After many years of dreaming, I have recently been able to purchased a steam locomotive headlight...#425 reported to me to have origins from Southern Railway. I am trying to verify accuracy of its' history, and confirmation from someone if Southern is correct. If so, would apprecitate leads as to where I might gather any information about the locomotive it came from, and pictures if possible. If not Southern, how would I go about tracing 425's from other RR's to narrow down the search? Thanks.

-- Stephen J. McGee (sjmcgee@gte.net), February 15, 2001

Answers

I don't think Southern had a steamer numbered 425 unless you go back prior to the 1903 renumbering of their steam locomotives. Many railroads had a 425. Can you post a picture of the headlight somewhere? That might help tracking down its heritage.

-- Jack Wyatt (cjwyatt@bellsouth.net), February 15, 2001.

The Southern Railway had a locomotive that was numbered 425, but it probably wasnt renumbered 425 in 1903, it was probably built as a H-4 class 2-8-0 in 1907. Again, a photo would help clear this up. Unfortunantly, there is very little that we could possibly tell you without proper history.

-- Hayes Smith Jr. (cytrane@cybiko.com), February 16, 2001.

Also in 1903 or 1907 the headlights would not have been electric. It would be a few more years before SRR locos had modern electric headlights. This might also help with your identification process.

-- Albert Pope (aepope2@aol.com), February 17, 2001.