New Orleans built (Algiers Shops, 1921), the Southern Pacific 2-8-2 #745 is seen taking a spin on the turntable at Avondale, Louisiana for its final time. It’s May of 1956, and in a few days she would be delivered for display at the New Orleans Audubon Park Zoo. That would be her home until removed in 1984 by the Louisiana State Railroad Museum/Old Kenner Railway Association, for restoration.

As a kid, I climbed all over this locomotive while it was on “park duty”. In later years, it became fenced off to keep the vandals at bay. I never imagined that one day she would be back under steam. You can scroll back in this blog to find several images that I’ve recorded while she was running back in the mid-2000s. Type “#745” in the search box and you’ll get a list of postings featuring the old girl.

This photograph was featured for the month of January in the 1986 calendar published by the Louisiana State Railroad Museum. It is from the collection of Richard L. Podawiltz.