The year I shot this photo of Black Mountain 4-6-0 No. 1, it had been bequeathed to the city of Erwin, Tenn. to mount in a park (snapshot date Oct. 28, 1955). The 45-toner was built in 1882 for the Columbus, Chicago & Indiana, a PRR predecessor, and survived the 1889 flood of Johnstown, Pa. It was sold to the Ohio River & Charleston RR in 1900 to help build the Clinchfield on construction trains. CRR sold the 4-6-0 to connecting neighbor Black Mountain RR in 1913 to use on its light rails, after which it was eventually retired in 1953. Obviously in no hurry to scrap it before donating it to the city of Erwin, the Clinchfield let it languish when I came across it. New CRR Gen’l. Mgr. Tom Moore saw it for the first time in June, 1968 and it was promptly and easily rebuilt to become the darling No. 1 of the Clinchfield in Nov. 1968. After starring as Ambassador a few years, a cracked frame condemned her, and today the ten-wheeler is befittingly enshrined in the B&O Museum at Baltimore.
