| Built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in May of 1885 with construction number #7603, #18 was originally built for the Buffalo, New York & Philadelphia Railroad of Rochester, New York, as their second number #89. With the reorganization of the BNY&P in late 1885, the locomotive was transferred over to the Western New York & Philadelphia Railroad as #89 until the newly incorporated railroad could properly stage a system wide renumbering program. Officially commencing in 1891, This new renumbering process caused #89 to now adopt the number #108 as it's official identification. The locomotive served the Western New York & Philadelphia Railroad through the company's reorganization in 1895 until being sold to the Southern Iron & Equipment Company of Atlanta, Georgia, in 1903 after the Pennsylvania Railroad takeover on August 1, 1900. The Southern Iron & Equipment Company assigned the locomotive inventory number #275 and eventually resold the locomotive on August 7, 1903, to the Danville & Western Railway which assigned the engine number #18. The locomotive served the railroad faithfully pulling both freight and passengers on the mainline from Staurt, Virginia, and Stokesland, Virginia, and on the Leaksville Branch from Leaksville Junction, Virginia, to Leaksville, North Carolina until being retired and scrapped in April of 1935. This photograph displays #18 utilizing the company's trackage rights over the Southern Railway in downtown Danville, Virginia, during the Great War. Month and year are correct. Exact date is an estimate. |