Historic Locomotive Moved To New Home In Bartlesville

Chris Howell NewsOn6.com

For 53 years, steam locomotive No. 940 sat in Johnstone Park in Bartlesville. Today the historic engine was trucked through downtown to its new home at the Bartlesville Depot.

"In honor of the 100^th birthday of our depot and our attempt to do historic preservation we decided to move her," said Julie Daniels of the Discovery 1 Project Team. "The total budget is about $130,000."

The 275,000-pound locomotive was pulled by truck on a 64-wheel trailer and lifted onto the tracks at the depot by heavy-lift cranes.

Organizers say the 106-year-old steam engine is quite a sight, but it's the history that is really amazing. 

"She did World War II service, out pulling ammo trains on the Pacific coast," said Julie Daniels, Bartlesville Regional Chamber of Commerce.

"She worked in Clovis, New Mexico. Up in Kansas she worked in the railway yards as sort of a switch engine, so she did a whole lot of work. She is a work horse of an engine - she's not some sort of pansy passenger train locomotive," Daniels said.

The 940 is the only steam engine of the 50 saved by the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway when it switched to diesels.

Progress on finishing the project can be motored at the No. 940 web site at www.bartlesvillelocomotive.org