This locomotive last operated under steam in 1983.

The running gear came unglued in the fall of 1984 while being pushed by the diesel. It was patched up enough to move but was never operated on a train again. It sat at the shop for about 10 years and was then moved to the main station for display.

This locomotive was an early victim of the Stone Mountain Memorial Assoc. abandonment of steam.

The locomotives lagging (asbestos) was removed a few years ago. Unfortunately during this time, the locomotive was stripped of parts by the Silver Dollar City people for their Dollywood operation.

There has been some interest in rail circles in North Carolina about trying to return the locomotive to NC where it became somewhat famous on the Cliffside RR.

I certainly hope they are successful in that endeavor...

Here are the notes for San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway No. 60, a 4-4-0 located in Stone Mountain, GA

This locomotive last operated under steam in 1983. The drivers were removed for turning and were returned in mid 1984. At this time, the change was being made towards not running steam at all.

The Stone Mountain Scenic RR had used a diesel assist since the mid 70s. The diesel was only assisting the steam locomotives when climbing the 2% grade on the backside of the mountain. The Stone Mountain Memorial Assoc. took over in the early 80s and just didn't want to maintain steam operations and the operation turned more to the steam locomotives assiting the disel. then finally no steam at all after the spring of 1986.

Later this locomotive would be repaired enough to be pushed by diesel. As of this writing (May 2004, it has been parked for about 2 years.

I ran the Stone Mountain steam locomotives in their last years of service and sorely miss them. I had hoped to revive steam when I was shop foreman in 1998 but the Silver Dollar City people (operators of Stone Mtn Park) had no interest except in making quick cash.