Firing Up and Running the WWI Davenport Trench Locomotive!

Video Description

Beginning in 1918, The Davenport Locomotive Works produced eighty 60cm (2ft gauge) 2-6-2 steam locomotives intended to be sent to the narrow-gauge trench railways in France during the closing years of World War I. These locomotives improved on the original Baldwin design sent to the Army in August of 1917. However, none of the Davenports were sent overseas due to the Armistice signed on November 11, 1918 which ceased hostilities and led to the end of the war. Most of the locomotives were manufactured after the Armistice and sent to various supply depots and army camps around the united states and put to use on light camp railways. During the 1940s most of them were then sold off as military surplus or scrapped. Only three of the Davenport 2-6-2’s survive today, and this is the only one in operable condition. As of 2021 It has been completely restored over a period of three years by the crew at the Norgrove Railway Shops in Arroyo Grande, CA and operates on a private agricultural tramway.