[5] Despite being similar to the ten Baldwin L1s, these new locomotives had many modern improvements such as Boxpok driving wheels, multiple-bearing crossheads, and Timken roller bearings.

[5] In 1942, Cotton Belt officials petitioned the War Production Board for authorization to buy five new EMD FT diesel locomotives for their growing freight business.

[5] In order to raise money for the cost of moving and constructing a permanent display structure for the engine, the City of Pine Bluff sold "shares" in the locomotive to the school children in Jefferson County.

The problem of getting the locomotive moved to the display was solved when Cotton Belt agreed to lend materials for a temporary spur to the park.

Cotton Belt and Missouri Pacific employees contributed the labor in building the spur and moving the historic locomotive and tender.

The Pine Bluff Jaycees spearheaded the drive to build a green and white steel shed at the new location, while the move and reconditioning was being coordinated by members of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and Cotton Belt employees.

The locomotive, after starting to coast, rammed the park's lake embankment and finally stopped against a large black oak tree.

[10] Although the engine and tender were successfully relocated during the Fall of 1960, it was several more years before the steel shed was erected overhead to protect the locomotive.

Despite being in his late 50s and in failing health, James Norris faithfully visited the locomotive every week to knock off the bird nests and occasionally replace some broken glass in the cab.

Records indicate that Mr. Norris died in 1970 and by 1983 the Arkansas Democrat described the locomotive as "covered in graffiti and vandals have removed, or tried to take, whatever wasn't too heavy to carry off."

Ms. Perdue, whose family had a long history with the railroad, agreed to chair a sub-committee of the Chamber of Commerce's Publicity & Tourism to get the No.

With a slogan of "Let's Put the Steam Back in Pine Bluff", she felt that a lot of volunteers, mainly retired Cotton Belt craftsmen and engineers, would be interested in working to restore the No.

Superintendent R. R. McClanahan of the Cotton Belt Pine Bluff Division worked hard to get the locomotive and tender transported from the park back to the shops to make those repairs.

[12] On December 1, 1983, a force of between 50 and 100 Cotton Belt employees, most of them volunteers, assisted by railfans and rail historical groups, placed Engine 819 back on Cotton Belt rails for the first time in nearly three decades and transported the engine 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) from the park back to the site of its manufacturing 40 years earlier.

[14] While the engine languished in the park, various parts disappeared including its bell, whistle, Cotton Belt emblems and many of the gauges.

Jake Commer, President of the Cotton Belt Rail Historical Society at the time, offered a "no questions asked" policy for the return of these items and received many of the parts back, including the whistle and one of the emblems.

Jake Commer praised the efforts the Cotton Belt Route had extended, stating "They helped us so much I can't even begin to tell you about all of it.

Governor Bill Clinton joined his wife and the other riders on board when the train slowed to a crawl behind Barton Coliseum, just minutes from Little Rock's Union Station.

Engine 819 spent the weekend on display at Union Station, just a few blocks north of the state capitol, as part of Arkansas' Sesquicentennial celebration, before returning to Pine Bluff.

819 played a minor role along with 35 Pine Bluff residents turned-actors, many of them members of the Cotton Belt Rail Historical Society who had helped restore the steam engine.

Arkansas-born actress Mary Steenburgen was the film's executive producer, who worked hard to be able to use the newly restored locomotive for the movie.

A sudden increase in material costs and various emergency repairs needed at the museum over the years have exhausted funds that were hoped to be used to complete the project.