The engine was built in March 1917 by the H.K. Porter, Inc. for Mesta Machine Works before being sold to the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal in 1935; it has a wheel arrangement of 0-6-0ST.[3] The engine originally worked as a dockside switcher engine, hauling freight trains for boats and ships.[1][3]
Preservation and changing ownership
After years of service, No. 15 was retired and put out of service on December 25, 1963. It was purchased by the Southern Appalachian Railway in 1965, where it was rebuilt and operated in occasional service.[1][2][3]
In 1968, the Yancey Railroad offered steam trips between Micaville and Kona by using the No. 15 and two steel passenger coaches. This operation unfortunately was not a huge success and the locomotive along with the equipment was put into storage in Burnsville, North Carolina for several years before being sold. In 1975, the Toledo, Lake Erie and Western Railway purchased No. 15 and placed it on static display for the next twenty-three years.[1] The engine remained on display until 1998, when the Strasburg Rail Road purchased No. 15.[1][2]
Strasburg Rail Road
When film producer Britt Allcroft asked permission from Strasburg to film on their railroad for Thomas and the Magic Railroad, they brought an idea to her, about which she was thrilled; they proposed to restore the locomotive and convert it into a full-size operating replica of Thomas the Tank Engine.[1][2]
Work subsequently began, and in the process, the railroad converted No. 15 from oil to coal firing.[2][4][5] No. 15 participated in its first public Day Out with Thomas events, on the weekend of September 25-27, 1998, but the locomotive was not fired up, and a GE 44-ton switcher moved the train from the opposite end.[6] No. 15 eventually underwent its first test fire with its Thomas livery, on April 14, 1999, and on April 29, it made its first public run for that day’s Day Out with Thomas event.[1][4][5]
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