Arkansas Railroad Museum

Engine 819 was built by the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company (Cotton Belt Route) at it's Pine Bluff, Arkansas shops in 1942, the mighty locomotive ruled the rails for a dozen years before being replaced by diesel locomotives. The engine was donated to the city in 1955 and "Old 819" reposed in Oakland Park until 1983 when Cotton Belt brought it out of the park for restoration by the Cotton Belt Historical Society, Inc. The engine's home is now in the Cotton BeltHistoricalMuseum which is located at the home of its birth, at the Old Cotton Belt Shops. The museum is open to the public Monday through Saturday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. The price of admission is a Donation to the CBRHS. It's first trips were made in 1986 to Fordyce, Arkansas and Little Rock, Arkansas and made many trips since but these trips have now been suspended by the Union Pacific (The present owners). The Big Engine is capable of pulling 100 freight cars with ease and burns about 15 gallons of oil per mile. The cost of this engine in 1942 was $143,607 which is the equivalent now to over $2,000,000. The cost to rebuild the engine was $140,000.

The museum also now houses Engine 336 and a full scale inside-the-building railroad depot and displays of railroad memorabilia, particularly historical items from railroads that have operated in Arkansas and East Texas.