| Built by the Burnham, Williams & Company subsidiary of the Baldwin Locomotive Works in April of 1901 with construction number #18879, #10 was constructed as part of an order of sixteen new 2-8-0 Consolidations from the Burnham, Williams & Company built between 1901 and 1903 for the Western Maryland Railroad. Classified as an H-4 by the Western Maryland, the locomotive was numbered #101 and was the class leader of the bunch. Due to the Western Maryland's system wide renumbering program in 1906, #101 was renumbered #401 along with all it's sister locomotives following suit. The locomotive worked on the Western Maryland Railway out of the company's Knobmont Yard in Maryland Junction, West Virginia. The locomotive served the Western Maryland faithfully until October of 1930 when the engine was sold to the Chesapeake Beach Railway along with sister engine #409. When delivered to the Chesapeake Beach, the engine was repainted and renumbered #10 along with sister #409 which became #9. The two locomotives main purpose for being purchased by the railroad was to haul materials for the construction of public roads throughout Charles County including Chesapeake Beach. This being said, this locomotive along with #9 indirectly caused the financial ruin of the line by creating a gateway for the company's biggest competitor; the personal automobile. With the highways built and the railroad in financial ruin, old #10 was supposed to be returned to the Western Maryland Railway like sister engine #9. This never happened and #10 met it's end in August of 1936 after the bankruptcy and abandonment of the line in 1935. This photograph shows locomotive #10 and presumably Baldwin 4-6-0 #7 parked in the deadline at the Seat Pleasant, Maryland, Shops in the mid 1930's. Date is an estimate. Photographer unknown. |