Tredegar Locomotives Produced
   One of the possibilities for the improvement of the Confederate railroads was the production of locomotives by the Tredegar (Joseph R. Anderson) Iron Works in Richmond. Tredegar had made about sixty locomotives during the 1850's, all for Southern railroads.
   Tredegar's locomotives, all 4x4x0's, were noted as being of high quality by some users and under powered and poor quality by others. Regardless of the quality, the Southern railroads would have welcomed the addition of several new machines, especially during the last half of the war.

   Tredegar had produced its last locomotive in 1860, but still had the shop and all the machines necessary to resume production. That production was not resumed for several reasons. First was the belief that the new nation needed cannon for immediate use and had enough locomotives for the present. Second was the lack of skilled workers to handle the press of new government business, much less resume locomotive production. Third was the question of whether it was better to produce new locomotives or to make the repair parts, such as driver tires, that the currently operating locomotives needed to stay in operation.
   A January, 1863 letter, quoted in the book below, but not currently available from the Library of Virginia because of the fragility of the original documents, stated that Tredegar had just completed a mill for making RR tires and asked the recipient to notice that the making of RR wheels and tires would not interfere with the making or quality of cannon, as the two lines were completely separate. The writer stated that he needed certain concessions from the government to make the items, including turning over to Tredegar the 150 negroes hired by the Confederate and North Carolina governments which Col. Wadley had informed the writer were not wanted by the governments.
   No definitive listing of Tredegar locomotive production has been found. Below are listed those identified in Bruce's, Virginia Iron Manufacturing in the Slave Era (1930) and my additional research. I show 70 locomotives constructed by Tredegar, with two more possibles. Of these, I show 53 being used in the war (plus the 2 probables). There may still be additional locomotives that are not yet identified because their owning railroads did not publish their builders, but the additional number would be less than 5 in my estimate.
   Edgar Snowden
 
Locomotive Name Railroad Date First Used Civil War Use
Tempest Richmond & Danville 9/1850 X
Fury Richmond & Danville 10/1850 X
Lynchburg Virginia & Tennessee 1851  
Pelahachie/Choctaw Vicksburg & Jackson 4/1852 X
Charleston Richmond & Petersburg 1852  
Augusta Virginia Central 1852 X
Covington Virginia Central 1852  
Connecticut Western & Atlantic 1852  
Maryland Western & Atlantic 1852  
Delaware Western & Atlantic 1852  
Bobuel/Flying Nellie Western & Atlantic 1852  
Petersburg Virginia & Tennessee 2/1852 X
Norfolk Virginia & Tennessee 1/1852 X
Richmond Virginia & Tennessee 10/1852 X
Abingdon Virginia & Tennessee 1853  
Phoenix Virginia & Tennessee 1853  
Antelope Virginia & Tennessee 3/1853 X
Henry Davis Virginia & Tennessee 8/1853 X
O. G. Clay Virginia & Tennessee 8/1853 X
Peaks of Otter Virginia & Tennessee 9/1853 X
Tennessee Virginia & Tennessee 10/1853 X
Aetoeus Virginia & Tennessee 1853  
South Carolina South Carolina 1/153 X
Mayor of Augusta South Carolina 1/1853 X
Tiger South Carolina 2/1853 X
Chattahoochee Muscogee 5/1853 X
T. R. Gary Greenville & Columbia 5/1853  
V. McBee Greenville & Columbia 5/1853  
Pittsylvania Richmond & Danville 7/1853 X
Richmond Richmond & Danville 8/1853 X
Clover Hill Richmond & Petersburg 1853 X
Will A. Graham Raleigh & Gaston 1853 X
Halifax Raleigh & Gaston 1853 X
Louisiana New Orleans, Opelousas & Great Western/Southern Pacific 1853 X
Dart New Orleans, Opelousas & Great Western 1853 X
Monroe Virginia Central 1854 X
Joseph R. Anderson Virginia Central 1854 X
Roanoke Virginia & Tennessee 1/1854 X
Walker Reynolds Alabama & Tennessee 1854 X
Shelby Alabama & Tennessee 1854 X
Columbia Greenville & Columbia 9/1854 X
Pontchartrain Laurens 1854  
Chesterfield Richmond & Danville 5/1854 X
Amelia Richmond & Danville 8/1854 X
Virginia South Side 1854 X
Amherst South Side 1854 X
Holston East Tennessee & Georgia 1855 X
Danville Richmond & Danville 7/1855 X
Fincastle Virginia & Tennessee 7/1855 X
Canebreak Alabama & Mississippi 1855 X
De Soto Mississippi & Tennessee 9/1855 X
Columbus Mobile & Ohio 10/1855 X
Decatur Memphis & Charleston 10/1855 X
North Alabama Memphis & Charleston 11/1855 X
? Mississippi & Tennessee 3/1855  
? Paint Creek Coal Co., Kanawha, Va. 3/1855  
H. D. Whitcomb Virginia Central 5/1856 X
Allegheny Virginia Central 7/1856 X
Benjamin T. Davis Mobile &Ohio 8/1857 X
Virginia Mobile & Ohio 1857  
Milton Brown Mobile & Ohio 1857  
Tredegar Pensacola & Georgia 1858  
William Echols Memphis & Charleston 1/1858 X
J. W. Scruggs Memphis & Charleston 1/1858 X
L. E. Harvie Richmond & Danville 4/1858 X
Atlantic/Tornado Richmond & York River or Richmond & Petersburg/Wilmington & Weldon 7/1860 1863 X
R. G. Fain Rogersville & Jefferson/East Tennessee & Georgia 1860/ 4/1862 X
Governor Vance (Note 1) North Carolina 7/1860 X
Tarboro North Carolina 1860 X
Sapona Western (of North Carolina) ? X
Edgar Snowden Alexandria & Washington/Western 1858? X
Possible Tredegar Locomotives
James H. Stevens Houston Tap & Brazoria 1856 X
J. D. Waters Houston Tap & Brazoria 1858 X
 
Note 1. Vance was not elected Governor of North Carolina until 1862, so this must be a rename of a locomotive produced for another customer.

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