Looking Back: Escambia Railway Engines In 1942

August 24, 2014

Here are two photographs of Escambia Railway engines that were taken 72 years ago this weekend. The Escambia Railway was operated by Alger-Sullivan Lumber Co. in what is now present day Century.

The above photograph — taken in Century on August 23, 1942, shows Escambia Railway Engine Number 99. It was bought new and purposed as a woods logging engine. It was damaged in 1922 by a boiler explosion caused by low water, killing the fireman. It was repaired and returned to service. Engine Number 99 was retired in 1945 and scrapped in May 1957.

Below is Escambia Railway Engine Number 96, photographed in Century on August 23, 1942. The engine was formerly the T.R. Miller Mill Co. #7 and was used as a woods logging engine. It was retired sometime prior to 1945 and scrapped in April 1957.

Photos courtesy the State Archives of Florida.

Comments

4 Responses to “Looking Back: Escambia Railway Engines In 1942”

  1. perdido fisherman on August 25th, 2014 5:26 pm

    Oldman, It sure is, I love going and looking at every now and then. I took my kids to see it when they were litte and i’ll soon take my grandaughter.

  2. OldMan on August 25th, 2014 8:43 am

    Haven’t been downtown for quite some time, Is that old locomotive still down on Garden street ??

  3. Perdido fisherman on August 25th, 2014 3:17 am

    I wish we had train service like when my father was a boy. I loved listening to the storied he would tell of catching the train to visit relatives in defuniak and Andersonville Ga., I always wanted to take a trip across country, but the rates are so high today it’s cheaper to drive. It would be so beautiful to see the country from a train.

  4. William R. Ptomey, Jr. on August 24th, 2014 6:17 am

    My grandfather was the enginer on this and other Alger-Sullivan locomotives. One of many stories is, the ladies of Century and Flomaton would rush to retrieve their drying wash from the clothes lines when they heard the train whistle blow……this was necessary as the soot from the train would settle over the area including their wash.