| This loco has led quite an interesting life. Built by Alco-Richmond in January of 1912, it started out as Seaboard Air Line compound- articulated 2-8-8-2 #515. it was sold to the B&O in 1920 as their 7315 and reclassed as EE-1. In 1923, the B&O shops rebuilt it to a 2-8-8-0 and reclassified it as an EL-6 loco. Later in 1927, it was again rerbuilt into a simple-articulated loco and reclassified again as EL-6a.After serving the SAL and then the B&O for nearly 32 years, the massive loco was sold for scrap in July of 1950. I believe this photo was taken as it sat in the dead/scrap line at the Willard yard and this might be the last photo taken of it before the scrapper's torch ended its life. Simplified-articulated specs - 63" drivers, 200 psi boiler pressure, four 25x32" cylinders, engine wt of 492,000 lb and impressive tractive effort of 108,000 lb. The photo is from the Howard W. Ameling collection. |