Arkansas Listings in the National Register of Historic Places

Arkansas Listings in the National Register of Historic PlacesAuthor(s): Zackery A. CothrenSource: The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 2 (Summer, 2005), pp. 206-210Published by: Arkansas Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40031059 .

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Arkansas Listings in the National

Register of Historic Places

Zackery A. Cothren

Steam Locomotives

Americans laid the nation's first railroad lines during the 1820s, and, by 1860, the United States had over 26,000 miles of track. But fewer than fifty of these miles were in Arkansas, and no further construction oc- curred during the Civil War. Railroad building began in earnest in the state during the 1870s. Arkansas would close out the "Golden Age" of railroad- ing, around 1940, boasting over 4,700 miles of track.

The railroad industry first relied on steam engines to pull carloads of freight and passengers. The sound of the steam whistle, plumes of smoke from the stack atop the boiler, and the distinctive shape of the steam locomotive were some of the most familiar trademarks of railroads. In the late 1930s, however, railroads began exploring a new source of power for their locomotives, diesel. Not only were diesel engines more efficient, they also required significantly less maintenance, allowing for a smaller workforce and less shop time. By 1940, approximately 1,000 diesel locomotives operated in the U.S. Slowed in part by World War II, the transition from steam to diesel vastly accelerated following the war. By 1950, the number of diesel locomotives exceeded the number of steam engines, and, by 1960, few steam engines still operated.

Today, only twenty steam locomotives are known to remain in Arkan- sas. Some are housed in railroad museums, while others serve as center- pieces of city parks. Although buildings, bridges, and cemeteries are commonly associated with the National Register, Arkansas can also boast two National Register-listed steam locomotives. St. Louis and San Fran- cisco (Frisco) Railroad steam locomotive 4003 in Fort Smith and St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt) steam locomotive 819 in Pine Bluff

Zackery A. Cothren is preservation outreach coordinator for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Pro-

gram.

THE ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY VOL. LXIV, NO. 2, SUMMER 2005



NATIONAL REGISTER 207

The Frisco's Engine 4003. Courtesy Arkansas Historic Preservation Pro- gram.

are both excellent examples of steam locomotives, but each also has its own distinct features and unique history.

The Frisco's Engine 4003 was built by the American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, New York, in March 1919, for the Pennsylva- nia Railroad. The $53,619 locomotive stretched over eighty feet in length when attached to its tender and had a dry weight of 303,000 pounds. The tender, which stored the material necessary to power the engine, could hold 10,000 gallons of water and eighteen tons of coal. When the Penn- sylvania Railroad refused to take delivery of the engine, the Frisco pur- chased it.

The Frisco immediately put Engine 4003 into service on the line between Fort Smith and Monett, Missouri. The Fort Smith to Monett line required quite powerful locomotives to traverse the rugged Boston Mountains. Engine 4003 was an excellent fit, with its pulling capacity of between 3,000 and 5,000 tons, and so pleased the Frisco that it would eventually purchase two more locomotives of the same design.

Although the Frisco occasionally used Engine 4003 to transport pas- senger cars, it primarily pulled freight cars. Its most common freight was fruit and zinc ore. During the first half of the twentieth century, south- west Missouri's berry-growing industry shipped most of its product out of Monett. By the early 1940s, shipments exceeded 1,000,000 quarts of berries per year. Joplin, the center of Missouri's zinc mining region, transported large amounts of ore over the Frisco for refining in Fort Smith's two smelters.



208 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The Frisco began using a limited number of diesel engines in 1940, and, by 1948, the railroad began phasing out its stock of steam locomotives. Retired from service in 1952, Engine 4003 was one of the Frisco's last operating steamers. The Frisco kept Engine 4003 until September 1954, when it was donated to the city of Fort Smith. For almost the next fifty years, it resided in Kay Rodgers Park and Fairground on Midland Boulevard. The Arkansas-Oklahoma State Fair Board then donated the locomotive to the Fort Smith Trolley Museum, and it was moved to the museum's grounds in 2000. The engine now sits with other pieces of roll- ing stock on a spur off of the original Frisco line. There are currently no plans to return the engine to operable condition. However, the engine re- mains in good shape and could be restored at an estimated cost of between $500,000 and $750,000. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 12, 2004.

In south Arkansas, the growth of the railroad industry and timber industry went hand in hand. The most efficient way to transport timber from deep within vast virgin forests was to build spurs connecting back- woods logging operations with main lines. After its completion in 1884, the Texas & St. Louis Railway serviced some of Arkansas 's most produc- tive agricultural areas and richest timberlands. The railroad's main line entered the state in northeast Clay County and traveled south through Paragould and Jonesboro before making a westward turn at Clarendon. The line then moved west through Stuttgart, Pine Bluff, Fordyce, and Camden before leaving the state at Texarkana. It was reorganized as the St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas in 1885 and became the St. Louis South- western in 1891, but, as early as 1886, the line was widely known as the Cotton Belt.

While railroads often had depots in even the smallest of towns, they usually built their yards and shops in larger communities. One of the Cot- ton Belt's main shops was in Pine Bluff. The company built its first shop there in 1894 on a 100-acre site. The Pine Bluff shops handled everything from minor repairs to the construction of locomotives. The first locomotive built west of the Mississippi River was assembled there in 1895. By the early 1900s, the shops employed over 750 people, making it the city's largest employer.

Like other businesses, the Cotton Belt struggled with the onset of the Great Depression. By 1930, the railroad was in bankruptcy. In an attempt to become profitable and more cost-efficient, the railroad sought more powerful locomotives capable of pulling larger trains. As a result, it or- dered ten 800-series locomotives from the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, numbered 800-809. These oil-burning engines were true powerhouses, capable of pulling 30 percent more freight than older en-



NATIONAL REGISTER 209

gines and at higher speeds. They were so heavy, however, that new track had to be laid in order for them to be put into service north of Pine Bluff. Each massive locomotive when coupled with a tender was just a few inches short of 100 feet and weighed a mind-boggling 737,500 pounds. The 800-series engines were built for power with little regard for fuel consumption, and they required 150 gallons of water and 15 gallons of oil per mile.

Pleased with its ten 800-series locomotives, the Cotton Belt decided in 1936 to add ten more to its fleet. Instead of buying them from Baldwin, the railroad bought the boilers from Baldwin and other parts from various suppliers and assembled the locomotives at the Pine Bluff shops.

The Cotton Belt's Engine 819. Courtesy Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

Engines 810 through 814 were assembled at Pine Bluff without inci- dent. By the time the boilers for Engines 815 to 819 were shipped in late 1942, however, the United States had gone to war. Restrictions had been placed on most goods, which required the Cotton Belt to ask the War Pro- duction Board for permission to complete the locomotives. It was granted with the stipulation that no new engineering be involved. Com- pared to the first fifteen 800-series, Engines 815 through 819 were no- frills locomotives, painted standard black instead of the green lacquer that had been used on the previous engines. These engines also lacked the chrome plating and brass builder's plate found on most locomotives of the era.

Engine 819 cost $143,607 to build. It went into service on February 8, 1943. The locomotive would have a relatively short span of use, though. Like other railroads, the Cotton Belt aggressively began replac-



2 1 0 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

ing steam engines with diesel engines following World War II. By 1953, all of the Cotton Belt's steam locomotives had been taken out of service. * Other railroads continued to use steam on a limited basis, and Engine 819 briefly found a new home with the Texas and New Orleans Railroad in 1952. But the company placed it in storage at Tyler, Texas, in August of that year.

In 1955, Engine 819 was donated to the city of Pine Bluff. The locomotive spent the next twenty-eight years in Pine Bluff's Oakland Park. In 1983, the engine was moved to the Cotton Belt's Pine Bluff shops to undergo restoration. The Cotton Belt Rail Historical Society completed the project in April 1986. After undergoing extensive inspections, the locomotive was found fit to operate on active rail lines and made a cere- monious journey to Fordyce. In June 1986, Engine 819 steamed to Little Rock's Union Station as part of Arkansas's sesquicentennial celebration. Today, Engine 819 graces the Arkansas Railroad Museum, located in the Cotton Belt's Pine Bluff shops. Engine 819 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 18, 2003.

Arkansas has a rich railroad history, and Engine 4003 and Engine 819 remain, along with the state's numerous surviving depots, as testa- ments to the important role railroads played in the state's development. For more information about Arkansas's surviving railroad resources and other historic properties, please visit the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program web site at www.arkansaspreservation.org.



Documents

Arkansas Listings in the National Register of Historic Places