Southern Railway 630 is a "Consolidation" type steam locomotive, built in February 1904 by American Locomotive Company's (ALCO) Richmond Works of Richmond, Virginia for the Southern Railway (SOU) as a member of the K class, but would later be re-classified as a Ks-1 type when receiving modifications such as superheaters and larger cylinders during 1917. It was primarily assigned to haul freight trains on SOU's Murphy and Lake Toxaway Branches until being retired in 1952. That same year, No. 630 and fellow Ks-1 locomotive No. 722, were sold to the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC) to be served as switchers around Johnson City and Elizabethton, Tennessee.
In 1967, Nos. 630 and 722 were both sold back to the SOU to haul mainline excursion trains for the steam program until being replaced by larger steam locomotives in the early 1980s. No. 630 was leased by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) in Chattanooga, Tennessee until it was pulled from service in 1989. Additionally, the locomotive and other pieces of the museum's rolling stock was added to the NRHP under the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum Rolling Stock listing.
Being donated to TVRM by SOU's successor Norfolk Southern (NS) since the late 1990s, No. 630 was restored back to operating condition in 2011, pulling mainline excursions in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia for NS' 21st Century Steam program until 2014. It continues to haul excursion trains such as the Missionary Ridge Local and the Summerville Steam Special for TVRM until late 2025.
History Upgrades and revenue service
Built in February 1904 by American Locomotive Company's (ALCO) Richmond Works as one of 32 K class locomotives (Nos. 605-636) for the Southern Railway (SOU) between October 1903 and November 1904, No. 630 was standardized with driving wheels and a boiler pressure of , making the locomotive produce of tractive effort. It was originally built with Stephenson valve gear, slide valves, cylinders, double-guide alligator crossheads, and a saturated boiler. No. 630 was also delivered with a smaller tender carrying of coal and of water.
No. 630 was first assigned to local and branch line service in SOU's Knoxville Division. Sometime during 1907, No. 630 swapped out its original tender with a slightly larger one, which holds of coal and of water. In 1917, it was upgraded with Southern valve gear, superheaters, and larger piston valve cylinders with the boiler pressure dropped to to prevent it from wheel slipping with these new cylinders. Reclassified as a Ks-1 type, the locomotive develop of tractive effort. Also around that time, the locomotive was moved to the Asheville Division to run freight trains on the Murphy and Lake Toxaway Branches. Frequently, the locomotive ran on the Lake Toxaway Branch between Hendersonville and Lake Toxaway.
In the 1930s, No. 630's second tender was upgraded with coal boards, increasing the fuel capacity to . During World War II in the 1940s, No. 630 was upgraded with single-guide multiple-bearing crossheads for greater surface area to slide back and forth when the locomotive was in motion. Additionally, this was made to receive less fouling from cinders and debris unlike the alligator type, which was prone to do that. The tender was also upgraded again with the coal boards superseded by slightly faired sheet metal extensions, doubling the height of the bunker collar. This would also extended the fuel capacity to .
On June 6, 1952, the locomotive was officially retired from revenue service after being the last steamer to run on the Lake Toxaway Branch. It was taken over by SOU's new fleet of EMD GP7s. In November that year, No. 630 and fellow Ks-1 locomotive No. 722 were both sold to the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC), where they were served as switchers around Johnson City and Elizabethton, Tennessee. After acquisition by the ET&WNC, Nos. 630 and 722 were renumbered to 207 and 208, respectively and had their tender bunker collars removed to give the engineer a clear view during numerous switching moves and reverse operation.
SOU excursion service
In September 1960, No. 207 pulled a Silver Anniversary excursion train on the Clinchfield mainline between Johnson City and Kingsport, Tennessee, as part of that year's National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) Convention. On June 17, 1967, Robert B. Claytor arranged No. 207 to visit Roanoke, Virginia to celebrate the grand opening of the Roanoke Transportation Museum in the Wasena Park. There, it gave guests free shuttle train rides between the Roanoke passenger station and Wasena Park via the former Norfolk and Western (N&W) Roanoke Belt Line. On December 8 that year, Nos. 207 and 208 were both traded back to the SOU for use in their steam excursion program in return for a pair of former Central of Georgia (COG) ALCO RS-3s. No. 207, renumbered back to 630, was deemed in good condition and had been given minor repairs. The locomotive's tender was also modified again with the bunker collars restored.
No. 630 began its main line excursion career for the SOU on February 24-25, 1968, pulling an excursion from Birmingham to Albany, Alabama, via Attalla, Alabama to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the shortline Georgia Northern Railway that the SOU acquired two years prior. For the remainder of the 1968 season, No. 630 was the primary locomotive for the SOU steam program, filling in for Ms class Light Mikado No. 4501, which was under overhaul at the time. It pulled round-trip excursions out of Charleston, South Carolina to Branchville on May 18 and Aiken on June 16. It then went to Dothan, Alabama to haul round-trip excursions between there and Panama City, Florida, via the Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay Railroad (ASAB) on June 29-30. On July 6, No. 630 went to Atlanta, Georgia to hauled a loop trip Georgia Peach Special excursion via McDonough; Griffin; Fort Valley; and Macon, Georgia.
On July 5, 1969, No. 630 double headed with ex-Savannah and Atlanta (S&A) Light Pacific No. 750 on another loop trip Georgia Peach Special excursion between Atlanta and Fort Valley. On July 12 that year, No. 630 pulled a round-trip Georgia Steam Cannonball excursion via Georgia Railroad (GA) trackage from Decatur to Augusta, Georgia, where it was uncoupled from the train and a GA diesel locomotive took over for the return trip. The next day, No. 630 made the ferry move to Charleston, South Carolina, where it was based there to pull round-trip excursions between there and Branchville on August 23, September 27, and November 15. In September 1970, No. 630 was reunited with No. 208, which was restored with its original 722 number and a new SOU Sylvan green livery to match No. 4501. All three locomotives participated in the Charleston Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society convention in Charleston. Unlike the other two locomotives, No. 630 retained its black paint livery.
During 1971, Nos. 630 and 4501 went to SOU's Norris Yard Steam Shop in Irondale, Alabama for major repairs, while Nos. 722 and 750 handled most of the excursions for the season. No. 4501 returned to service in April 1972, while No. 630 followed in October 1975. On November 11 that year, Nos. 630 and 4501 traveled to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where they were both filmed for the 1977 CBS television film Minstrel Man before returning to Birmingham on November 19. During the United States Bicentennial celebration in 1976, both locomotives went to Alexandria, Virginia to haul round-trip excursions from there to Calverton; Charlottesville; Front Royal; and Warrenton, Virginia from late May to July. Afterwards, No. 4501 went off to pull other excursions outside Alexandria, while No. 630 remained in Alexandria until April 1977.
Lease and eventual ownership transfer with TVRM
In November 1978, No. 630 was retired from the steam program and leased to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) in Chattanooga, Tennessee, since the SOU excursion consists had become longer and heavier, and the railway leased larger locomotives Texas and Pacific (T&P) No. 610 and Canadian Pacific (CP) No. 2839 to haul them. Both Nos. 630 and 722 could only manage to pull just 10 cars at .
In March 1979, No. 630 begin to pull excursions for TVRM, running from their East Chattanooga Yard, through the pre-Civil War Whiteside Tunnel, before finally reaching the end of the former East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway (ETV&G) right of way at Cromwell Road, where the annual Tunnel Station Festival occurred. On March 20, 1980, the locomotive given the duty to break through the ceremonial red ribbon at the grand opening of TVRM's new East Chattanooga Depot in the East Chattanooga Yard.
In 1981, No. 630 along with TVRM's ex-U.S. Army ALCO RSD-1 diesel No. 8669 were volunteered to switch freight cars on TVRM's property when the museum was constructing the Jersey wye and the new Grand Junction Station on site of TVRM's end of right of way. The new wye was completed in March 1982 with Nos. 630 and 8669 being tested there at TVRM's still under construction Grand Junction Station, including the new turntable at the East Chattanooga Yard, which was activated on July 4 that year. The new station building was completed around 1983.
In 1984, No. 630 was reunited with No. 722, which was also retired from the SOU steam program, to haul the new Missionary Ridge Local excursions. In late October that year, they double-headed together on the Missionary Ridge Local primarily for the mainline excursion passengers to see them when their train hauled by ex-Norfolk and Western (N&W) No. 611 passes TVRM's Grand Junction Station while enroute from Atlanta to Chattanooga. In November 1985, No. 722 was taken out of service when its boiler flue time expired, and it was later moved in 1992 to Asheville, North Carolina, for display.
On August 30, 1987, No. 630 was used for testing to pull the Downtown Arrow excursion, which ran between Grand Junction Station and the Chattanooga Choo-Choo Hotel in downtown Chattanooga. On November 1 that year, No. 630 lead the Downtown Arrow excursion's inaugural run, and it briefly met ex-N&W No. 1218, which was pulling a mainline excursion into Chattanooga from Atlanta that same day. In November 1989, No. 630 was taken out of service and put on display while TVRM was restoring another 2-8-0 steam locomotive, ex-U.S. Army No. 610.
With SOU's successor Norfolk Southern (NS) cancelled the steam program in late 1994, they donated their ownership of No. 630 to TVRM in late 1998. Restoration work on the locomotive officially began at TVRM's Soule Shops around 1999 and over the next 12 years, it was overhauled and restored at a cost of almost $700,000. This was one of the most extensive steam locomotive overhauls ever carried out, as it required massive repairs to its frame, running gear, and boiler along with the flues and superheaters replaced. No. 630 was also given a newly welded smokebox and a larger tender originally used behind No. 4501, as the former's original tender was in very poor condition to be rebuilt.
21st century excursion service