By Toni C. Collins

President Levy County Historical Society, Inc.

Travelers on US19/98 passing through Gulf Hammock in Levy County can admire the restoration work performed on the Vulcan locomotive and tender under the direction of Lieutenant Brian Gore, Officer Dwight Pinner, and an inmate work crew from Lancaster Correctional Institution.

The 1915 Vulcan locomotive and tender, the second largest steam engine built by the Vulcan Iron Works of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, was sold to the Grove-Dowling Hardwood Company of Gulf Hammock in 1927. For six days a week, the 2-8-0 wood burning work horse pulled lumber out of the woods in Gulf Hammock.

On March 3, 1930, the Grove-Dowling Hardwood Company went into receivership and their holdings were acquired by the Robinson Land & Lumber Company of Alabama. In 1937, the company was renamed the Paterson-Mclnnnis Lumber Company and in 1956, the sawmill was destroyed by fire.

On October 18, 1969, Georgia-Pacific deeded a parcel of land to the Levy County Board of County Commissioners to establish a wayside park. Pat-Mac donated the Vulcan Locomotive No. 2411 to the Florida Department of Transportation to put on display in the wayside park.

By a Resolution dated February 4, 1992, ownership of the Vulcan locomotive and tender wayside park passed to the Levy County Board Of County Commissioners.

————– 

Posted May 12, 2024