The Old Steam Locomotive
Old locomotive Number 12 of the Atlantic and Western Railway company is a "Consolidation" or 2-8-0 type locomotive, so designated because it has a pony truck of two small wheels in front, eight large driving wheels, but no small-wheeled trailing truck beneath the firebox or cab.
The locomotive was built in November, 1911, for the Raleigh and Southport Railway Company by the famous Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia. It weighed about 74 tons and bore Baldwin construction number 37161. The very month the locomotive was constructed, the Raleigh and Southport came under the control of the Norfolk and Southern Railway when the N.S. Railway purchased the R&S's capital stock. By 1914, the N.S. Railway had absorbed the R&S, which operated the portion of the present Norfolk & Southern Railway between Raleigh and Fayetteville, N.C.
Now known as Norfolk-Southern Number 203, the locomotive closed out its active life with the N.S. in late 1947 or early 1948, as diesels began taking its place. It came to the local office of the Atlantic and Western Railway shortly afterward.
Renumbered as Atlantic and Western No. 12, the steamer saw service on the line between Sanford and Lillington until October 7th, 1950. It was again replaced by a diesel newcomer, A & W's number 100. The No. 12 never saw service again and was officially retired by the Atlantic and Western Railway at the end of 1955.
On November 26th, 1966, old No. 12 took a "piggyback" ride on a flatbed truck to its present location. It was donated to the Railroad House Historical Association by Mr. E.T. Ussery, President of A & W Railway Co. The train was sandblasted, repainted and restored for public inspection by the Sanford Jaycees. It is regularly visited by railroad buffs and by countless numbers of children who pretend to be back in the early days of railroading.
In 2013, a fence was installed around the old locomotive to protect both the equipment and the public. The Board of Directors asked the City of Sanford to install the fence as an act of public safety to protect the hundred year old locomotive from further harm.
The locomotive was built in November, 1911, for the Raleigh and Southport Railway Company by the famous Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia. It weighed about 74 tons and bore Baldwin construction number 37161. The very month the locomotive was constructed, the Raleigh and Southport came under the control of the Norfolk and Southern Railway when the N.S. Railway purchased the R&S's capital stock. By 1914, the N.S. Railway had absorbed the R&S, which operated the portion of the present Norfolk & Southern Railway between Raleigh and Fayetteville, N.C.
Now known as Norfolk-Southern Number 203, the locomotive closed out its active life with the N.S. in late 1947 or early 1948, as diesels began taking its place. It came to the local office of the Atlantic and Western Railway shortly afterward.
Renumbered as Atlantic and Western No. 12, the steamer saw service on the line between Sanford and Lillington until October 7th, 1950. It was again replaced by a diesel newcomer, A & W's number 100. The No. 12 never saw service again and was officially retired by the Atlantic and Western Railway at the end of 1955.
On November 26th, 1966, old No. 12 took a "piggyback" ride on a flatbed truck to its present location. It was donated to the Railroad House Historical Association by Mr. E.T. Ussery, President of A & W Railway Co. The train was sandblasted, repainted and restored for public inspection by the Sanford Jaycees. It is regularly visited by railroad buffs and by countless numbers of children who pretend to be back in the early days of railroading.
In 2013, a fence was installed around the old locomotive to protect both the equipment and the public. The Board of Directors asked the City of Sanford to install the fence as an act of public safety to protect the hundred year old locomotive from further harm.
The Modern Railroads
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In addition to admiring the old Atlantic and Western steam locomotive No. 12, railroad buffs will see and hear modern trains in action on the rails bordering both sides of Depot Park. Atlantic and Western operates a regular local freight service for industries in the area, and CSX and Amtrak routinely pass the Railroad House as well. Below are images of a northbound BNSF freight train passing through the historic Sanford junction of the old Western Railroad and Raleigh and Augusta Airline Railroad around 4 p.m. on a recent afternoon. On its northward journey, it passes within a few feet of Old No. 12 and the historic Railroad House, a living tribute to the enduring role of the rails in the ongoing saga of our great and vast America.
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