Design

182 2-8-2 "Mikado" type MS class steam locomotives were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the American Locomotive Company, and the Lima Locomotive Works between 1911 and 1917 to haul freight trains for the Southern Railway (SOU) and were numbered in the 4501-4635, 6250-6284, and 6600-6611 series.^[3][4] They were designed with 63 in (1,600 mm) driving wheels, 53,900 lb (24.4 tonnes) of tractive effort, an operating boiler pressure of 200 psi (1.38 MPa), and their tenders had a capacity of 12 tonnes (12,000 kg) of coal and 8,000 US gallons (30,000 L) of water.^[1][5] Some of these locomotives were equipped with Walschaerts (Nos. 4501-4603, 4624-4635) and Southern valve gears (Nos. 4604-4623).^[5][6] In the 1940s, some of the locomotives were eventually re-equipped with Worthington feedwater heaters, mechanical stokers, bigger sand domes, larger tenders, and multiple-bearing crossheads to improve their performances.^[6][7]

Revenue service on the SOU and K&T

No. 4501 was built by Baldwin in October 1911 at a cost of $23,182 as the first of its wheel arrangement type for the Southern Railway.^[1][8] It was assigned to operate on many different divisions of the Southern Railway system from Tennessee to Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, hauling freight trains.^[2] In the mid-late 1940s, the No. 4501 locomotive was retired from revenue service and was sent to the SOU's Princeton Shops to be stored at a locomotive boneyard in Princeton, Indiana.^[2] On October 7, 1948, the Kentucky and Tennessee Railway (K&T), headquartered in Stearns, Kentucky, purchased No. 4501 for $8,225 and renumbered it as their No. 12 locomotive.^[2][8] No. 12 worked on the K&T hauling coal trains until 1964, when the K&T purchased three ALCO S-2 diesel locomotives from the Denver and Rio Grande Western. Consequently, No. 12, along with K&T's other steam locomotives, were retired from revenue service.^[2][8]

First restoration and excursion service

Railfan Paul H. Merriman purchased No. 12 for the 4501 Corporation with $5,000 of his own money and renumbered it back to 4501.^[2][8] On June 6, 1964, after No. 4501 moved under its own power to Chattanooga from the K&T, an initial restoration was undergone by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) volunteers at the facilities of the Lucey Boiler Company in Chattanooga near the TVRM's storage facilities, which were at the time located on former Western Union Company tracks.^[2]

No. 4501 was stripped down for an extensive overhaul, with the thin cab floor, the rotted ash pan, and the rusty smokebox front replaced.^[10] The dented cab roof was straightened and a radio antenna was installed.^[10] The cylinder cocks were reworked, and the throttle was lapped with a new air line run to the repacked reversing gear.^[10] No. 4501 was repainted in the Southern passenger Virginian green and gold paint scheme, paying homage to the Ps-4 locomotives being painted in that livery.^[10][11] After the restoration was completed in August 1966, the No. 4501 locomotive pulled its inaugural excursion train between Chattanooga and Richmond, Virginia, officially kicking off the SOU's new steam excursion program.^[10][12][13]

In 1969, No. 4501 was upgraded with a larger tender that was originally used behind a Central of Georgia 2-10-2,^[14] before being used for a maintenance of way wreck train in Georgia.^[15] The new tender held 18 tonnes (18,000 kg) of coal and 12,500 US gallons (47,000 L) of water, which improved the locomotive's range greatly.^{[14][lower-alpha 1]} Also in November, during the 75th anniversary of the Southern Railway an event called the "Steam-O-Rama" took place in Anniston, Alabama, on the Birmingham-to-Atlanta main line.^[17] It featured No. 4501, Savannah and Atlanta (S&A) No. 750, which had been restored by the Atlanta Chapter NRHS,^[18] and London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) A3 No. 4472 Flying Scotsman, which was in the course of its US tour at the time.^[17]

Throughout the summer of 1973, with the request of Trains magazine editor David P. Morgan and officials from the Chicago and North Western (C&NW), No. 4501 operated outside of Southern Railway property to pull a series of excursion trips in the Midwestern United States on the C&NW, the Milwaukee Road (MILW), the Illinois Central (IC), the Rock Island (RI), and the Norfolk and Western (N&W).^[19][20][21] Arrangements were also made for No. 4501 to pull that year's Schlitz Circus World Museum (CWM) train on June 29, on the CN&W main line between Baraboo and Madison, Wisconsin, and on the MILW’s main line to Milwaukee.^{[20][21][lower-alpha 2]} The SOU generously allowed the CWM to use the locomotive free of charge.^[21][22] Between July 4 and 9, No. 4501 pulled a long-distance excursion, entitled "The Independence Limited", between Chicago and Washington, D.C.^[23] During that journey, No. 4501 traveled on the Western Maryland (WM).^[23]

In 1975, Paul Merriman donated the title of No. 4501 to the TVRM.^[24] On September 1, 1977, No. 4501 travelled from Durham, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia to participate in that year's NRHS Convention.^[25] On September 3, No. 4501 pulled a NRHS doubleheader excursion behind Texas and Pacific 610 on the N&W from Roanoke to Lynchburg.^[25][26] Upon arrival in Lynchburg, No. 4501 pulled eleven cars solo on the SOU to Altavista, and then it returned to Roanoke via N&W's former Virginian trackage.^[25][26] Another doubleheader excursion with No. 610 was planned on September 5, but pilot truck issues sidelined No. 610 in Roanoke, and No. 4501 had to pull the excursion with two diesel locomotives to Charlottesville.^[25][26]

On March 28, 1979, No. 4501 became listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[1] On April 11, 1981, the locomotive suffered a cracked front flue sheet at Dalton, Georgia, while pulling an excursion trip from Atlanta to Chattanooga.^[27][28] A diesel locomotive pulled the remainder of the trip while No. 4501 was towed back to the Irondale Workshop in Birmingham, Alabama, for a long-term rebuild, lasting until November 1984.^[28][29] Following the rebuild, No. 4501 received a newly welded tender body with the coal capacity decreased to 16 tonnes (16,000 kg) and the water tank capacity increased to 13,000 US gallons (49,000 L).^[14] The tender's former Andrews pilot trucks were replaced with modern roller bearing trucks.^[29]

At the end of the 1985 operating season, the locomotive was retired from mainline excursion service and moved back to the TVRM due to SOU's successor, Norfolk Southern (NS), expanding the steam program with larger N&W locomotives, 4-8-4 J class No. 611 and 2-6-6-4 A class No. 1218 to haul the longer and heavier excursion trains.^[30] Five years later, No. 4501 returned to mainline excursion service to operate on lines that were off limits to the two N&W locomotives.^[31]

On November 3, 1991, during the 25th anniversary of the Southern steam program, No. 4501 was triple-headed with N&W 611 and 1218 on a planned excursion train of 28 passenger cars from Chattanooga to Atlanta.^[32] At Ooltewah, Tennessee, No. 4501 took some cars for a complete round trip, turning around at Cleveland, Tennessee.^[32] Meanwhile, the 611 and 1218 completed the rest of the trip to Atlanta.^[32]

In 1994, NS executives announced that they would discontinue their steam program due to serious safety concerns, rising insurance costs, the expense of maintaining steam locomotives, and decreasing rail network availability due to a surge in freight traffic.^[33][34] No. 4501 made its last public NS mainline excursion trip on April 30, planned to be from Birmingham to Columbus, Georgia. But it was taken off at Alexander City, Alabama, due to overheated bearings, and Norfolk Southern GP59 diesel locomotive No. 4610 finished the rest of the trip.^[33][35] No. 4501 returned to TVRM on May 25.^[35]

After Norfolk Southern ended their steam program in late 1994, No. 4501 remained at TVRM operating its excursion runs through north Georgia on the Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway shortline.^[36] In October 1996, the locomotive was repainted back to its original freight black livery for TVRM's 35th anniversary.^[36] It continued to operate until it was removed from service on September 20, 1998, due to the expiration of its boiler ticket.^[36]

Second restoration and excursion service

In June 2010, Norfolk Southern announced that they would run excursions with No. 4501 and 2-8-0 "Consolidation" No. 630 with their new 21st Century Steam program.^[37] In March 2011, No. 630 returned to service pulling tourist trains for the TVRM and some of the first mainline excursion trips for the 21st Century Steam program.^[38] With No. 630 in operating condition, the restoration of No. 4501 began at TVRM's Soule Shops in 2012.^[39]

During the restoration of No. 4501 around 2013, the locomotive received upgrades to its trailing wheels that included the addition of roller bearings to help guide the locomotive through curved tracks.^[40] A Worthington SA type feedwater heater replica from a 2-10-2 China Railways QJ Class was installed on No. 4501 to improve the locomotive's performance.^[40] Its tender was given a mechanical stoker from Canadian National 5288, a 4-6-2 steam locomotive that was also on display at TVRM, but would later be sold to the Colebrookdale Railroad in 2023.^[41][42] These modifications increased the locomotive's operating boiler pressure from 200 psi (1.38 MPa) to 205 psi (1.41 MPa), which created a slight increase in tractive effort.^[43] The Armstrong lubricators that spring-loaded the driving wheels were replenished by an automatic lubricator from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in North Yorkshire, England.^[40]

On September 6, 2014, No. 4501 was steamed up for the first time in 18 years, and it made its debut at TVRM's 2014 Railfest.^[44][45][46] The locomotive made a test run from Chattanooga to LaFayette, Georgia, on the Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway line on September 25, 2014, to be prepared for TVRM's upcoming annual Summerville Steam Special on October 4 that year.^[47]

On May 1, 2015, No. 4501 returned to the Norfolk Southern main line for the first time in 21 years and successfully completed a test round trip from TVRM to Cleveland, Tennessee.^[48][49] On June 26, 2015, No. 4501 began to participate in the 21st Century Steam program, running the Radford Rambler excursion from Bristol to Radford, Virginia.^[49][50] On June 27, the locomotive pulled the Lonesome Pine Special excursion from Bristol to Bulls Gap, Tennessee, and ran the Radford Rambler again on June 28.^[49][50] On September 12 and 13, No. 4501 ran a round trip excursion from Chattanooga to Cleveland, during TVRM's 2015 Railfest,^[49][50] but on Sunday, the locomotive was taken off the excursion due to some poor coal damaging its firebox grates.^[51] Two weeks later, the locomotive pulled the Nancy Hanks Special excursion from Macon to Tennille, Georgia.^[49][50][52]

No. 4501 was planned to run the Piedmont Limited round trip excursion from Atlanta to Toccoa, Georgia, on October 3 and 4, 2015, but it was canceled on October 1 due to Hurricane Joaquin, making the locomotive's career for the 21st Century Steam program very short-lived.^[49][53][54] Norfolk Southern officially ended their 21st Century Steam program, while No. 4501 remained at TVRM to continue excursion operations and became the main motive power for its annual Summerville Steam Special excursion from Chattanooga to Summerville, Georgia.^[49][55][56]

On March 12-13, 2018, Nos. 4501 and 630 participated in Lerro Productions' Southern Railway photo charter, where they hauled a mixed freight train consist at the TVRM section on the former day and the Summerville branch line on the latter day.^[57] In September 2019, No. 4501 was temporarily masqueraded as Louisville and Nashville J-3 Mikado No. 1593 for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Historical Society annual convention.^[58][59] In the summer of 2023, TVRM operates No. 4501 on the Evening Ridge Runner weekend excursions, which run from TVRM's Grand Junction Station to the Soule Shop during evening times.^[60]