Chesapeake and Ohio 2716


The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway No. 2716 is a 2-8-4 "Kanawha" type steam locomotive built in 1943 by the American Locomotive Company for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. While most railroads referred to these 2-8-4 locomotives as Berkshires, the C&O referred to them as Kanawhas after the Kanawha River which flows through West Virginia. Used as dual service engines, the 2716 and its classmates served the C&O in a variety of duties until being retired in 1957.
Donated to the Kentucky Railway Museum of New Haven, Kentucky in 1959, No. 2716 has been restored to operation in excursion service twice since its retirement from the C&O. First in 1981 for the Southern Railway's steam program until 1982, and again in 1996 for a few brief excursions in Indiana. Today, the locomotive is undergoing restoration to operating condition for a third excursion career, under lease by the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation. The restoration is currently estimated to be completed sometime in 2020.

History

Revenue service and retirement

No. 2716 was the seventeenth member of ninety Kanawhas built for the C&O by both the American Locomotive Company and the Lima Locomotive Works between 1943 and 1947. These locomotives were used for heavy freight trains, as well as fast passenger trains. After only thirteen years of service, the C&O retired No. 2716 in 1957 in light of dieselization. With the exception of thirteen, including No. 2716, the C&O withdrawn most of their Kanawhas in 1961.
In May 1959, the locomotive was donated to the Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven, Kentucky, where it sat on display. Twenty years later, the Clinchfield Railroad leased No. 2716 for their steam program. However, as the locomotive was taken apart for restoration, the Clinchfield steam program was cancelled due to its parent company, the Seaboard Coast Line Industries oust the Clinchfield Railroad General Manager Thomas D. Moore Jr. Moore was fired for participating in a scandal of misappropriated money, the result of returning the disassembled 2716 to the Kentucky Railway Museum.

1981–1982 Southern excursion service

Luckily in 1980, No. 2716 was leased by the Southern Railway to pull the longer and heavier passenger trains for their popular steam excursion program. Southern brought the locomotive to their Irondale, Alabama steam shops, where some modifications were made to No. 2716 by
Master Mechanic Bill Purdie.
Purdie's general idea was to make the locomotive appear if the Southern would have purchased a 2-8-4 type from new; No. 2716 was painted black with gold pinstriping as well as its headlight moved from its pilot to the center of its smokebox door, decorated with brass flag holders, and General Counsel Jim Bistline's brass eagle. In addition, No. 2716 had its bell swinging from the top of its smokebox, and carried the round "SR" emblems on its air pump shields.
After operating on a test run on October 10 and 11, 1981, No. 2716 pulled its first Southern Railway excursions on October 17 and 18, running a round-trip from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Rockwood, Tennessee. In November, No. 2716 pulled excursion trains in Alabama and Georgia. In April 1982, the locomotive resumed its excursion duties, pulling trains through North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. But three months later, a very inexperienced fireman cracked the locomotive's firebox. This resulted in No. 2716 to be taken out of excursion service for repairs and Nickel Plate Road No. 765, another 2-8-4, based in Indiana, was called into service as a replacement.
Following the merger between the Southern Railway and the Norfolk and Western to form the new Norfolk Southern Railway, No. 2716 was retired in favor of Norfolk and Western No. 611 serving as the main motive power for the steam program. It was put in storage at the Irondale Steam Shop in 1985, after attempts to weld cracks in the firebox failed.

1995–1996 excursion service

After Norfolk Southern ended their steam program in late 1994, the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, same owner as No. 765, moved No. 2716 to their facilities a year later. In July 1996, the FWRHS restored it to its original C&O appearance, repaired its firebox, and operated it on brief push-pull excursions through Logansport, Indiana before the Federal Railroad Administration inspectors ordered to give either No. 2716 new flues, or No. 765 a complete overhaul; the latter was the end result. The FWRHS decided to return the former back to its display site at the Kentucky Railway Museum in 2001.

Third restoration

On February 7, 2016, the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation was formed and announced that it had signed a long-term lease with the Kentucky Railway Museum to restore and operate No. 2716.
By May 2018, the KSHC partnered with the CSX Transportation to move the locomotive to a former Louisville and Nashville rail yard in Ravenna, Kentucky to build a new rail-based tourist and community development center.
In November 2018, the KSHC acquired three items of rolling stock from the Indiana Transportation Museum such as an auxiliary tender No. 251958, which was originally used behind Norfolk & Western No. 611 in the 1980s, and went to ITM in 1988. In addition, the KSHC purchased a railway post office car No. 6565 and baggage car No. 9036, which were both originally owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad.
In early 2019, the Big Rivers Electric Corporation in Henderson, Kentucky salvaged a pair of Buckeye three-axle, roller bearing trucks from a flatcar, which was abandoned at their facility property in Hawesville, Kentucky; and donated them to the KSHC to replace the old friction bearing trucks underneath No. 2716's tender.
From July 26th to 28th, 2019, No. 2716 was moved out of the Kentucky Railway Museum to Ravenna, Kentucky for restoration along with the help of CSX Transportation and R.J. Corman Railroad Group. The locomotive was officially moved into the Ravenna workshop on July 31 and the restoration work on No. 2716 started shortly after.