Jeremiah

Jeremiah was Smokey's mentor in the older days.

* **Builder**: Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works, Paterson, New Jersey USA
* **Build date**: June 1875
* **Serial Number**: 2375
* **Locomotive Class**: Rogers catalog locomotive
* **Configuration**: 4-6-0 Ten-Wheeler
* **Tractive Effort**: 17,470 lbs.
* **Arrived on the K&A**: 1905
* **Previous Owner(s) and Number(s)**: Smoky Mountain & Atlantic Railroad #17
* **Track Gauge**: Standard, 4' 8 1/2" inches
* **Retired**: 1948
* **Status**: Operational
* **Traffic**: Mixed
* **Age**: 144

## Biography

Jeremiah is the oldest engine in the series and Smokey's father like mentor. He was built in June 1875 for the Smoky Mountain & Atlantic Railroad. In those days, he first had a wooden cab. In 1898, he was taking a passenger train up the line when some bandits had removed a rail. His engineer told the fireman to "take to the birds" while he tried to stop the train. Jeremiah then told his engineer to quickly uncouple him from the train and jump off in which he did. Jeremiah left the rails and tumbled down in a ditch, destroying his wooden cab. The bandits were then caught by a posse and taken away.

    When Jeremiah was taken back to the shed, the manager ordered the men to repair him immediately. He then looked at his destroyed wooden cab and wondered if anything like this happened again and his crew weren't able to jump out in time. He then made plans with the shop crew to build a steel cab for him. When Jeremiah came out of the shops, he became the first locomotive in the United States to have a steel cab.

    In January 1905, the SM&A was bought out by the Hartford Family and the line became the Knoxville & Asheville Railroad Company. In April of 1905, the K&A received the delivery of a new kind of steam locomotive from Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a 2-8-2 Mikado type engine. That engine happened to be Smokey. Jeremiah, along with his lady friend Emily, saw that the new comer was shy and didn't know much. So they took it upon themselves to "raise" the young Smokey and mentor him. In 1920, Jeremiah was converted to burn oil and his diamond stack was removed and replaced with a straight stack, but his diamond stack was kept in storage for special occasions.

    In 1932, due to financial trouble, the K&A had to sell of some of the elderly engines for scrap. Jeremiah wasn't sold for scrap, but sadly Emily was. Smokey was devistated and so was he, but Jeremiah managed to cheer up the poor engine, saying "The management regrets it, but there's nothing they can do. It's only way we're able to keep afloat and away from bankruptcy. She had a nice life, Smokey. N' she had lots of wonderful memories of you and me, and the same goes for us. We'll miss her, but she's still in our hearts....er....well boilers. You know what I mean".

    Jeremiah served really well during WW2 helping Smokey train the military locomotives (it's hinted he served a bid in the Spanish American War of 1898 by delivering munitions and supplies to the main line at Knoxville from the factory at the end of the line). In 1948, at the age of 73, Jeremiah was finally retired from revenue service. The railroad didn't want to scrap him, so they sold him to the K&A's Chief of Motive Power, Fredrick Muller, who restored him in 1950 to his late 1890s - early 1900s appearance. In 1967, Jeremiah found a new home on the Lewis County Scenic Railroad, a small tourist line which ran on the old NC&StL Hohenwald to Allens Creek branch line in Lewis County, Tennessee.

    Jeremiah still visits the K&A from time to time, seeing what has changed, giving excursions, and helping out the others. He's a tough old dude, but he's a kindest old fellow you could ever meet.

## Trivia

* *Jeremiah is based on Sierra Railroad #3 W.N. Kelley. This locomotive was built by Rogers in 1891 and worked on the Sierra Railroad from 1897 - 1932. In 1948, it was restored and began a long career of TV and movie work. It starred in TV Shows like Gunsmoke, Casey Jones, Petticoat Junction, Bonanza, The Big Valley, Little House on the Prarie, and even the A-Team. It starred in movies such as High Noon, Kansas Pacific, The Apple Dumping Gang, and even Back to the Future 3!*
* *In the book, Smoky Mountain Ghosts, Jeremiah says that he's 120 years old.*
* *Jeremiah was one of Smokey's mentors in the early days.*
* *He originally had a wooden cab, but after an accident in 1898, he became the first engine in the USA to have a steel cab. This is based off of Sierra Railroad #3's accident in 1918 in which how it got it's steel cab after it's wooden one was destoryed when it tumbled down a ditch.*
* *Jeremiah's whistle is a Southern Pacific Desert 5 chime.*