Like Gainesville Midland #208 on the GM #208 page of this website, #209 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA, for the Seaboard Air Line and was originally numbered #533. It was one of eight of these all purpose freight hauling SAL Class D-3 Decapod type
(2-10-0) locomotives delivered in 1930 (#529-#536).
#533 was sold to the Durham & Southern Railway in North Carolina at some time in the early 1950s, and then to the Gainesville Midland in 1955, where it was renumbered
#209. With #208, it used to doublehead the GM freight runs and #206 and #209 doubleheaded the last freight train into Gainesville in July 1959 after the SAL took over the last remaining forty mile stretch of Gainesville Midland track, from Gainesville to Athens. That same year, the
locomotive was donated to the City of Gainesville. It is on display at the corner of W Academy Street and Jesse Jewell Parkway
I have visited the engine a couple of times and the photographs on this page are from both visits.
There is a great article on restoration of #209 at http://www.rypn.org/rypn_files/articles/Articles/
050402gm209/default.htm.
With an engine wheelbase of 28' 3" and driver wheelbase of 19' 8", #208 weighs 212,000 lbs, 190,000 lbs on its 56" drivers. It is equiped with Walschaert valve gear and has 24" x 28"
cylinders, a 197 sq ft firebox, 54.3 sq ft grate and a combined heating surface of 2,896 sq ft, including 533 sq ft superheating. Operating at a boiler pressure of 190 psi, it delivered 46,510 lbs tractive effort.
The tender weighs 137,500 lbs light with a 7,000 gallon water and 12 ton coal capacity, although it does not appear to be the original tender, which would have had a brakeman's dog house (see the tender on the GM #208 page of this website).
Right, the last time I visited, #209 was decked out ready for Independence Day.
#209 is on display with an unnumbered steel cupola Seaboard Air Line caboose. This carries a build date of "9 25", and is probably one of thirty wood-bodied cars built by the Newport News Shipping & Dry Dock Company in Newport News, VA, in 1925 (#5274-#5303). At some time, SAL must have rebuilt it with steel sides.
Also on display is Southern Railway Baggage Car #507, shown on the right. It was built by the St. Louis Car Company some time in the 1930s and served for a time at the current site as a small railroad museum.
Related Links:
Location of Gainesville Midland #209
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Douglas van Veelen's The Gainesville Midland and her Sister Short Lines published in 2006 details the history of the Gainesville Midland and its predecessor lines, the Gainesville, Jefferson & Southern and the Walton Railroad. (click on the cover to search for this book on Bookfinder.com).
