This locomotive was one of nearly three hundred Consolidation type (2-8-0) locomotives designated Class
G5-c - G6-l built for the New York Central and its
subsidiaries between 1905 and 1910 by Alco at its Schenectady Works, NY, Brooks Works in Dunkirk, NY
and at its subsidiary, the Montreal Locomotive Works. Outshopped in 1910 from the Brooks Works, #2976 was a
G6-k Class locomotive. The main difference between the
G-5s and G-6s was the latter's outside Walschaert valve gear in place of the former’s Stephenson valve gear.
#2976 was sold to the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient
Railway Co., in 1927 where it was renumbered #66. The KCM&O was started in 1900 by American railroad entrepreneur Arthur Edward Stilwell, initially completed between Wichita, KS, and Alpine, TX. The main shops were first located in Fairview, OK, but after being destroyed by a fire in 1910, they were moved to Wichita.
The railroad was forced into bankruptcy in 1912, but its receiver, William T. Kemper, promptly made a fortune when oil was discovered under its tracks In 1914.
Popularly called "The Orient", the KCM&O was acquired by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe in 1928, chiefly to open access to the west Texas oil fields. By then, the KCM&O was operating over
859 miles of track, including trackage into Mexico. That year, KCM&O #66 was renumbered AT&SF #2522.
In 1964, #2522 was donated to the City of Fairview, OK, and went on display in a city park. In 2008 it was moved to its current location at the grounds of the Major County Historical Society 1½ miles east of Fairview on Highway 58.
#2522 has an engine wheelbase of 26’ 5” and driver wheelbase of 17’ 6”. Weighing 241,500 lbs, 215,500 lbs on its 63” drivers, it has 23” x 32” cylinders. With a 57.5 sq ft grate, 212 sq ft firebox, two hundred and sixty 2” tubes and twenty-four 5 ⅜” superheater tubes 15’ ½” long, it had a total heating surface of 2,962 sq ft, including 566 sq ft superheating. Operating at a boiler pressure of 200 psi it delivered 45,680 lbs tractive effort. It has two 11” Westinghouse air pumps.
The tender weighs 141,600 lbs light with a capacity of 7,500 gallons of water and 12 tons of coal.
Major County Historical Society was chartered in May 1968. In April 1985, Augusta Specht gave the Society one hundred and sixty acres of farm land and sufficient funds to construct a museum building. Through the years, various historic buildings moved onto the grounds, as well as historic equipment such as threshing machines, wagons, a corn picker and sheller.
#2552 stands alongside an historic railroad depot that it is planned will one day house a railroad museum.
The locomotive is displayed on a short section of track with ATSF Cattle Truck #137973 and a wooden caboose built in the early 1940s.
