A recent article in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette features SSW 819 and a brief review of the Arkansas Railroad Museum, Pine Bluff, Arkansas:

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette: https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2022/jun/07/all-aboard/

• Cotton Belt (Saint Louis Southwestern Railway) 819, 4-8-4 (SSW Pine Bluff shop [no builder's number] / 1943), SSW class L-1, boiler manufactured by Baldwin

Arkansas Railroad Museum: https://arkansasrailroadmuseum.org/

thanks. Since 819 went cold about 30 years ago, you don't hear much about it.

It's such a shame that there doesn't appear to be any effort to get 819 running again. As I understand it, that's because UP owns the tracks 819 used to run on?
I've noticed the among all the "official state locomotives" that I'm aware of, none are running today.

Mr TRS --- THANK YOU MOST KINDLY for not just this post, but also for the many other interesting posts that you have made here. Usually I don't comment, but I always read your international news items with great interest. Please, KEEP IT UP.

Has the 'fundamental intransigence' of the Union Pacific toward operating 'non-Union Pacific native steam' changed in the Dickens years?

Might be time for a little Kentucky/Fort Wayne-style bridgebuilding and establishment of trust? Now with a little quiet state political support?

To the best of my knowledge, UP is only allowing UP heritage steam to operate on their system. They seem to think they're already doing enough for railfans. They are doing plenty to help non UP steam if you count all the grants, donations, and other assistance rendered to preservation efforts. In particular I remember that they went to considerable trouble moving two narrow gauge tenders free for the Sumpter Valley Ry, from Texas to Oregon. (Corrections welcome...)

As I recall, the 'issue' was that with the SP acquisition by UP, 819 became 'landlocked'. My point is that if 765 et al. are tolerated moving over the system to 'some other place' -- why not 819?

Certainly the organization can get her to any desired 'quality' of operation; UP isn't concerned with other than its current operating fleet's indefinite quality longevity, so that standards that applied to 844 and 4014 wouldn't have to cost an ARM and a leg...

First, one needs to raise $1M for a complete 1472-day inspection.

Wesley

I'm sure the usual suspects will soon chime in about all the things that happened and the mistakes that were made. But in the end, the mergers sucked all the momentum out of 819. In the meantime, most of the crew that restored 819 have grown old or have died. 819 is a rare and lucky engine to be able to sit in the same building where she was built, but unlucky to be buried in an economically depressed area surrounded by a community who really couldn't care less about old railroads. 819 is also far, far away from any non-UP trackage that would be suitable to run on, which means ferry moves of hundreds of miles to get to a host RR. No one seems excited to raise millions of dollars, perform a full restore, then ship 819 from her birthplace to some far off place to run, and while it sounds like UP would allow some movement, I don't see UP allowing 819 in and out at will. The ideal situation would be for the UP to allow us to run on former Cotton Belt routes, but honestly we're in no shape to ask for something like that.

I was visiting friends in Little Rock over the Labor Day weekend and on that Saturday my railfan host took me down to Pine Bluff. This was part of a two-week trip visiting people and places.

This is a photo I took of the 819 inside an old 1898 shop building that the museum uses.

819 is unfortunate for several reasons.

Where it’s located: Pine Bluff is the fastest shrinking city in the US, and Arkansas, one of the poorest states in the Union. It’s not located in a fairly majorly populated city like a St. Louis, or Los Angeles or Portland.

What railroad it operated for: the Cotton Belt, a fairly obscure railroad only known for being a subsidiary of a more major railroad that was famous for operating in the western US, and not in the mid south.

Its wheel arrangement. Being a 4-8-4, it doesn’t have any unique characteristics other than where it was built. It’s about as standard looking of a late steam locomotive as you can get. No funky headlights or streamlining or color scheme, wasn’t a trailblazer in power or size.

Being a freight loco with a short excursion career, and no major excursion partner; if the locomotive had operated for say NS even once it would have a larger claim to fame on that alone. Its biggest trip was the trip to St. Louis in 1990, and while that’s a fun trip to remember, that was fairly tame to many excursions that had occurred before and after.

I love 819, easily one of my favorites. But it has a lot going against it even outside of any potential issues with its mechanical condition (of which I know nothing and have heard nothing about). What a shame. It deserves better.

Shay #5 at Cass is West Virginia's state steam locomotive and is operational

Hence, the emphasis on that I'm aware of...

I don’t really know of many myself

I just found out 611 is the state steam locomotive of Virginia for instance.

Any one I could find appears to be getting work though aside from 819. L&N 152 is the official steam locomotive of the commonwealth of Kentucky and it’s receiving restoration work (which according to the KRM Is nearly fully funded).

and a shame that 611 has to go to Pennsylvania to operate.