On August 1 what is believed to be the last operational Glover steam locomotive will be on display at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw located at 2829 Cherokee St NW, Kennesaw, GA 30144.
The exhibit is open for one day only, and Dick Hillman, author of Glover Steam Locomotives: The South’s Last Steam Builder will be on hand.
According to the book Cobb County Georgia and the Origins of the Suburban South by historian Thomas Allan Scott, Glover Machine Works arose from a family business that began in the 1840s, but started building locomotives when James Bolton Glover bought the Edward Aaron Withers Iron Foundry in Marietta in 1892.
The factory specialized in building narrow-gauge steam locomotives for the private railroads of large corporations. They built about 200 engines between the time of their founding and the early 1920s, when private railroads were replace by trucks.
According to a press release from the City of Kennesaw:
On Saturday, August 1, for one day only, the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History is exhibiting a rare Glover Machine Works locomotive. Glover locomotive #10168, built in 1925, is believed to be one of only a handful of Glover locomotives in existence and the only one that is still capable of operating. It was recently discovered in a barn in Ohio. Its new owner, Daryl Kirby of Kirby Family Farm, is exhibiting the locomotive and its tender at the Southern Museum for a few short hours on August 1 before heading to the locomotive’s new permanent home in Williston, Florida. Dick Hillman, author of Glover Steam Locomotives: The South’s Last Steam Builder, will be on hand to see for the first time the locomotive he described as the “ultimate survivor.” Glover locomotive #10168 will be on display at the Southern Museum in downtown Kennesaw from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, August 1.
