TRPA officially announces SP 982 slated to return to steam.
TRPA New Website: (developed & designed by ZAF / GS Travel Lines)
TRPA acquires Great Northern Vanderbilt tender
Southern Pacific steam locomotive number 982, long a fixture in Herman Park and in later years Minute Maid Park, will return to the rails under the leadership of the Texas Railway Preservation Association. Millions of Houstonians and visitors from around the world have seen this Houston icon, and now, she will be restored for railfans and tourists alike to ride behind the Houston icon.
The Texas Railway Preservation Association, owners of Southern Pacific 2-10-2 number 982, are announcing that they will return the locomotive to service. The locomotive, built as Southern Pacific 3651, was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1919. Originally assigned by Southern Pacific to handle long passenger trains up severe mountain grades, the Southern Pacific 3651 performed in this service until 1922, when she was sold to the Texas and New Orleans Railroad, which was a wholly owned subsidiary to the Southern Pacific, in 1922, and assigned to freight service in 1922, working out of Glidden, Texas.
In 1929, the 982 was assigned to Houston,Texas and was maintained and repaired at the Hardy Street roundhouse and shops. During World War Two, the 982 handled oil trains to eastern rail connections in Shreveport; trainloads of sulfur out of New Gulf for explosives and fertilizer; lumber from East Texas; steel to build new ships at Todd Shipyards; troops and sailors heading off to war; livestock to feed a hungry nation. The 982 received cross balanced drivers and was also assigned to pull the second section of the Argonaut between Houston and San Antonio.
The locomotive was stored serviceable in 1956 and was donated to the Houston Jaycees in 1957, when the locomotive was placed in Herman Park.
The 982 lived in Hermann Park for almost forty years, three years longer than she was in service, before dark clouds once again gathered on the horizon. Her home, Hermann Park, was being redesigned, and there was no longer a home for the 200 ton locomotive, and her scrapping appeared imminent.
The Houston Jaycees stepped to the forefront, spearheading an effort to save and move the locomotive. Operation Choo Choo. was a fund raising effort to move the locomotive to another location. The City Of Houston donated the land, and the locomotive was moved to its new location outside Minute Maid Park.
The 982 was displayed at Minute Maid Park until she was tabbed to be part of a museum where the 982 would be a focal point. The 982 was moved again, this time to the museum site, where the building would be built around her...but the locomotive would lose her tender in the process due to the fact the locomotive would not fit in the designed building with it. The 982, sans tender, was cosmetically restored, then placed in a protective shroud.
But, it was not to be. The museum project was shelved, leaving the now tenderless 982 shrouded, homeless, and with an even more uncertain future.
The TRPA set to work at that point to preserve the 982, and the locomotive was donated to the TRPA in 2020. The locomotive was moved from its display site at Minute Maid Park to its current storage location until a more suitable location can be found.
Thanks to the generosity of the Museum Of Transport in St. Louis, a replacement tender for the 982 has been acquired. This tender, a six axle Vanderbilt tender, is historic in its own right, being assigned to Great Northerns’ first 2-10-2, number 2100. When the 2100 was scrapped, the tender was assigned to another locomotive, and it eventually ended up in St.Louis. The bigger tender gives the 982 more range for fuel and water in todays’ operating environment.
Current plans call for a complete rebuild of the 982, purchase, lease, or donation of a building to serve as a shop facility, and acquire and renovate several heavyweight cars for use as a complete train set capable of entertaining 500-1,200 guests. There has been serious interest to host the 982 for trips, and those relationships will continue to be nurtured during this period.
The TRPA has a NEW WEBSITE, GOING LIVE MONDAY AUGUST 29TH, 2022! Want to support TRPA's mission to preserve, restore, and operate Texas railroad archives, machinery, and structures? Want to be a part of the team and develop or learn skills? Have a business that wants to partner or market with TRPA or Southern Pacific 982? Have engagement or academic photography needs, or a film project and need a subject? On our new website you can handle those tasks and more. Sign up for memberships, become a volunteer that works with YOUR schedule (no experience required), follow the blog and see updates for the TRPA and work on 982, and much more.
Online store of exclusive merchandise and exclusive items like work wear, collectable historic memorabilia and much more, coming soon!
Click the link on or After Monday August 29th, to be taken to the website; Trpahouston.org
-MEDIA CONTACT-
Trpahouston@gmail.com
@Trpahouston
Kenneth Cotton- President-Texas Railway Preservation Association
(512) 779-9093
Micah Rogers - Strategic Business Development/ Public Relations- Texas Railway Preservation Association
(346) 228 - 5869
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