St. Louis Southwestern 819 - Return To The Cotton Belt Shops

Return To The Cotton Belt Shops

An almost carnival-like atmosphere permeated Pine Bluff on December 1, 1983 as a force of between 50–100 Cotton Belt employees, most of them volunteers, assisted railfans and rail historical groups, placed Engine 819 back on Cotton Belt rails for the first time in nearly three decades and transported the beloved engine 3+1⁄₂ miles (5.6 km) from the park back to the site of its birth 40 years earlier. Twenty-five years of abuse by vandals and the ravages of time and the elements had reduced the once proud behemoth of the rails to little more than a graffiti-marred eyesore. Members of the newly formed Cotton Belt Rail Historical Society lovingly moved the locomotive back to the Cotton Belt shops, where it was to be restored in a bold project to show Arkansans what the great super locomotives looked like.

Although the ownership of the locomotive was retained by the city, the restoration of the 819 was the responsibility of "Project 819", an all-volunteer effort by two rail historical preservation groups: the Arkansas Railroad Club and the Cotton Belt Rail Historical Society. The project leased space needed at the Cotton Belt shops in Pine Bluff to complete the restoration, which was projected to take 18–24 months.

While the engine languished in the park, various parts disappeared including its bell, whistle, Cotton Belt emblems and many of the gauges. Jake Commer, President of the Cotton Belt Rail Historical Society at the time, offered a "no questions asked" policy for the return of these items and received many of the parts back, including the whistle and one of the emblems. The original bell was never located however and the one currently on the engine is from another 800 class locomotive. That bell was used for many years by the Wesley United Methodist Church in Pine Bluff before being donated to Project 819.

Led by Bill B. Bailey, the Restoration Director for "Project 819", seven separate volunteer groups worked six days a week on various sections of the locomotive and tender in hopes of getting the engine totally restored and federally certified as worthy to run on the rails again. Mr. Bailey estimated that about 20% of the volunteers had actually worked on the locomotive or went through an apprenticeship in the early 1940s when the 819 or other 800-class steam locomotives were built in the Cotton Belt Shops at Pine Bluff.

Engine 819 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.