In May of 1989, on the Saturday before our arrival at the Reader Railroad in Hope, Arkansas, Ron Findley and I stopped to check out things in Warren, Arkansas. While there we discovered the Southern Lumber Company’s 4-6-0 steam locomotive #123 that is on display in the city’s park. While still basically intact, it was in sad shape. Missing many of it’s appliances, and needing a fresh paint job, it stood alone in a well mowed open area there.

Note that there is a builders plate attached to the front corner of the tender, it stating that this locomotive was built by Baldwin with construction number 17911 in May of 1920. However, I’ve seen information that this isn’t this locomotive’s builders plate. This source (https://www.rgusrail.com/arsl123.html) says that the locomotive was built by Baldwin, but in 1907 for the Morelia & Tacambaro Railway Company at Guanajunto, Mexico. It was later sold to the Southern Lumber Company in Warren, Arkansas, where it was renumbered #123 and appears to have worked on the Warren & Ouichita Valley Railway, jointly owned by the Southern Lumber Company and Arkansas Lumber Company.

I’m willing to accept this information as a locomotive’s builders plate is normally affixed to the smokebox, aligned with the stack. I’ll speculate that a well-meaning, but misguided citizen found some number plates and attached them to the tender. The locomotive has all spoked wheels, both on the locomotive itself, and also the tender. According to the aforementioned website, she’s an oil burner weighing 112,000 lbs., 85,000 lbs. on its 54” drivers, and has 18” x 24” cylinders. Operating at 150 psi, it delivered 18,288 lbs. of tractive effort.

If you’d like to see more photos of this little steamer, visit the website linked to above. Fortunately the engine is featured there with a fresh coat of paint, and someone had the wisdom to paint over those white drivers, rods and domes with black.