Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum 630

TVRM 630 is a Southern steam locomotive built in 1904 by the American Locomotive Company. It has Southern's unique patented valve gear and Southern was so proud of it in fact, that it put a plate with the patent numbers on the valve gear. A replica of this has been applied to it since the original, along with the number board was stolen.  TVRM plans to sell additional replicas in their gift shop at Grand Junction.  Taken on June 24, 2011 at Soule Shops at East Chattanooga. Copyright Signal Light Productions.

Here's a shot of 630 without the tender. There is quite a story behind these photos. 630 had been down for about a week or two for its 61-day boiler wash. This is a federally-mandated washing of the boiler and vacuuming of the smoke box that must be done every two months, or 61 days. While here, we got to take part in this. We also helped clean the holes the hoses plug in to for the boiler washing. After that, we helped clean the side rods in preparation for it's planned run on Saturday. The next day we went ahead and shoveled coal in the firebox, put temporary wood braces used for 4501's cab roof fabrication on top of the coal, then fired her up. Then, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) inspector did his work and  found that one of the threads to the boiler wash holes was messed up. This seemingly small repair was enough to make it inoperable. The problem has already been fixed, and 630 is running again. When this picture was taken, she was still under steam and probably around 5 PSI. Taken on June 24, 2011 at Soule Shops at East Chattanooga. Copyright Signal Light Productions.

Here's just a shot of the very front of TVRM 630. She is cooling off after the FRA inspector deemed her not fit for Saturday's run. Just hours earlier, rain was pouring down. There was so much lightning we had to stop passing wood up to the cab. While the dreary background is a disappointment, the rain gave it a nice shiny look. Taken on June 24, 2011 at Soule Shops at East Chattanooga. Copyright Signal Light Productions.