Baldwin built this 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotive in 1917 for the Susquehanna & New York Railroad as #116. It was the last and largest of the four Consolidations Baldwin built for the railroad.
#116 weighs 330,000 lbs (engine and tender), has 23" x 28" cylinders and 51" drivers. With a 222 sq ft firebox, 49.5 sq ft grate and total heating surface of 3,352 sq ft (including 626 sq ft superheating), it operated at a boiler pressure of 185 psi delivering tractive effort of 45,670 lbs.
The Susquehanna & New York was a forty-five mile "bridge line" connecting Pennsylvania Railroad's Marsh Hill Junction with the Lehigh Valley at Towanda, PA. It was formed in 1902 from the Binghamton, Towanda & Western Railroad, which had originated as the Barclay Coal Company in 1854 to haul coal and lumber out of Barclay Mountain. Owned by United States Leather, the S&NY supported the company's tanning and lumber activities. It also ran passenger services between Towanda and Williamsport using trackage rights on PRR's Elmira Branch from Marsh Hill Junction.
In the 1920s, the S&NY began to hit hard times and made its last scheduled run on 23rd May 1942. Parts of its track were taken up and the remainder was bought by the Lehigh Valley. Its equipment was sold to other operators and #116 went to the Meridian & Bigbee River Railroad.
Incorporated in 1917, operations on the M&BRR began in 1928 from Meridian to a connection with the Alabama Tennessee & Northern at Cromwell, AL. The railroad's final connection with the Louisville & Nashville at Myrtlewood, AL, was completed in 1935.
The M&BRR was reorganised as the Meridian & Bigbee in July 1952. In 1953, #116 was donated to the city of Meridian by the railroad. It is now on display beside the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Museum in Highland Park, Meridian. It is coupled to Gulf, Mobile & Ohio centre-cab caboose #2892, originally built as Mobile & Ohio #X187 in 1928 but renumbered when that railroad was merged into the GM&O in 1940.
The Meridian & Bigbee continues to operate interchanging with the Alabama & Gulf Coast, BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern and Norfolk Southern. It was acquired by Genessee & Wyoming in 2003.
