The largest class of steam locomotives ordered by the Atlantic & Birmingham Railroad were 24 ten-wheelers which were numbered 1601 to 1624. They were built by Baldwin in 1906 and 1907, had drivers with a diameter of 63 inches and cylinders which measured 21 inches in stroke and 28 inches in diameter. When this railroad became the Atlanta Birmingham & Atlantic in 1914, they were renumbered to 66 to 89. There they were superheated and their Stephenson valve gear was replaced by the Baker-Pilliod design. The cylinder diameter was increased to 23 inches and ten of the locomotives received larger drivers with a diameter of 67 inches.

In 1926, the AB&A was acquired by the Atlantic Coast Line and renamed to Atlanta Birmingham & Coast. There the locomotives became numbers 101 to 124. When the railroad was fully incorporated into the ACL, the six remaining locomotives with 63-inch drivers became class AW-3, the nine with 67-inch drivers became AW-4. They were retired between 1946 and 1952.