Gulf, Mobile & Northern Steam Roster (Post 1900)

Published: October 9, 2026

The Gulf, Mobile & Northern collected a light railroad's steam and then, in the 1920s, bought the engines that could pull it. Roundhouses along the Mobile–Jackson main line opened the decade with Americans and Ten-Wheelers, fifty-seven of them. The freight engine that followed was a modest Mikado. The engine that finally outpulled the Mikado was a Russian Decapod. The last new power was a pair of Pacifics in 1928, Nos. 425 and 426. One of them is still in steam.

Gulf, Mobile & Northern 2-10-0 260 at Jackson MS

Gulf, Mobile & Northern 2-10-0 #260 is seen here at Jackson, Mississippi in a photo likely from the 1930s. Photographer unknown.

The class grid below is the post-1900 roster in George H. Drury's Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, pages 186 and 187. The company history is the Gulf, Mobile & Northern. The merged railroad is the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio, and its diesels are the diesel roster.

On this page: At a glance · What the 1917 railroad inherited · Mikados and Decapods · Pacifics, Mountains, Atlantics · Roster built since 1900

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Gulf, Mobile & Northern, from the New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago on January 1, 1917. Company page: Gulf, Mobile & Northern
This roster	Engines built since 1900, after Drury, pages 186–187. The quantity column sums to 109
Main line, 1920	408 miles, Mobile to Jackson, Tennessee. Americans and Ten-Wheelers in the roundhouses, 57 engines
Freight	Twelve Mikados. Twenty-nine Decapods, ten of them Russian 2-10-0s
Passenger	Six Pacifics, two of them the 1928 engines. Three light 4-8-2s from the New Orleans Great Northern. Two Atlantics from the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh
After the merger	Gulf, Mobile & Ohio from September 13, 1940. The Alton came in on May 31, 1947. Alton steam sits outside this grid
Last revenue steam	October 7, 1949, on the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio
Still with us	Pacific 425, Baldwin, January 1928, now Reading & Northern 425. Ten-Wheeler 72, displayed at Franklinton, Louisiana

Roster follows Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives (revised edition), pages 186–187. Information compiled October 8, 2026.

What the 1917 railroad inherited

The Gulf, Mobile & Northern was a 1917 reorganization of the New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago, itself the 1909 union of the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City and the Gulf & Chicago. The engines on the 1909 railroad were Americans and Ten-Wheelers, light machines for a pine-woods line. Drury gives the 1912 Pacifics a weight of about 198,000 pounds and the Mikados of that year about 196,000 pounds. A United States Railroad Administration light Pacific, the comparison he draws, weighed 277,000 pounds.

Two number series of Ten-Wheelers share the 70s on the printed grid, and they are different engines. Nos. 70–88 were Baldwin and Rogers locomotives from the New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago, built in 1903–1908. They were later renumbered into the 170s. No. 84, Baldwin of June 1905, works number 25879, became 184. No. 74 became 174. Nos. 70–72 were a later trio from the New Orleans Great Northern, Richmond and Schenectady, 1912 and 1914, and they kept 70, 71, and 72. No. 72, Alco-Schenectady of January 1914, works number 54484, went on to the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio with the same number, then to the Green Brothers gravel plant, and it is displayed at Franklinton, Louisiana.

The switchers numbered 10 and 11 are a different pair from the Ten-Wheelers numbered 10 and 12. Brooks built the switchers in 1909 for the New Orleans Great Northern as 13 and 11. The Ten-Wheelers 10 and 12 were Baldwin engines of 1907 from the New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago. Ten-Wheeler 11 was a Baldwin of 1907 as well, bought in 1917 from the Brinson. Eight more switchers, 12–19, were Brooks and Cooke engines of 1905–1906 from the Indiana Harbor Belt, the only switchers Drury credits to a purchase of the late 1920s. Four older Brooks switchers, 60–63, came from the Hocking Valley.

Mikados, then the Russian Decapods

Eight Mikados, 101–108, came from Baldwin in 1912 for the New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago. Drury gives them 22-by-28-inch cylinders and a tractive effort of 40,418 pounds, on an engine of about 196,000 pounds. Four more, 109–112, followed from Baldwin in 1920, practically identical, the last Mikados the railroad bought. Drury's note sends 101–104 to the Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia.

The engine that replaced the Mikado at the head of a through freight was the Decapod. Ten were Russian 2-10-0s, Baldwin's 1918 export design, received in 1920 and 1921 and numbered 201–210. They were lighter than the Mikados and put more of their weight on the drivers. Tractive effort was 51,500 pounds, 27 percent above the 2-8-2s. Two of the ten went to the Alabama, Tennessee & Northern. Three more of the same wartime design, 90–92, came with the New Orleans Great Northern, Richmond and Baldwin, 1918. No. 92 went to the Gainesville Midland.

A home design followed. Sixteen Baldwin Decapods, 250–265, were built from 1923 through 1927, with 57-inch drivers. Drury's portrait of the class is No. 251 as built, a clean freight engine, and Gulf, Mobile & Ohio 261 in 1941 after a decade of additions: a Coffin feedwater heater on the smokebox front, a second sand dome, and a large single-phase air pump. H. L. Broadbelt's Baldwin negative is the builder view. Bernard Corbin photographed 261.

Pacifics, three light Mountains, two Atlantics

Passenger power in 1912 was four Baldwin Pacifics, 40–43, bought while the Louisville & Nashville and the Frisco still had a hand in the predecessor. In 1921 those four went to the Louisville & Nashville. The same year the railroad bought two Atlantics from the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh and gave them 40 and 41. Drury's built cell for that pair reads 1935, and the builder cell reads Baldwin.

In 1928 the railroad went back to Baldwin for two Pacifics of its own, 425 and 426, close to the engines it had sold and heavier than they had been. Drury gives them 69-inch drivers, 22-by-28-inch cylinders, and a weight of 213,000 pounds. Baldwin's works number for 425 is 60339, a January 1928 locomotive, which is the year in the built column. They drew the overnight passenger train between Jackson, Tennessee, and Mobile. In the 1940 merger they became Gulf, Mobile & Ohio 580 and 581. Both were sold in 1950 to Paulsen Spence's Louisiana Eastern. No. 425 runs today on the Reading & Northern.

The other modern passenger engine was already on the New Orleans Great Northern. Richmond built three light Mountains in 1927, New Orleans Great Northern 200–202, which became Gulf, Mobile & Northern 400–402. A four-wheel lead truck let the designer use 63-inch drivers on a road where a larger wheel was the wrong tool. They weighed 273,000 pounds. Alaska's light Mountains were half a ton lighter, and the GM&N trio were the third-lightest 4-8-2s in North America. Tractive effort was 45,700 pounds, and the main rods drove the second axle. John B. Allen photographed original No. 200 at Bogalusa, Louisiana, in 1940, with a temporary stack. The three were sold to the Georgia & Florida in 1947.

The Gulf, Mobile & Ohio bought the Mobile & Ohio on September 13, 1940, and the Alton on May 31, 1947. Nos. 425 and 426 remained the last new steam. The last revenue steam run was October 7, 1949. Alton engines that arrived in 1947, among them Pacific 5296, the former Chicago & Alton 656, are a different roster. That Brighton photograph is on the company page.

Roster built since 1900

Type	Numbers	Qty	Builder	Built	Notes
0-6-0	10, 11	2	Brooks	1909	Ex-New Orleans Great Northern 13 and 11
0-6-0	12–19	8	Brooks, Cooke	1905–1906	Ex-Indiana Harbor Belt
0-6-0	60–63	4	Brooks	1900–1903	Ex-Hocking Valley
2-8-2	101–108	8	Baldwin	1912	Ex-New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago. 101–104 to the Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia
2-8-2	109–112	4	Baldwin	1920	Practically identical to 101–108
2-10-0	90–92	3	Richmond, Baldwin	1918	Ex-New Orleans Great Northern. 92 to the Gainesville Midland
2-10-0	201–210	10	Baldwin	1918	Russian Decapods. Received 1920–1921. Two to the Alabama, Tennessee & Northern
2-10-0	250–265	16	Baldwin	1923–1927	57-inch drivers.
4-4-0	30–37	8	Baldwin, Rogers	1900–1907	Ex-New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago
4-4-0	102	1	Baldwin	1907	Ex-New Orleans Great Northern 102
4-4-2	40, 41	2	Baldwin	1935	Ex-Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh. Purchased 1921
4-6-0	10, 12	2	Baldwin	1907	Ex-New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago
4-6-0	11	1	Baldwin	1907	Ex-Brinson. Purchased 1917
4-6-0	52–60	9	Baldwin, Brooks	1906–1910	Ex-New Orleans Great Northern 52–60
4-6-0	70–72	3	Richmond, Schenectady	1912, 1914	Ex-New Orleans Great Northern 70–72. 72 is at Franklinton, Louisiana
4-6-0	70–88	19	Baldwin, Rogers	1903–1908	Ex-New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago. Later renumbered into the 170s
4-6-2	40–43	4	Baldwin	1912	Sold to the Louisville & Nashville in 1921
4-6-2	425, 426	2	Baldwin	1928	GM&O 580 and 581. 425 is Reading & Northern 425
4-8-2	400–402	3	Richmond	1927	Ex-New Orleans Great Northern 200–202. Sold to the Georgia & Florida in 1947

The quantity column sums to 109. Nos. 70–72 and 70–88 are both printed because they are different locomotives that used the same numbers in different years. The same is true of switchers 10 and 11 beside Ten-Wheelers 10 and 12, and of Atlantics 40 and 41 beside Pacifics 40–43, which had already gone to the Louisville & Nashville. AT&N Alabama, Tennessee & Northern. BR&P Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh. G&F Georgia & Florida. NOGN New Orleans Great Northern. NOM&C New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago. TA&G Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia.

Sources

George H. Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, Gulf, Mobile & Northern, pp. 186–187. Class grid, the 408-mile main line, the 57 Americans and Ten-Wheelers, the 1912 weights, the 1920 Mikados, the Russian Decapods and the 51,500-pound tractive effort, the 1928 Pacifics, the 1927 Mountains, and October 7, 1949
Drury's own citations on that page: Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Historical Society, gmohs.org. Railroad Magazine, May 1934, p. 136. Railroad History No. 158, p. 125
Baldwin works number 60339, January 1928, for Pacific 425. The revised-edition built cell is 1928
James H. Lemly, The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio: A Railroad That Had to Expand or Expire (1953), for the company that inherited this roster

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