Blackwell's historic train chugs to 120 years old

Blackwell’s historic steam locomotive hasn’t turned a wheel in decades, but it turned 120 years old in March.

Former Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. Engine No. 1096 was built in March 1902 and donated to the City of Blackwell in 1954.

As it has for decades, the engine sits at the Beatty-Rodgers Park, commonly known as the “train park,” at the corner of College Avenue and Third Street.

The 1096 was one of 103 “Prairie-type” locomotives the railroad purchased in 1902 and 1903, according to rgusrail.com, a website dedicated to preserving locomotive history. The engine was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Prairie-type locomotives were commonly used on the Santa Fe’s branch-lines – shorter railroad lines serving smaller communities – for hauling freight trains. In its roughly 50-year career, the engine traveled more than 1.25 million miles.

The engines were used through the early 1950s, when most were either scrapped or donated to be put on display in city parks. The 1096’s sister engine, No. 1067, is on display in a park in Wellington, Kansas, near the Panhandle Railroad Museum.

The engine has been cosmetically restored. Another Prairie-type, No. 1880, is on display at a park in Newton, Kansas. It is partially protected from the elements by an awning.

The Blackwell engine is on display along with a caboose the Santa Fe donated to the city in 1984. It wasn’t a Santa Fe caboose, however, and it was never used in freight service on the railroad.

The railroad obtained the caboose, along with two similar ones, when it acquired the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad in the 1980s.

Traditionally, Santa Fe cabooses were painted red. But the railroad painted what would become Blackwell’s caboose, No. 999655, in a non-standard orange paint scheme before donating it to the city.

Today, children climb aboard the locomotive, and railroad enthusiasts stop to take photos of it.

But the engine has seen better days. Today, its black paint is faded, and rust is eating away at its body. Some parts of the engine have been stolen, including several brass components in the cab. It’s also been vandalized.

But the engine hasn’t always looked forlorn. In 1985, the city’s former public parks superintendent, Jim Jenkins, repainted the engine along with the help of coworker Frank Barrows.

Jenkins and Barrows replaced the engine’s broken glass windows and rotted wooden doors. They built a chain-link fence around the engine to protect it, though the fence was taken down several years ago. They also removed asbestos insulation from the engine.

The Daily Oklahoman chronicled their restoration efforts in a March 4, 1985 story. Jenkins said of the engine: "To me this is something great. I don't think a lot of people around here realize what they have. When this is gone, it's gone. There isn't going to be another one."