I'm sad to report that the famous former Illinois Central 0-6-0 Steam Locomotive #333 is in very bad shape rusting away in the weeds of the Tioga Heritage Museum. To look at this once mighty locomotive it is hard to believe that not too long ago it, and several other pieces of vintage rolling stock, were once on prominent display in Louisiana's state capitol.
This Illinois Central depot at Baton Rouge was completed in 1926, and in 1928 it was being used by 22 trains a day: 14 Yazoo & Mississippi Valley (IC), six Gulf Coast Lines (MP) and two Texas & New Orleans (SP) trains. Passenger service on the Espee ended around 1931 and on the IC in 1950, but MP trains ran until 1967. The building was subsequently acquired by the City of Baton Rouge and leased to the Louisiana Arts and Science Center (now the Louisiana Art and Science Museum).
In 1975-76 LASC set up a display train next to the station consisting of IC 0-6-0 333, IC RPO car 95, Southern Railway coach 1064, IC dining car 4112 and IC office car 4. The locomotive and diner were owned by the museum; while the RPO, coach and office car were leased from the Southeast Louisiana Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. Over time, the train fell into disrepair; and in 2000 the museum decided to get rid of it. In late 2006 the three NRHS cars were moved to Hammond, Louisiana and diner went to the Monticello Railroad Museum in Illinois. The 0-6-0 was moved to the Tioga Heritage Musuem in Tioga, LA in 2011. - From Rail Pictures Website.
Upon searching the Tioga Heritage Museum website, I learned that the museum is permanently closed due to unstable conditions and lack of state funding:
"As you may know, the historic Tioga Heritage Museum has been closed due to unstable conditions. We need to stabilize the building and repair the roof. Your help is needed to preserve the museum. Due to slow economy, the Secretary of State is unable to fund these repairs at this time and were forced to return the museum to the Tioga Historical Society." - Source
A GoFundMe page has been opened to help raise funds to save the museum. The campaign started in November of 2019 as as of the date of this article it had raised a disappointing fifty dollars.
Go to the Tioga Heritage Museum GoFundMe Page - HERE
Due to the present state of the museum, it looks like the locomotive may have had a death sentence placed upon it's head unless someone steps forward to rescue and restore it.
I will be contacting the museum to find out more information.
Wouldn't this be a great addition as a display here in Lecompte?
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