CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum announced that former Southern Railway No. 4501 will return from its annual inspection wearing the railroad’s classic passenger green paint scheme. The locomotive will appear as it did when it entered excursion service 60 years ago, in 1966.
“In a year when we’re celebrating [the museum’s] 65th anniversary and the locomotive’s 115th birthday, it feels only right for her to come back in Southern Railway passenger livery for a limited celebratory season,” said Penelope Soule Gault, TVRM spokeswoman.
Built in October 1911, 2-8-2 No. 4501 was the first of 182 M-class Mikados in the Southern Railway fleet. While all three big locomotive builders — Alco, Baldwin, and Lima — contributed to the orders, No. 4501 came from the Baldwin Locomotive Works with builder’s number 37085. Initially a freight hauler working in east Tennessee, central Kentucky, and eventually southern Indiana, the locomotive found its way to the Kentucky & Tennessee Railway in 1948. Fortunes changed for No. 4501 in 1961, when TVRM founders Robert Soule and Paul Merriman acquired it for the new museum. The locomotive led excursion trains both at the museum and for the Southern (later Norfolk Southern) Railway’s Steam Excursion Program. It was retired in 1998, only to be restored between 2011 and 2014 to work as part of Norfolk Southern’s 21st Century Steam excursion program.
The No. 4501 paint project has been made possible by a lead contribution from model railroad equipment producer Scale Trains of Cleveland, Tenn. Painting No. 4501 into Southern green and then returning it to the basic black scheme is estimated to cost $30,000.
The museum notes the locomotive will be returned to is traditional black paint in 2027.
Additionally, TVRM announced a fundraising effort to construct a dedicated finishing facility where restoration projects can be completed in a controlled environment. The new building will be placed next to the museum’s main shop in East Chattanooga. The new facility will measure 40-feet wide by 100-feet long with a 24-foot height. The estimated cost is $125,000. It will be climate controlled, permitting an increased annual through-put of projects with enhanced quality. The construction timeline is yet to be set and is dependent on fundraising.
For more information on the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, please visit its website.
— Updated at Feb. 3, with details about the finishing building and project costs.
— To report news or errors, contact trainsnewswire@firecrown.com.
It was beautiful in green! Why not leave it green at least until the next needed repainting?
Why not leave it green for a longer time until it needs to be painted again instead of spending the money to repaint it so soon. Most if not all of the people who remember 4501in service remember the excursion version.
If you live long enough, you’ll see history repeating itself. In 1964, Paul Merriman, upon purchasing #450l from the Kentucky and Tennessee Railroad, had it repainted in SR’s road freight-engine scheme for the trip from Stearns, KY, to TVRM in Chattanooga, TN (LOCOMOTIVE 4501, Page 37).
Whether dressed in green or black, Southern Railway 2-8-2 #4501 is still alive and running… Diligent TVRM keeps the veteran locomotive so well.