masthead_steam
Featured Steam

logo_diamondColumbus & Greenville Railway

steam_art egyptian_b etween 1924 and 1945 — the first two decades of the original, independent Columbus & Greenville Railway — the Delta Route powered all of its trains with second-hand steam locomotives. Indeed, it would not be until the historic Baldwin road-switcher order of 1945 that the C&G could afford new equipment delivered to Columbus from the factory. As for steam, the principal year of acquisition was 1923, shortly after forming the company, when the road secured from several sources a large batch of Consolidations, Moguls, and Ten-Wheelers to move both its freight and passenger movements. Seven locomotives were purchased from former parent Southern Railway, and an impressive 23 steamers were secured from mainline neighbor and interchange partner Mobile & Ohio. The early 1930s saw another batch of ex-Mobile & Ohio Ten-Wheelers, and in 1938 Columbus forces purchased six more 4-6-0s — ex Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast locomotives secured through an Atlanta equipment dealer, these Ten-wheelers heavier than all previous. One year later, the C&G made what would be its final steam purchase, securing six handsome Mikados through a dealer from the bankrupt Ft. Smith & Western in Arkansas. More powerful and reliable than any previous power, the Mikes served the road well right up into the Baldwin diesel era.

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See also our complete Columbus & Greenville featured scrapbook in Shortlines

roster_clipping1940a

from Railroad
magazine - Dec 1940 / collection

roster_clipping1940b

from Railroad
magazine - Dec 1940 / collection

roster_clipping1940c
weight_clipping

1947 steam locomotive tonnage table / collection

steamers_clipping1958

from TRAINS Magazine
- Sep 1958 / collection

Six-coupled

Columbus & Greenville #50

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:0-6-0 Six-coupled
  • built:Jun 1906, Baldwin #28444
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 19x24" cylinders, 51" drivers
  • blt Southern Railway #1578
    to Columbus & Greenville #50, 1923
    retired and scrapped 1938
  • builder

    whyte_6coupled Columbus & Greenville #50 was the shortline's only steamer built in a switcher configuration, assigned to work Columbus yard until the 1930s when heavier yard power arrived. Built in 1906 and purchased from the Southern Railway in 1923, she was similar in appearance and appliances to Southern #1621 (below) — both engines from Southern's A class of six-coupled yard switchers.

    cagy50_notes

    JCH

    sou1621_clipping

    from Southern Railway System: Steam Locomotives
    — Richard E. Prince / collection

    Mogul

    Columbus & Greenville #55

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:2-6-0 Mogul
  • built:Jan 1905, Baldwin #24945
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 19x26" cylinders, 56" drivers
  • blt New Orleans Terminal #109
    to Southern Railway #7081
    to Columbus & Greenville #55, 1937
    retired 1945
  • builder

    whyte_mogul Columbus & Greenville #55 was one of only two Mogul 2-6-0 types on the roster. Built in 1905 for the New Orleans Terminal Company, it went to the Southern Railway when NOT was acquired by the Southern. It later went to the C&G in 1937, working Columbus in switching duties, but the steamer was retired by 1945. Although #55 shows later Southern modifications and a sloped tender applied in Columbus, she is quite similar in design to sister New Orleans Terminal #110 (below).

    sou7080_clipping

    from Southern Railway System: Steam Locomotives
    — Richard E. Prince / collection

    Ten-wheelers

    whyte_tenwheeler The backbone of the Columbus & Greenville steam roster was the nimble Ten-wheeler arrangement. The Delta Route would collect no less than 4 classes of the 4-6-0 type, some 34 locomotives in all. Three of these classes were hand-me-down locomotives from nearby Mobile & Ohio. The first two batches were built in the last years of the 19th century, by Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works. Classes 100 (17 steamers) and 200 (6 steamers) came to Columbus in the fall of 1923, mechanically similar except for diver size. Class 300 (5 steamers) were Baldwins built in 1904, also secondhand from the M&O, arriving in stages in the early 1930s. Class 400 is described below.

    icon_wikipedia

    rogers_inset Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works was a 19th-century manufacturer of railroad steam locomotives based in Paterson, in Passaic County, New Jersey, in the United States. It built more than six thousand steam locomotives for railroads around the world. Most railroads in 19th-century United States rostered at least one Rogers-built locomotive. The company's most famous product was a locomotive named The General, built in December 1855, which was one of the principals of the Great Locomotive Chase of the American Civil War.

    The company was founded by Thomas Rogers in an 1832 partnership with Morris Ketchum and Jasper Grosvenor as Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor. Rogers remained president until his death in 1856 when his son, Jacob S. Rogers, took the position and reorganized the company as Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works. The younger Rogers led the company until he retired in 1893. Robert S. Hughes then became president and reorganized the company as Rogers Locomotive Company, which he led until his death in 1900.

    Rogers avoided the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) merger in 1901 through closing and reopening as Rogers Locomotive Works. The company remained independent until 1905, when ALCO purchased it; ALCO continued building new steam locomotives at the Rogers plant until 1913. ALCO used the Rogers facilities through the 1920s as a parts storage facility and warehouse, but eventually sold the property to private investors. Today, several Rogers-built locomotives exist in railroad museums around the world, and the plant's erecting shop is preserved as the Thomas Rogers Building; it is the current location of the Paterson Museum, whose mission is to preserve and display Paterson's industrial history.

    Wikipedia

    Columbus & Greenville #165

  • builder:Rogers Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:4-6-0 Ten-wheeler
  • built:Jan 1897, Rogers #5162
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 18x26" cylinders, 57" drivers
  • blt Mobile & Ohio #58
    to Mobile & Ohio #131
    to Columbus & Greenville #165, 1923
    retired 1940
  • builder

    Columbus & Greenville #166

  • builder:Rogers Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:4-6-0 Ten-wheeler
  • built:Jun 1897, Rogers #5195
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 18x26" cylinders, 57" drivers
  • blt Mobile & Ohio #117
    to Mobile & Ohio #134
    to Columbus & Greenville #166, 1923
    scrapped 1947
  • builder

    Columbus & Greenville #171

  • builder:Rogers Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:4-6-0 Ten-wheeler
  • built:Nov 1899, Rogers #5460
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 18x26" cylinders, 57" drivers
  • blt Mobile & Ohio #171
    to Columbus & Greenville #171, 1923
    scrapped 1946
  • builder

    Columbus & Greenville #175

  • builder:Rogers Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:4-6-0 Ten-wheeler
  • built:Nov 1899, Rogers #5469
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 18x26" cylinders, 57" drivers
  • blt Mobile & Ohio #175
    to Columbus & Greenville #175, 1923
    scrapped 1946
  • builder

    Columbus & Greenville #177

  • builder:Rogers Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:4-6-0 Ten-wheeler
  • built:Nov 1899, Rogers #5471
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 18x26" cylinders, 57" drivers
  • blt Mobile & Ohio #177
    to Columbus & Greenville #177, 1923
    sold to Columbus Gravel Co, 1948
  • builder

    tag_closeup Rogers Survivor

    wilhelm_painting

    JCH

    The image above is a photograph of an oil painting by Joseph Wilhelm created for the publication of Louis Saillard's written history of the Columbus & Greenville (right), which was published for the centennial of the railroad in 1982. The painting features Rogers-built steamer #178 leaving the depot at Indianola, Mississippi, with an eastbound Deltan passenger train in tow. Perhaps because it was the last steam locomotive overhauled by the Columbus shops, No. 178 was not scrapped after retirement in 1951 but instead was stored outside the shops for many years. Eventually a federal grant was used to place the steamer and a similar train to the one in the painting on display at Propst Park in Columbus. No. 178 is one of the one few surviving products of the Rogers Locomotive Works.

    deltaroute_cover
    tag_bird tag_rare

    Columbus & Greenville #178

  • builder:Rogers Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:4-6-0 Ten-wheeler
  • built:Aug 1900, Rogers #5609
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 18x26" cylinders, 57" drivers, later 63"
  • blt Mobile & Ohio #187
    to Mobile & Ohio #178
    to Columbus & Greenville #178, 1923
    rebuilt by Columbus shops, 1948
    retired 1951
    on display in Propst Park, Columbus
  • builder
    cagy178_drawing

    drawing by Ed Gebhardt / collection

    cagy178_shop

    1948 rebuild / from Delta Route: A History of the Columbus & Greenville — Louis Saillard / collection

    cagy178_clipping1958

    from TRAINS Magazine
    - Sep 1958 / collection

    journal_jch

    My first visit to the Columbus & Greenville was in 1957. I took a few pictures of 4-6-0 #178 as it looked pretty good, even though the main rods were off. The thing that always struck me about the C&G was that they never got rid of anything! In 1957 there were five or six passenger cars in the Columbus yard, even though passenger service had been dropped in 1946.

    tag_jump

    See also our Propst Park scrapbook for detailed photographs of #178 on display


    cagy215_clipping1944

    from Railroad Magazine
    - Aug 1944 / collection

    Columbus & Greenville #216

  • builder:Rogers Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:4-6-0 Ten-wheeler
  • built:Dec 1899, Rogers #5475
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 18x26" cylinders, 63" drivers
  • blt Mobile & Ohio #179
    to Mobile & Ohio #216
    to Columbus & Greenville #216, 1923
    rebuilt by Columbus shops, 1939
    scrapped 1946
  • builder
    cagy216clipping1958

    from TRAINS Magazine
    - Sep 1958 / collection

    Columbus & Greenville #301

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:4-6-0 Ten-wheeler
  • built:Mar 1904, Baldwin #23857
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 21x26" cylinders, 57" drivers
  • blt Mobile & Ohio #205
    to Mobile & Ohio #315
    to Columbus & Greenville #301, 1930
    scrapped 1939
  • builder

    Columbus & Greenville #303

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:4-6-0 Ten-wheeler
  • built:Mar 1904, Baldwin #23938
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 21x26" cylinders, 57" drivers
  • blt Mobile & Ohio #209
    to Mobile & Ohio #319
    to Columbus & Greenville #303, 1930
    scrapped 1948
  • builder

    Columbus & Greenville #304

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:4-6-0 Ten-wheeler
  • built:Mar 1904, Baldwin #23855
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 21x26" cylinders, 57" drivers
  • blt Mobile & Ohio #203
    to Mobile & Ohio #313
    to Columbus & Greenville #304, 1934
    scrapped 1952
  • builder

    Columbus & Greenville #305

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:4-6-0 Ten-wheeler
  • built:Mar 1904, Baldwin #23854
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 21x26" cylinders, 57" drivers
  • blt Mobile & Ohio #202
    to Mobile & Ohio #312
    to Columbus & Greenville #305, 1934
    scrapped 1947
  • builder

    whyte_tenwheeler Columbus & Greenville's 400 class of steamers, Nos. 401-406, were purchased from dealer Georgia Car & Locomotive Company during 1937-38. These 6 Baldwins were all built in 1906-07 for the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic. Baldwin builders photos below show C&G #401 as built as #1609, with sister AB&A #1602 below. Although these locomotives were more powerful than all previous Delta Route steam, they rode poorly and were generally disliked by the engine crews.

    Columbus & Greenville #401

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:4-6-0 Ten-wheeler
  • built:Sep 1906, Baldwin #29088
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 23x28" cylinders, 63" drivers
  • blt Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic #1609
    to Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast #109
    to Georgia Car & Locomotive dealer
    to Columbus & Greenville #401, 1938
    scrapped 1947
  • builder

    Mikados

    whyte_mikado Columbus & Greenville saved the best for last with its 500 class of steamers. These 6 Baldwin 'Mikado' type haulers were purchased second hand from the Fort Smith & Western in Arkansas when that shortline went bankrupt. Built between 1916-20, the Mikes were generally considered the best steam engines the Delta Route owned. They sported 57" drivers, nimble tenders, spoked wheels, and unusual mounting of the air tanks on top of the boiler behind the smokestack. Fort Smith & Western #28, to become C&G #505 (not pictured), is shown here in a Baldwin builders photo.

    Columbus & Greenville #502

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:2-8-2 Mikado
  • built:Aug 1916, Baldwin #43784
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 22x28" cylinders, 57" drivers
  • blt Ft Smith & Western #23
    to Columbus & Greenville #502, 1939
    scrapped 1947
  • builder

    Columbus & Greenville #503

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:2-8-2 Mikado
  • built:Aug 1917, Baldwin #46158
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 22x28" cylinders, 57" drivers
  • blt Ft Smith & Western #27
    to Columbus & Greenville #503, 1939
    scrapped 1950
  • builder
    cagy503_clipping1958

    from TRAINS Magazine
    - Sep 1958 / collection

    Columbus & Greenville #504

  • builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • arrangement:2-8-2 Mikado
  • built:Aug 1917, Baldwin #46113
  • fuel:soft coal/water
  • notes:
  • 22x28" cylinders, 57" drivers
  • blt Ft Smith & Western #26
    to Columbus & Greenville #504, 1939
    scrapped 1947
  • builder

    tag_scrapScrapbook

    steam_notes

    notes on early Columbus & Greenville steamers / JCH

    cagy_mp_scrapbook1
    cagy_mp_scrapbook2
    cagy_mp_scrapbook3

    all pages from Columbus & Greenville scrapbook / JCH

    Links / Sources

    This page was updated on 2021-10-29