Southern Railway 630

Originally as one of thirty-two "K" class locomotives built by the Richmond Works of the American Locomotive Company (ALCO), No. 630 was standardized with 56 in (1.422 m) wheels and rated at 44,100 lb (20,000 kg) of tractive effort.[1] When constructed new in 1904, No. 630 was originally equipped with Stephenson valve gear, sliding valves, and a saturated boiler.[1] In 1911, the locomotive was later upgraded with Southern valve gear, piston valves, and the boiler was equipped with superheaters.[1] With these new upgrades added, No. 630 was reclassified as a "Ks" locomotive.[2] It had more upgrades added such as new cylinders and valve assemblies, which allow the locomotive to develop 46,700 lb (21,200 kg) of tractive effort and reclassified again as a "Ks-1" type.[2]

No. 630 was first put into local and branch line service in Knoxville, Tennessee by Southern Railway before it was moved to Asheville, North Carolina to run on the Murphy and Lake Toxaway branch lines until it was retired from revenue freight service in August 1952.[3][4][5]

Following retirement by Southern, No. 630 and classmate No. 722 were both sold to the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC) in November 1952 and renumbered to No. 207 and No. 208, respectively.[3][6][7] Originally, the ET&WNC General Manager Clarence Hobbs was offered Ks-1s No. 685 (Baldwin, 1904) and No. 835 (Baldwin, 1906), but he chose No. 630 and No. 722 instead because of No. 685 and No. 835 being stored outside in very poor condition.[5][7]

After ET&WNC's purchasement, Southern cut down the size of the two Ks-1 locomotives' tender coal bunker to make sure that it would be easier for the engineer to get a better view during numerous switching moves and reverse operation.[7]

In late 1967, No. 207 (No. 630) and No. 208 (No. 722) were both traded back to the Southern Railway for use in their steam excursion program in return for a pair of former Central of Georgia ALCO RS-3s.[8] Receiving their old numbers again, No. 630 had been given minor repairs and began excursion service in February 1968, while No. 722 had its firebox repaired and returned to operating service in August 1970.[9][10][11]

No. 630 and No. 722 pulled many excursion trains for Southern's steam program until they were both loaned to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in 1978 and 1980, respectively to make way for larger steam locomotives such as Canadian Pacific No. 2839, Texas and Pacific No. 610 and Chesapeake and Ohio No. 2716 to pull the longer and heavier excursions on Southern's system.[3][12]

In November 1985, No. 722 was taken out of service for its boiler ticket certificate and was moved by Steam Operations General Manager Carl Jenson of Southern's successor Norfolk Southern (NS) to be on display at the City of Asheville in 1992.[12][13] In November 1989, No. 630 was taken out of service and put in storage when TVRM are restoring another 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive ex-U.S. Army No. 610.[14]

No. 630 being restored to operating condition in 2010

In 1999, Norfolk Southern donated No. 630 to the TVRM and the locomotive went under a ten year restoration at a cost of almost $700,000.[4][14] The locomotive returned to operating service on March 14, 2011 and participated in the 21st Century Steam program instituted by Norfolk Southern.[4][15]

By late 2015, Norfolk Southern had officially concluded their steam program, although No. 630 continues regular operations hauling passenger train excursions at TVRM.[4][16][17]