A Mikado type (2-8-2) locomotive, #105 was built for the Georgia Northern Railway as "W. L. Joiner", by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1929. Built as a freight hauler, not much seems to be known about its operating life.
#105 weighs 184,000 lbs, 136,000 lbs on its 57” drivers. With a driver wheelbase of 15’ 3” and engine wheelbase of 31’ 4”, it is equipped with Walschaert valve gear and has 20” x 28” cylinders. The grate area is 41.5 sq ft, the firebox 164 sq ft and the total heating surface is 3,085 sq ft including 603 sq ft superheating. Operating at a boiler pressure of 200 psi, it delivered 33,404 lbs tractive effort. The tender weighs 141,000 lbs light and has a capacity of 7,000 gallons of water and 12 tons of coal.
In the early 1890s, the Pidcock family chartered a small logging railroad running north from the small community of Pidcock, GA. A few years later, they bought the nearby Boston & Albany Railroad and combined their assets to form the Georgia Northern Railway. The railroad was operating between Albany, GA and Boston, GA by 1905 then began purchasing other railroads.
The Flint River & North Eastern, the Georgia, Ashburn, Sylvester & Camilla and the Georgia, Southwestern & Gulf were absorbed and then the Southern Railway took over the Georgia Northern in 1966, although the road maintained a separate corporate identity until 1993 when it was merged into the Georgia Southern & Florida Railway.
#105 was donated to the City of Moultrie, GA, in 1963 and is on display at the junction of 1st Ave SE and 4th St SE. There are a few trees and bushes close to the fencing that obscure getting good photos.
