Sometimes it took two people to keep the fire hot on locomotive 4501 during its 1966 excursion run, so Lloyd Ash (1910-90) of Eckerty, Indiana, was asked to join the engine crew. Ash, then a locomotive engineer, had fired the 4501 before, and did an excellent job of keeping the fire hot without help. He worked for the Southern Railway for 36 years.
End of Locomotive 4501's Inaugural Trip at Richmond (editor's title)
The nine-day inaugural trip ended at Richmond, Virginia. Crowds had been friendly, and locomotive 4501 was on its way to a long and continuing career on the Southern Railway. Its successor, Norfolk Southern, continued the program until 1994. In 2011, NS in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum has revived the program with a limited schedule of steam locomotive appearances and...
Locomotive 4501 owner, Paul Merriman (editor's title)
Paul H. Merriman, owner of locomotive 4501, was equally at home in coat and tie (as here) or in overalls thick with grease. Merriman (1909-2004) had paid $5,000 for the locomotive, was a DuPont engineer in electronics research at Chattanooga, helped found the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, and was its president from 1961 to 1978. He deeded the locomotive to the museum in 1975. Earlier, he had...
W. Graham Claytor, Jr., on Office Car Steps During 4501 Excursion (editor's title)
Locomotive 4501 drew crowds wherever it went. At a water stop at Shelbyville, Kentucky, a rock-and-roll band entertained while the fire department pumped water. W. Graham Claytor, Jr., standing on the steps of the train's office car, was pleased. He had organized the inaugural run.
From the vestibule of an excursion train with locomotive 4501 leaving New Albany, Indiana, a Monon Railroad freight train appears pulled by diesel 405. The diesel freight train is headed for the Ohio River bridge and yard in Louisville, Kentucky. Had there been time, documenting more of the railroad scene along the excursion route would have been productive. No. 405, built by Alco as a C-628 heavy...