The history of Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern 4-6-2 No. 425 is documented in a Wikipedia entry. Baldwin Locomotive Works built the locomotive in 1928 for the Gulf, Mobile & Northern, which classed her as G-1. She was renumbered to Gulf, Mobile & Ohio No. 580 in 1940 when the GM&N and the Mobile & Ohio were combined to form the new railroad. Retired by GM&O in 1950, No. 425 passed into ownership by private individuals who operated her from time to time in tourist duty. In 1983 the owner of the Blue Mountain & Reading tourist operation in Pennsylvania acquired No. 425. The locomotive has operated intermittently in excursion service there, more recently as part of the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern operation. My brother, David Leonard, took this digital photo during a run on July 12, 2008.

No. 425, a Pacific of modest proportions, weighs 213,000 pounds and exerts 35,000 pounds of tractive effort. Cylinder dimensions are 22x18 inches, with a driving wheel diameter of 69 inches and a boiler pressure of 210 p.s.i. Grate area is 54 square feet, while the evaporative heating surface totals 2697 square feet and the superheating surface 620 square feet. Since coming to the Pennsylvania operation the locomotive has undergone modifications, including receiving a blue paint scheme and having the headlight moved from its high position over the smokebox to the centered position, as shown here. (For a view of No. 425 in her original GM&N appearance click here). An auxiliary tender provides additional water supply.