Tucker

Tucker is a former Baltimore & Ohio locomotive that now lives on the Knoxville & Asheville Railroad.   Tucker  
 * Full Name: Tucker A. Mikado
 * Builder: Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
 * Build date: 1919
 * Serial Number: ?
 * Locomotive Class: Baltimore & Ohio Q-3 (USRA light 2-8-2)
 * Configuration: 2-8-2 Mikado
 * Tractive Effort: 53,869 lbs.
 * Arrived on the K&A: 1955
 * Previous Owner(s) and Number(s): Baltimore & Ohio #4590
 * Track Gauge: Standard, 4' 8 1/2" inches
 * Retired: April 1962
 * Recommissioned: 1984
 * Status: Operational
 * Traffic: Mixed
 * Age: 102

Biography
Tucker was built by Baldwin in 1919 for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company as their #4590, and was one of 100 USRA light 2-8-2 mikados built for the B&O. All his life, Tucker hauled freight and passenger trains for the B&O between Baltimore, Maryland and Chicago, Illinois. It is implied that he had a good relationship with his older brother Wilson (B&O #4500).

In 1955, he and two of his siblings were retired from service and sold to the Knoxville & Asheville Railroad to work on the railroad's Knoxville, Harriman & Southern division. When the division dieselized in 1961, he was transferred to work on the Erwin & Sheldon Division. Tucker was retired from service in April 1962 and placed in storage behind the Sheldon roundhouse, later to be stored behind the Harriman roundhouse on the KH&S division in the 1970s.

In 1980, Tucker was sold to the KH&S historical society and they began to work on him to restore him to operation and he moved under his own power in 1984. In 1992, Tucker went on full time loan to the K&A when Lucas rebooted the steam program. Tucker still works on the KH&S, but he sometimes regularly visits the K&A whenever they need a helping coupler.

Trivia

 * Tucker is based on a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Q-3 class 2-8-2, which were a fleet of 100 USRA light 2-8-2s built for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad from 1918 to 1919. Today, #4500 (Wilson) survives at the B&O Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
 * Tucker is still in contact with his older brother Wilson through postcards and Email (even though he doesn't know what that is).
 * Tucker is sometimes referred to as a Carperbagger. The term carpetbagger, refers to Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War, during Reconstruction. Many carpetbaggers were said to have moved South for their own financial and political gains.