Locomotive No. 2732

Locomotive No. 2732 is a Chesapeake & Ohio Kanawha class steam engine with maximum speed of 70 miles per hour. Built in 1943 at the Alco Plant in New York by American Locomotive Works. It was one of 90 Class K-4, 2-8-4 Kanawhas the C&O purchased between 1943 and 1947. Crews nicknamed 2-8-4s The Big Mikes. Then they were replaced. 12 were given away in 1957.

The railroad stored No. 2732 in West Virginia before donating it to the city of Richmond. It moved to the Robin Hood Road location December 17, 1960, to the former visitor center at Hermitage and Robin Hood Road. I was there when it was placed as an exhibit. I was 10 years old. The city didn't maintain it. Rust enveloped it.


It moved to Science Museum of Virginia on Saturday, April 26, 2003. The 210-ton, almost 57-foot engine was placed on an 80-wheel, self-propelled carriage that moved at comfortable walking pace for a 1.5 mile route south on Hermitage, right onto Leigh and left onto DMV Drive before turning right onto Museum property and being lowered to its new track.


The 210-ton locomotive and tender moved from the former visitor center at Hermitage and Robin Hood roads to the Science Museum of Virginia on Saturday, April 26, 2003. It had not been painted in the decade since and likely had not had proper maintenance and rust prevention since before it was decommissioned in 1960, according to Alex Reut of New Roots Historic Restoration LLC, the company tasked with the $99,000 restoration.