The recently restored steam engine in Carolyn Crayton Park. Central of Georgia Railway (CofG) 509 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works as one of 24 C-4 class locomotives for the railway in December, 1906. This was the fourth generation in the C class series that was delivered to CofG. The locomotive was originally built under road number 1709 along with the other C-4 locomotives consisting of numbers from 1700 to 1724. It was then renumbered in 1925 to the current number of 509. CofG started to increase its numbers in more powerful steam locomotives and the C-4 class locomotives were then put to branch line use. While some of the C-4 locomotives were used for switching, the others were operating between Macon, Athens, Gordon, Milledgeville, Machen, and Porterdale.
As the use of steam engines declined and they were replaced with diesels, most of the C-4 locomotives were retired by September 1950 with the rest of the C-4 locomotives retired in next three years. 509 was selected as one of the few engines to be kept for preservation by CofG.