history of STEAM locomotive 110

1927: 

110 was originally built as number 1 by Vulcan Iron Works in their Wilkes Barre, PA plant in July of 1927. She was a light 2-6-2 tender engine, being one of the larger industrial-type locomotives in which Vulcan specialized. She was built for the McRae Lumber and Manufacturing Company, now part of Rex Lumber Company, located in Quincy, Florida. 

1930: 

She was sold to Beechwood Band Mill, a lumber processing facility in Cordele, Georgia where she worked up until April of 1933. 

1933: 

She was sold to the Cliffside Railroad Company in Cliffside, North Carolina. Birmingham Rail and Locomotive Company, a railroad equipment broker, handled the logistics of the sale, including needed changes and inspections. Rail was the best way to bring cotton mill products to market. Cliffside became her home for the next thirty years. Renumbered as 110, she and number 40 (a larger 2-8-0 engine) handled all freight coming to and out of the Cone Mills cotton plant in Cliffside to a terminus with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company, about three and a half miles away at Cliffside Junction. The railroad was always profitable, often hauling 50 thousand tons of freight a year.

1962: 

On July 20th, locomotive 110 made her last run out to the Junction. On Monday July 23rd, the first diesel locomotive took over and "Old Puffer" (as 110 became affectionately known in Cliffside), was retired. The locomotive was repainted, serviced and put away in a shed to be used only if the diesel locomotive broke down. The diesel locomotive proved to be very efficient with few or no problems, so ultimately 110 was never used again at Cliffside. Cliffside Railroad Company was believed to be the last steam-operated railroad in NC.

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1963:

Locomotive 110 was sold to Echo Valley Park in Cleveland, South Carolina for its wild west theme park. After the sale, the engine was deadheaded (towed) to Greenville, South Carolina. She was then towed again by the Greenville & Northern Railway north to her new home in Marietta, South Carolina. A box headlight and balloon stack were added (to make the engine look older than she was), and the flange on the center driver was machined off (so she could traverse the tight curves on the Echo Valley Park Railroad between Marietta and the actual park in Cleveland). Her fuel source was also switched to oil from coal because of the potential fire hazard from blasting coal cinders out the stack into dry timber.  

1964 through 1968: 

Because of continued financial difficulties, Echo Valley Park only lasted four years. The locomotive and the contents of the wild west town were sold off to pay off bank notes on the property. 

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1968-1982: 

Locomotive 110 was then sold to Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, GA. Although she retained the number 110, she was also given the name of Yonah II. 110 was one of three locomotives to haul passengers around Stone Mountain up until 1982. Towards the end, the locomotive just wore out. No longer able to make steam on her own, she was pushed around the park until it was decided to sideline the engine.  

1982-2013:

The locomotive was then put on display near the depot. There she stayed until she was donated to the North Carolina Railway Museum in 2013. Through careful planning and hard work by both the Stone Mountain and NCRM railway crews, locomotive 110 made her way home by truck to North Carolina almost fifty years to the day after she left. 

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