Excursions
On April 6, 1986, Engine 819 moved out of the Cotton Belt Route's yard at Pine Bluff marking the first time it had moved under its own power since 1953. The large crowd gathered at the railyard, including a number of railroad employees, burst into applause and shouted their approval as the locomotive's nose emerged out of the shop building and into the bright sunshine. The American flag and the Arkansas state flag affixed to the right and left sides of the shiny black engine gave a patriotic air to the event. Members of the Cotton Belt Railroad Historical Society invested over 35,000 man-hours into this restoration project. Jake Commer praised the efforts the Cotton Belt Route had extended stating, "They helped us so much I can't even begin to tell you about all of it. If it hadn't been for the railroad, we couldn't have done it."
Twenty days later, on April 26, 1986, Engine 819 pulled into Fordyce on her first full-fledged trip out of Pine Bluff in 31 years. School children from Pine Bluff, Rison, Kingsland and Fordyce waved and shouted their delight at the old engine that looked like it had rolled right out of a storybook. Cars of camera-laden steam engine buffs followed the train's path shooting hundreds of pictures.
June 13, 1986, Engine 819 participated in the Arkansas State Sesquicentennial with a trip to Little Rock and was perhaps Pine Bluff's most visible contribution to the weekend events marking the state's 150th birthday. In addition to Pine Bluff's Mayor Robinson, Louis Ramsay - Chairman of the state's Sesquicentennial Commission, and Judge Earl Chadick, Sr. of Jefferson County, Hillary Clinton also rode up from Pine Bluff in the opulent VIP car named "The Houston" on loan from the Cotton Belt. Governor Bill Clinton joined his wife and the other riders on board when the train slowed to a crawl behind Barton Coliseum, just minutes from Little Rock's Union Station. Engine 819 spent the weekend on display at Union Station, just a few blocks north of the state capitol, as part of Arkansas' Sesquicentennial celebration, before returning to Pine Bluff.
During the summer of 1986, film crews came to Pine Bluff for the production of a movie called End of the Line. Engine 819 played a major role along with 35 Pine Bluff residents turned-actors, many of them members of the Cotton Belt Rail Historical Society who had helped restore the steam engine. Arkansas-born actress Mary Steenburgen was the film's executive producer, who worked hard to be able to use the newly-restored locomotive for the movie. On August 27, Pine Bluff residents were treated to a special premiere showing of the Orion Pictures film at the Pine Mall Cinema. Proceeds from the $5.00 tickets were given to the Cotton Belt Rail Historical Society.
For the next 15 years, the locomotive traveled on numerous excursions, including a trip to the 1990 NRHS convention in St. Louis, where she stood proudly at Union Station with the Union Pacific No. 844, Frisco No. 1522 and Norfolk & Western No. 1218.
Today, the engine is partially disassembled for the mandated 15-year Federal Railroad Administration inspection. The boiler has been “ultra-sounded” and documented, with only a small area of the firebox remaining to be checked. The flue tubes were removed with plans made for their replacement. A sudden increase in material costs and various emergency repairs needed at the museum over the years have exhausted funds that were hoped to be used to complete the project. The locomotive has sat idle inside the museum, quietly awaiting its return to steam and possible future travels.
Read more about this topic: St. Louis Southwestern 819
Famous quotes containing the word excursions:
“One who was my companion in my two previous excursions to these woods, tells me that ... he found himself dining one day on moose-meat, mud turtle, trout, and beaver, and he thought that there were few places in the world where these dishes could easily be brought together on one table.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“No; truth, being alive, was not halfway between anything. It was only to be found by continuous excursions into either realm, and though proportion is the final secret, to espouse it at the outset is to ensure sterility.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“The businessman who assumes that his life is everything, and the mystic who asserts that it is nothing, fail, on this side and on that, to hit the truth.... No; truth, being alive ... was only to be found by continuous excursions into either realm, and though proportion is the final secret, to espouse it at the outset is to ensure sterility.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)