Southern Railway No. 722

Southern Railway No. 722 is a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in September 1904 for the Southern Railway. It is a member of the railroad's Ks-1 class.
==History==
722 was the first locomotive to come out of the 2nd batch of K Class locomotives built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in September of 1904. Her primary assignment was the Southern Railway's Murphy Branch between Asheville and Murphy, NC. During the 1910's, the locomotive would be upgraded with Southern Valve Gear, Piston Valves, and Superheaters, reclassifying the locomotive as a Class KS. Further improvements in the 1920's, new cylinders and valve assemblies, which increased the locomotive's tractive effort, would see the locomotive be classified again as KS-1. She would be retired from service on the Southern in August of 1952, allegedly pulling the last steam-hauled freight train on the Branch. In December of that decade, 722 and sister locomotive, 630, were purchased by the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad and numbered 208 and 207 respectively. The ET&WNC were originally offered Ks-1's #685 and #835, but they decided to go for 630 and 722 because they were in better condition. She would operate for the ET&WNC until 1967, when she suffered a rupture of her firebox throat sheet.http://www.stateoffranklin.net/johnsons/crumley/tour6.htm
On December 8, 1967, both locomotives were traded back to the Southern for use in their steam excursion program, in order to supplement MS Class Mikado 4501. in return for a pair of former Central of Georgia ALCO RS3s. They would be sent to Southern's Irondale Shops in Alabama for overhaul. Both would return to their original identities, with 630 leaving the shops first in February of the Following year. 722 would make her debut in September of 1970, during the NRHS convention in Charelston, South Carolina. 
By 1979, due to the growing popularity of the steam program, and the introduction of larger motive power, such as Canadian Pacific 2839, Texas & Pacific 610, and later, Chesapeake & Ohio 2716, 722 would be deemed surplus by the Southern, and in May of that year, they'd lease it to the Wilmington & Western Railroad in Wilmington, Delaware, though the engine proved too heavy for the poor track and wooden bridges.https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/pl21v6/southern_railway_722_at_the_wilmington_westerns/ By 1980, 722, alongside 630, would be leased to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She would operate for the last time in 1985, due to her boiler ticket expiring, and put on static display. In 1992, 722 was subsequently loaned by Southern's successor Norfolk Southern (NS) to the Asheville Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in Asheville, North Carolina, where the locomotive would be put on static Display in historic Biltmore Park, until December of 1999, being moved to the Old Asheville Roundhouse for storage.
In December 2000, the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad (GSMR), operators of a portion of the former Murphy Branch between Dillsboro and Andrews, NC, purchased the 722, with the intent to restore the locomotive to operating condition, in order to supplement former USATC S160 Class 2-8-0, No. 1702. Restoration plans would be halted, following 722 going out of service for firebox work at the end of 2004, both locomotives dissembled outside the shops in Dillsboro. 1702 would be restored and return to Steam in July of 2016. As of May 19, 2023, GSMR has announced the restoration of 722 to operating condition, which is expected to be completed by mid-2026 at the latest.https://gsmr.com/722-rebuild/ Work on the Boiler and Driving Wheels is being handled by the shops of the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania. GSMR also intends to convert the locomotive from coal to oil, becoming the second ever Southern Railway locomotive to receive this treatment, behind Southern Railway No. 401.
==Trivia==
*In 1962, #722 (while she was still ET&WNC #208) traveled up to Knoxville, Tennessee to take part in the film All the Way Home.
==See also==
*Gallery
Category:2-8-0 steam locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Baldwin locomotives
Category:Eight-coupled locomotives
Category:Locomotives featured in media
Category:Built in 1904
Category:Excursion locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Restored locomotives
Category:Preserved locomotives
Category:Great Smoky Mountains Railroad
Category:2-8-0 locomotives
Category:American steam locomotives
Category:Preserved steam locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives of the United States