This Consolidation type (2-8-0) locomotive was built as an
0-8-0 at Alco’s Schenectady, NY, works in 1918, but was converted to a 2-8-0 just before it was sold to the Kelley's Creek & Northwestern Railroad as #1. Starting life as an 0-8-0 meant it was fitted with two sand domes and the conversion has left the front hand rails out of alignment with the steps. With Walschaert valve gear, the engine weighs 210,000 lbs, 185,000 lbs on its 51” drivers. A coal burner, it has 22” x 26” cylinders and, operating at a boiler pressure of 200 psi, delivered 45,200 lbs tractive effort.
The Kelley's Creek & Northwestern was an eight mile coal hauling shortline owned by the Valley Camp Coal Company operating from 1903 until 1993.
#1 was sold to the Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad in 1954 where it was renumbered #14. In 1967, it was bought by Paul Hersch in Dundon, WV, and then moved to Quakerstown, PA, in 1975. In 1980, it was donated to Historic Red Clay Valley Incorporated, which operates the Wilmington & Western in Wilmington, DE. In 1984, it was sold to Melvyn Small and then, at a later date to the City of Gaithersburg, MD, and is now on display next to the downtown Union depot.
