One of the photographic prints that was in the collection of railroad images that I inherited from Ron Findley was the one below of a 2-6-0 Mogul steam locomotive. It’s lettered for the Reader Railroad, but was a locomotive I’d never come across before. There was no information on that photograph, and I was stumped. So I scanned and posted the photo on Mike Palmieri’s Facebook group “Mike’s Mostly Louisiana Railroads” along with my request for information about this locomotive.

As hoped for, several readers were aware of this locomotive, and below are some of the responses about it.

Tony Howe: Yes, Reader 403 is correct. It’s a William Monypeny photo from the Louis Saillard Collection. (From the envelope sleeve): Reader Railroad No.403 2-6-0, Reader, Ark.
Ex. St. Louis Southwestern #403, (built by) Alco-Rogers (construction) #37535 (on) 4/1905
To: Reader RR 3/13/1937
Retired: 8/31/1945
Also from Tony: A.E. Brown photographed the remains of the same locomotive still at Reader in 1952 in derelict condition

Mark Locke: 403 was sold for scrap soon after Tom Long bought the Reader in the 1950s. He was alarmed by the decrepit condition of the railroad as a whole. He had #11 reconditioned, bought #108, and had 403 scrapped. In the early 1960s, he purchased 2-8-0 #1702 and had it rebuilt and modified from it’s Army appearance.

Thanks to these folks, and to others that posted on this as well. The #403 is no longer a mystery. 🙂