Once all parts arrive, crews will begin restoration efforts at the Cass Shops in anticipation of having the locomotive returned to operation for its 90th birthday in 2016. The state-owned Cass Scenic Railroad is now operated by Durbin & Greenbrier Valley.
In February the North Carolina Transportation Museum Foundation reached an agreement to sell No. 4, built by Baldwin in 1926, to the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley for restoration and operation in the Mountain State.
The locomotive and tender were restored in 1986 by the NCTM and lettered and numbered as a replica for Southern Railway 2-8-0 No. 604. The locomotive pulled three-mile excursions at the museum for many years before its last run in November 2001.
Once restored, the locomotive will appear as it did in operation on the Clay County-based Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad in the 1960s. Because it was a saturated steam locomotive, it often showed signs of leakage on its smokebox front, thus earning it the nickname “Old Slobberface.”
The acclaimed locomotive is recognized as one of the last steam locomotives in regular service in the nation.
