I am in the Army stationed in Fort Lewis, WA. I have a lot of access to BNSF and UP equipment, and I have scoured all the model shops in the local area, but there is no information on Southern Railway. I believe they called it a "small obscure railway". Anyway I am from NC and remember the Clinchfield running through Marion and the Southern. I have searched in vain for information on the 2-8-0 and 2-8-2 from the Southern. How or where do I get access to the information. I am willing to do some scratch building work, but I need to have information. I do know that every photo I see of these classes show a different style of engine. ie. minor modifications on all of them. The only way to effectively portray one is to pick a single example and model it... But that brings me back to the problem of no info. I have a copy of The Southern Railway handbook I picked up while on leave in NC 10 years ago, but that is essentially it. I would appreciate any guidance.

-- Roy Frady (RoyFrady@aol.com), February 28, 2000

Answers

Roy--I think your best bet is to check with SRHA at Spencer NC on the availability of back issues of Ties. Starting in the mid-90's, Ties has carried several multi-part series on the various classes of Southern engines (my back issues are packed up at present, so I can't tell you specific issues). The first series of articles was the "everyday K" series, dealing with the K class 2-8-0's, the most numerous of Southern's 2-8-0 classes. All of Southern's divisions had K's on the roster. Except for a few places with severe weight restrictions necessitating the use of lighter engines (like the Attalla and Hawkinsville brances and the south end of the Mobile divison), K/Ks/Ks1 2-8-0's were ubiquitous. No two Southern engines were identical after they'd all been through the shops a couple of times. Each division's shops had its own way of doing things like valve ladders, running boards, etc. Some K's had Southern valve gear, some had either type I or type II Walschaerts gear, a few had STephenson. They were built new with either Baker or STepehnson gear, with most being changed to Southern or Walschaerts when they went in for overhauls. They started out saturated, with most being converted to superheated by WWI. Multiple bearing crossheads replaced the orignal alligators in the late 30's. So, with all the variations, you'll need to decide on a particular Southern division to model and pick a specific K that you can get good prototype photos of. As for 2-8-2's, Ties did a similar series on the Ms1 and Ms4 classes. Check with SHRA for the back issues that will get you started in the right direction. All of the articles had lots of good photos. --Lamar

-- Lamar Wadsworth (LW.Sou.Ry.steam@juno.com), February 28, 2000.