Best Friend of Charleston Finds Itself at Home in NS’ Atlanta Building

It was a most unusual sight, even for Atlanta’s Peachtree Street. Before dawn on Dec. 1, a 79-year-old replica of the Best Friend of Charleston, the first steam locomotive built in America for regular service on a railroad, arrived by truck for placement inside Norfolk Southern’s David R. Goode Building.

The locomotive, tender and two coaches, all built in 1928 to specifications of the original equipment, are on loan from the city of Charleston, S.C., for five years. The original Best Friend made its inaugural run Christmas Day 1830. The replica was built to celebrate the centennial of the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road, one of Norfolk Southern’s earliest predecessor companies, which operated the original Best Friend. Railroaders at Norfolk Southern’s Chattanooga Diesel Shop refurbished the replica prior to its Atlanta arrival.

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