Morehead & North Fork No. 12

Morehead & North Fork No. 12 is a Class A-7 0-6-0 steam locomotive that was built in September 1905 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO). It was originally built for the Southern Railway as their No. 1643 where it would serve as a switcher shuffling train cars around the yards for the first four decades of its working life. No. 1643 along with its siblings, were all eventually retired and were parked in the scrap line awaiting their fate.
In September 1952, No. 1643 was saved from the scrappers torch and was sold to the Morehead & North Fork Railroad Company (M&NF) where it would become the No. 12 of their fleet. M&NF used the engine to haul local clay products, coal, and lumber to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O) interchange in Morehead, Kentucky for the M&NF until the railroad purchased a pair of ALCO S-1s to replace their steam locomotives on April 1, 1963.
The M&NF was abandoned in 1973, but a private owner took possession of the railroad and continued operations for his clay plant with four Baldwin diesels acquired in 1976. C&O successor CSX Transportation removed its track into Morehead during 1985, and for a while, the landlocked line operated the occasional steam-powered—and then diesel-powered—tourist trains until 1995. No.12 was shoved into the M&NF’s ramshackle shed and was largely forgotten about.
In 2011, the locomotive was sold to Jerry Jacobson who had it moved to the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio in 2012 where work on restoring the old locomotive could begin. On July 16, 2018, the locomotive was finally restored to operational condition.
Today No. 12 still resides at the Age of Steam Roundhouse where it is occasionally used to pull tourist trains.
==Trivia==
* No. 12 is the sole surviving member of the Southern Railway's Class A-7.
==Gallery==
File:M&NF -12 in 1960.jpg|Morehead & North Fork #12 (ex-Southern #1643) collecting coal from the coal tipple at Clearfield, Kentucky in 1960.
File:M&NF -12 at Clearfield 1962.jpg|Morehead & North Fork #12 at Clearfield in 1962
File:M&NF -12 in 2011.jpg|#12 (#1643) being towed out of the engine shed in 2011.
File:M&NF -12 being restored.jpg|#12 being restored in 2012
File:M&NF -12 winter of 2017 - 2018.jpg|#12 during the winter of 2017-2018
File:M&NF -12.jpg
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Category:Age of Steam Roundhouse Locomotives
Category:Preserved locomotives
Category:Preserved steam locomotives
Category:Built in 1905
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:American steam locomotives
Category:Sole survivor
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives of the United States
Category:Locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:Southern Railway (US) locomotives
Category:0-6-0 locomotives
Category:0-6-0 steam locomotives
Category:Six-coupled locomotives
Category:ALCO locomotives