There is one thing that you can say with 100% certainty, the state and local governments here in Louisiana don't give a crap about this states railroad history. While most states treasure their existing historical artifacts, like vintage steam locomotives, entities in Louisiana are perfectly happy to have them cut up into scrap metal or stash them somewhere they are neglected and rust away into dust.
A couple of years back I wrote a piece about the sad fate of Illinois Central 0-6-0 Steam Locomotive #333 that used to be prominently displayed across from the original state capitol in Baton Rouge that ended up on the grounds of a now closed museum in Tioga. That locomotive is now an abandoned relic that is slowly rusting away. This locomotive is still actually owned by the state of Louisiana who has no plans to move it or restore it. They seem very content to let this piece of Louisiana railroad history rot, which is a tragic shame.
Today I learned about another tragedy in regards to this states railroad history on Facebook from a post by David Berry. For years the city of Lafyette owned a wonderful example of a Southern Pacific steam locomotive that was on display in a local park. The old steamer was a popular attraction that was beloved by many locals but in 1978 the city decided that this piece of history had outstayed its welcome and recklessly made a decision to send it to be cut up into scrap.
Check out this article from the Lafayette Daily Advertiser written by Martha Aycok and published on 3/7/1978:
For 22 years Old 743, the steam locomotive in Lafayette’s City Park, has been a monument to an age gone by. Little children have climbed up into the driver’s seat and played Casey Jones at the throttle more times than can be counted.
And oldsters, too, especially those who rode the rails as young men, often got a lump of sentiment in their throats as they gaze at the old locomotive. For the railroaders of yesteryear had the macho appeal that the truckers of today project. Free-wheeling, sitting high, wide and handsome at the controls of 315,000 pounds of power.
Built in 1921 in the Algiers shop of the T&NO Railroad, the engine weighing more than a quarter of a million pounds was given to the Hub City Kiwanis Club in 1957 and the club gave it to the city. It had been in continuous service pulling billions of tons of scrap in its 35 years of service. And that’s what Old 743 - or the 5:05, (the time it used to barrel through Lafayette) is being turned into - scrap iron. A little more than 175.5 tons of it and it’s being sold for $25 a ton. The Hub City Kiwanis Club members are saddened by the loss of the train, says Louis Monte, a past president of the club and a locomotive committee member.
“We worked very hard to try and keep a memorial to the steam age here in Lafayette and a little something inside of us is dying with our beloved Locomotive Number 743 as it is being cut down,” Monte said.
When the locomotive was set in place in 1957 in the city park, just across the street from the swimming pool, the club agreed to keep it up and the city provided the site. Initially a tribute to an era, now the locomotive is a monument to vandalism. The brass bell and the big headlight that showed the old freighter through many a starless Louisiana night, and other equipment have been actually “ripped off.” The ripping off has contributed to the rusting process and now the old cab of the locomotive is considered a hazard to children by the city’s department of risk management.
The city instructed the club to fix up the train or to move it. Some club members seemed to think that since the train had been donated to the city that the city should maintain it. For a number of years Southern Pacific Railroad men, who were revering the passing of an age much like the early Kiwanis Club members who set up the train, helped the club keep up the train’s appearance. But then it became impossible to get parts for it. The manufacturers weren’t outfitting the 1921 models - most of whom had already gone the scrap route.
A fence has been built around the locomotive, “but not to keep kids out,” says a Kiwanian. “That wasn’t our purpose in bringing the locomotive here. We wanted kids to be able to touch it, to sit in the engineer’s seat, to know something about the steam age and how we have progressed from it. And it worked well for a while, then the bigger kids started tearing it up and the parts that were torn off pushed the rusting along.”
A local scrap and salvage company is currently dismantling the locomotive and is paying a good price which should net the club almost $4,000 for its other charitable projects.
But Old 743 is feeling the heat of the blow torch and will soon find its final home on the scrap heap - the end of an era.
As the late radio star Paul Harvey used to say '...and now, the rest of the story'.
My friend Everett Lueck of the Southern Forest Heritage Museum added this tidbit about the city of Lafyette's motivation for destroying this locomotive.
"Typical puff piece in the Daily Aggravator. The city wanted the space for a parking lot. 743 was the last locomotive overhauled in the Houston Shops and was never fired up again. When the Texas State RR found out that the city was trying to force the scrapping of the locomotive they made overtures to the city to purchase it for TSR. Yes, there was some sheet metal problems, but internally the engine was perfect and perfect for what TSR needed. The city scrapped it anyway because they wanted parking spaces for the golf course."
That's obsoletely pathetic! Thankfully Everett and his group at the Southern Forest Heritage Museum are actually working to preserve and restore the steam locomotives on their property or there may not be any examples of these kind of historical relics left for future generations to see and learn about.
This is another Louisiana fail!
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