Classic Trains – September 2019

ClassicTrainsMag.com 33

THE CRUSH OF WAR TRAFFIC was

not limited to the big roads. A handful of

small Class I carriers needed new power

in 1944, resulting in the construction of

nine 2-8-2s that were mostly modest in

dimension but modern in detail.

The Atlanta & West Point and West-

ern Railway of Alabama, which together

formed the West Point Route, had long

pooled power and coordinated locomo-

tive purchases. In 1944 Baldwin delivered

A&WP 430 and WofA 380, essentially

updated versions of the USRA heavy Mi-

kado. They worked the 175 miles between

Atlanta and Montgomery for just 10 years.

The 171-mile Akron, Canton &

Youngs town’s top power was six Lima

2-8-2s built in 1926, ’28, and ’41. AC&Y’s

final new steam purchase, class R-2 No.

406, arrived in 1944. Although the road

did not serve Canton, home of Timken

Roller Bearing, she sported rollers on her

pony, trailing, and tender trucks.

Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf was the

second-biggest (327 miles) of the three

Sooner State roads owned by the Mus ko-

gee Co. (the others were Midland Valley

and Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka). Power

was shared among the lines, and was let-

tered for two or all three of them. Al-

Minor road Mikados

Western Railway of Alabama 380

rolls a West Point Route freight

at Red Oak, Ga., in 1948. She and

sister A&WP 430 were each rated

at a respectable 63,000 pounds

of tractive effort. Hugh M. Comer

Western Railway of Alabama;

Akron, Canton & Youngstown;

Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf;

Detroit, Toledo & Ironton

KO&G 601 has yet to receive the Muskogee three-railroad emblem in this builder’s view. Baldwin

DT&I 808 and her three 1944-built sisters, the road’s last new steam, sported big tenders. Lima

AC&Y 406 had up-to-date appliances but a modest 53,000 pounds of tractive force. Lima

though the Muskogee group got 2-10-2s

in 1927, its final steam order was for two

2-8-2s, Nos. 601 and 602, built by Bald-

win in ’44. They ran for less than a decade.

Detroit, Toledo & Ironton bought six

2-8-4s from on-line Lima in the 1930s,

then switched to heavy (369,500 pounds)

Mikados, getting eight in 1940–41 and a

final quartet in ’44. Like the Berkshires,

they had all-weather cabs. Mikes 805 and

811 closed out the 517-mile road’s steam

operations in December 1955.