CNN iReport

These pictures were taken at the National Train Festival in Owosso Michigan on Saturday July 25^th. The train festival was a fundraiser held by The Steam Railroading Institute.

History of the 110 locomotive

110 is a 4-6-2 Pacific type locomotive weighing approximately 58 tons. It is the smallest of its kind ever built for standard gauge and it is also a one of a kind locomotive. 110 was custom built for the original Little River Railroad in Townsend, TN in 1911. 110 ran in what is now the Great Smoky Mountain National Park until 1939. 110 served as a logging engine, making its way up the mountains to the logging camps and bringing logs back down the mountain. 110 was built with a blind middle drive wheel; this means that the middle drive wheel doesn’t have a flange on it. This allows 110 to take curves that an engine without a blind driver would have a hard time making. In 1940 110 was sold to the Smoky Mountain Railway and ran until the early 1950’s. In the early 1960’s 110 was abandoned in Shook’s Gap, TN. In 1972 110 was purchased and restored and in 1975 made its first run for the current Little River Railroad. In 110’s 95 years, she has only been out of service for approximately 20 years. In 2004, 110 and her owner Terry Bloom celebrated a milestone. 110 has been with the current Little River Railroad for longer than either of its previous owners and has been in service the entire time. In November 2006, 110 celebrated her 95th birthday.

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