| Built by the Davenport Besler Locomotive Works in February of 1926, #100 was originally built for the American Engineering & Construction Company with no number probably being used in the construction of the U.S. Sugar Corporation's rail lines in Florida especially around Hialeah, Florida. After construction was finished, the locomotive was sold to the U.S. Sugar Corporation for use switching the sugar processing plants in Clewiston, Florida. Later, at an unknown date, the locomotive was purchased by the Southern Iron & Equipment Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and assigned inventory number #2423. In 1938, the locomotive was resold to the Virginia Central Railway of Fredericksburg, Virginia, as #100 and worked the incredibly long 1 mile mainline from Fredericksburg to West Fredericksburg switching industries until it was totally destroyed in a disastrous engine house fire in 1949. If you look closely under the cab, you can see painted on the metal the Virginia Central's reporting marks "VC" and the number #100. The seller I bought this from on eBay had it listed with very little information but I was able to put the puzzle pieces together and discover the true identify of this nifty 20 ton gas powered locomotive. This photograph displays #100 appearing to cross a trestle somewhere on the 1 mile line. I believe that the short trestle the engine is traversing crosses over Hazel Run in West Fredericksburg, Virginia. Date is an estimate. Photographer unknown. |