Chesapeake & Ohio No. 2776 (2024)

History[]

Revenue Service[]

Chesapeake & Ohio 2776 is a K-4 class 2-8-4 "Kanawha" built by the American Locomotive Company's Schenectady works in May 1947. Like others in her class, she was assigned to mixed freight and passenger services such as the sportsman.

In 1954, 2776 would sit on the deadline in Russell, Kentucky. A year later, the C&O experienced a surge in traffic and reactivated 2776 along with most of the other steamers on the C&O roster. She was only in service again for a short while on the Clifton Forge Divsion^[1] before finally retiring in 1956, the same year that the C&O completed its dieselization.

Train Display^[2][]

A Washington Courthouse, Ohio attorney Richard Rankin felt that the Baltimore & Ohio railroad was so important to Fayette county history that he wanted to put a B&O steam locomotive on display. The town requested a B&O locomotive but there were none to be had as they had all been consigned to scrap.

Meanwhile, in Columbus, Ohio, the C&O was going to donate 2776 to the city, but Columbus rejected the locomotive at the last minute. Instead of taking the locomotive back to Russell, Kentucky where all the other C&O steamers were awaiting scrap, they put 2776 inside the roundhouse at Parson's yard instead.

While shuffling through B&O documents at Parson's roundhouse (By 1960 C&O had a controlling interest in the B&O) one of the workers found paperwork regarding a request from nearby Washington Courthouse, Ohio inquiring about a B&O Steam locomotive, but they had all been consigned to scrap at that point.

The C&O approached Washington, Courthouse and offered to donate 2776, which the city accepted.

On September 4, 1960, C&O 2776 was put on display in Washington Court House's Eyman Park, using the DT&I line to move it to its exhibit. The drawbar between the engine and the tender had to be cut due to the curvature of the panel track going into the exhibit.

In 1982, former Baltimore & Ohio I-5d Caboose C-1939 was added to the train display.

Project 2776[]

In 1991 Paul Keller, a Washington Courthouse resident would lead Project 2776, an effort to restore C&O 2776 to operating condition.

By 1998 over 3,000 man hours and $100,000 in materials and equipment were donated from companies and individuals as far away as Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus. The volunteers managed to rebuild the throttle, dynamo, smokebox door, and the wooden roof of the cab.^[3]

There was a website that was made for the restoration but it was nothing more than a blank page that said coming soon and an image on top.

Not much is known about how Project 2776 folded, but various rumors have persisted over the years.

The Ferro-Knacker looms & the establishment of the RPSFC^[4][]

On June 6 of 2010, Steve Jennings of the Washington Courthouse city council approached a man named Paul Febo and told him that they had planned to scrap the train display (which included 2776) as they felt it was unsightly. A meeting was arranged days later with city council and Washington Courthouse city manager Joe Denen.

A month later, a parks and recreation meeting was held with Dean Waddell, Kert Larkin, and Paul Febo to discuss the future of the display, city council was asked to reconsider scrapping the display and instead appoint a citizen's group to tidy things up. The morning after the display was evaluated and the ex B&O caboose was determined to be the most unsightly.

After this meeting Denen helped form the Railroad Preservation Society of Fayette County, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving Fayette County Railroad history, particularly the eyman park train display.

Work started on the caboose in the spring of 2011 and was finished a few years later

It wasn't until 2017 however that 2776 would receive a new coat of paint, and a new fence surrounding the display.

Today[]

Currently 2776 sits at Eyman Park next to Baltimore and Ohio I-5D Caboose C-1939 in the care of the RPSFC. There is no plan to restore to operation as there would be no place for her to run and the group lacks the funds to do a restoration. 2776 is also missing many parts such as her whistle, marker lights, various gauges, and her builder's plates. She's also had parts cannibalized from her from other operating locomotives such as 1225, 2716, and maybe . so preserving the engine is the best thing they are doing. That being said, while it is highly unlikely that 2776 will ever see steam again, it isn't out of the question either.

The group has expressed plans to erect a shelter over the display, something that the engine and the caboose in particular have sorely needed for a very long time, a lack of funds however makes this task difficult.

See Also[]

Image Gallery

Citations[]