making its way up the mountains to the logging camps and bringing logs back down the mountain. It ran in what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park until 1939.
In 1940, No. 110 was sold to the Smoky Mountain Railroad and ran until it was retired on December 9, 1954.
When the Smoky Mountain Railroad ceased operations in January 1961, No. 110 was mothballed in Shook's Gap, TN.
In 2004, 110 and her owner Terry Bloom celebrated a milestone. No. 110 has been with the current Little River Railroad longer than either of its previous owners, and has been in service the entire time.
Today she runs on the Little River Railroad in Coldwater, MI.
Trivia[]
- In 110's 95 years of service, she has only been out of service for approximately 20 years.
- In 2011, No. 110 celebrated her 100th birthday. This included a quintuplet header with Little River Railroad 0-4-0 T #1, Viscose company 0-4-0 T #6, the recently restored Lehigh Valley Coal 0-6-0 T #126, and Flagg Coal company 0-4-0 T #75.
- In 2014, she double headed a passenger train with the Central Pacific Leviathan.
- 110's builder's plate number is 37303
- The 110 was (and still is) the smallest standard gauge 'Pacific' type steam locomotive ever built in the USA.
- 110 starred in the history channel movie "The Storm of the Century". 110 was re-numbered and re lettered for the filming.
- 110 along with a few pieces of the LRR consist were featured in the 2016 western movie "Wild Faith". In the movie, #110 was pulling a circus train and ran over a tree on the track, stalling the train. LRR owner Terry Bloom made a cameo and was seen oiling #110's side rods.
- On December 5, 2020, #110 pulled its first revenue train since the recent completion of its overall.
- On October 3, 2021, 110 was relettered to her former Smokey Mountain Railroad heritage for her extended trip to Hillsdale, Michigan.
- In the summer of 2022, she and running mate Little River Railroad #1 would provide 25 minute round trips for passengers from the excursion train pulled by Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 #765. This is the first time that the two Little River Railroad engines would reunite with the NKP #765 since the Owasso Train Festival in 2014. This event also marked the first time since the end of steam on the NYC that multiple steam locomotives would operate in the town of Hillsdale, Michigan.