No. 6 Baldwin Engine

Number 6 was built by Baldwin in 1891 and is the MCRR's oldest locomotive. It was built for the Surry Sussex & Southampton Railway in Virginia. This Mogul is slightly larger than the #2 weighing over 25 tons. The SS&S was named after the three counties where it operated. The SS&S is also known for using sand as ballast on portions of the line. While on the SS&S the #6 received Southern valve gear, a graceful outside gear that it retains today. When traffic declined the 6 was sold to the Argent Lumber Co. 

In South Carolina the #6 worked with the #2 in the swamps. In 1960, the #6 was purchased by the MCRR along with the #2. It was the first Locomotive to operate on the MCRR, and was the main road engine until 1971 when it was taken out of service. In 1988 it came out of one of the most in-depth rebuilds in the country. This ground up rebuild included a new boiler and conversion to oil fire. Today the 6 operates as the MCRR's main road engine once again.

Here is the No. 6 operating in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa during the Old Threasher's Reunion.

John Gallahue, a longtime supporter of the MCRR found some pictures that were taken by a friend of his grandfather shortly after the railroad was started. This 1960 picture shows the locomotive turned around (that is, going the opposite direction of what it does today).

This photo of No.6 was taken around 1914 according to our records. It is the oldest picture of her in the MCRR's archives.

The above picture was given to MCRR by the granddaughter of the man in the photo. They came to Mt. Pleasant from Virginia in the spring of 2000 to see the locomotive.

The #6 hauled lumber on the main line making up to six trips a day to supply the mills of Dendron. Smaller locomotives would bring the logs out of the woods to the main line and then the larger engines would make up log trains to the mills. 

Originally the engine was built as a wood burner and had a Radley-Hunter stack, kerosene headlight, and a salve pilot. Sometime before 1914, she was rebuilt as a coal burner, with an extended smokebox and a straight stack added. She had a drive wheel space of 37 inches and pistons have a 12 inch bore and an 18 inch stroke. The locomotive weighs about 25 tons and 30 tons with its tender, 24 feet 3 inches long and with the tender she reaches 44 feet 2 inches. The boiler has 137 flues.