Maumelle Ordnance Works Locomotive #1 is one of three locomotives on the US National Register on display at the Fort Smith Trolley Museum.
It is free to wander the Trolley Museum grounds, but donations are always appreciated. There is a nominal fare to ride the trolley around downtown.
The National Register nomination form for this locomotive can be found at the AR Preservation Society website: (
visit link)
"STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
Maumelle Ordnance Works Locomotive #1 is a gasoline-powered locomotive built by the Vulcan Iron Works in April 1942. It was operated initially by the Maumelle Ordnance Works in Maumelle, Arkansas, and the U.S. Army at Newport Army Air Field at Newport, Arkansas, until it was purchased by the Augusta Railroad c.1955. After the Augusta Railroad shut down in 1958 it became the property of Glenn and Tommy Taggart, before being donated to the Fort Smith Trolley Museum in June 1988. Although Vulcan Iron Works produced many steam locomotives beginning in 1849, they produced few gas-mechanical or diesel locomotives before production ceased in 1954."
The nomination form also contains fascinating history of this particular locomotive, the Maumelle Ordinance Works operations in WWII, and the development of railroad lines in AR (heavily edited for length by BMB):
"Vulcan Iron Works of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which built Locomotive #1, was an established company that was founded in 1849 by Richard Jones.Early on, the company specialized in industrial steam locomotives, but it expanded its product line in the 1920s to include internal-combustion engines. Vulcan further expanded its product line in 1938 to include diesel locomotives. However, the company was never a major competitor in the diesel locomotive market, producing only approximately 51 diesel locomotives before the company closed in 1954.
Maumelle Ordnance Works Locomotive #1 was Vulcan construction #4364 and was built in April 1942. The 35-ton model was built for several years . . .
During the 1940s, when Locomotive #1 was built, Vulcan played to the U.S. war sentiments by emphasizing its role in the war effort. An advertisement in the February 5, 1944, issue of Railway Age magazine stated:
Today, hundreds of Vulcan locomotives are rendering vitally important war-time service, both at home and overseas, and our shops are working at top speed to complete urgent orders for Army, Navy and defense plant requirements. Tomorrow, more and larger Vulcan locomotives will be available to help rebuild a war-torn world. Our manufacturing facilities are being enlarged and improved- engineering and executive staffs strengthened new sales connections established in many countries. Write us regarding present or prospective requirements for steam, Diesel or Diesel-electric locomotives - any type or size - wide or narrow gauge. Bulletins in either English, Spanish or Portuguese will be furnished promptly on request.
Vulcan's role in the war effort would have made a Vulcan brand locomotive the perfect choice for the Maumelle Ordnance Works and the Newport Army Air Field, especially in early 1942 just after America's entry into the war subsequent to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Maumelle Ordnance Works main function during World War II was the manufacture of two kinds of explosives. . . .
The War Department decided to build Maumelle Ordnance Works on July 11, 1941. . . It acquired 7,613.61 acres located near West Marche, Arkansas, for this plant. The plant would exclusively be for the production of picric acid and ammonium nitrate. Approval of the contract for the Maumelle Ordnance Works was granted on July 15, 1941. The contract originally called for an ammonium picrate plant composed of six units with an estimated average daily capacity of 75,000 pounds. After the initial survey and the laying of water and gas lines, work on the administration buildings commenced on September 2, 1941. The main facilities of the Maumelle Ordnance Works contained various buildings associated in the manufacture of ammonium picrate and picric acid, along with a synthetic nitric acid plant, a nitric acid condensing plant, and sulfuric acid reclaiming plant. These facilities also had cooling towers, auxiliary tanks and other buildings. They were interconnected by pipelines, utility lines and a road system. In all there were nine ammonium picrate manufacturing units, dryer houses, auxiliary buildings, tanks and other equipment.
A locomotive like the Vulcan 35-ton model would have been ideal for the switching duties required at the Ordnance Works. The relatively few numbers of railroad cars that would have been needed to service the facility would have been ideal for a small locomotive like #1. Railroad cars with supplies or completed ordnance would have been switched around the base by Locomotive #1.
Production of ammonium picrate and picric acid continued at Maumelle Ordnance Works until August 15, 1945, when the War Department notified that all production would terminate. However, an exception was made for the production of special fine ammonium picrate. The next day, the contractor put the plant into standby conditions and they began the decontamination of the plant. Subsequently the production of special fine ammonium picrate ceased on August 23. The contractor finished the decontamination operations of the plant by November 20, 1945.
Locomotive #1 was transferred to the U.S. Army and renumbered 8223 before being sent to the Newport Army Air Field northeast of Newport, Arkansas.26 As at the Maumelle Ordnance Works, a locomotive like
the Vulcan 35-ton model would have been ideal for the switching duties required at the Newport Army Air Field. The relatively few numbers of railroad cars that would have been needed to service the air field would have been ideal for a small locomotive like #1. Railroad cars with supplies would have been switched around the base or brought from the Missouri Pacific Railroad spur that entered the base from the northwest.
In the 1950s, Locomotive #1 was acquired by the Augusta Railroad, and renumbered as Augusta Railroad Locomotive #7.
. . .
When Locomotive #1 was brought to the Augusta Railroad, the line was relying on Engine #300 for its motive power, a 1924 Alco 2-6-0 that was purchased second-hand from the Arkansas Railroad Company of
Star City in 1926. However, by 1958, Engine #300's days were also numbered, as reported by the Augusta Advocate. The newspaper reported that "'Old No. 300' engine of the Augusta Railroad Company may have
made her last run. The engine has been condemned by the Interstate Commerce Commission because of the number of defects and will not be permitted to be used until repairs are made."
An engine like Locomotive #1 would have been ideal for the Augusta Railroad's needs during the 1950s when it was acquired. The amount of rail traffic using the Augusta Railroad's tracks was light and the
distance that the locomotive needed to cover was short. Although the tracks that the engine traveled on were technically the Augusta Railroad's "main line," it was really more of a switching operation like the locomotive would have served at the Maumelle Ordnance Works and the Newport Army Air Field. . . .
Although some of Augusta's citizens protested the proposed closing of the Augusta Railroad, the Interstate Commerce Commission granted conditional approval to abandon the lines in December 1958. The
December 1, 1958, Augusta Advocate reported:
The Interstate Commerce Commission today granted conditional Authority to Augusta Railroad Company to abandon its entire line consisting of about four miles of track linking Augusta and New Augusta.
The Commission noted that businessmen in the area have indicated interest in continuing operation of the line. It is said the discontinuance permit was conditioned on the Company's willingness to sell the line to any responsible bidder at not less than net salvage value within 35 days.
The net salvage value was estimated at around $20,000.33. The railroad's assets were later purchased by Glenn Taggart and Bing Miller, who were Augusta businessmen. (Taggart was one of the citizens that attended a September 1958 hearing to protest the line's abandonment.) Subsequently, Tommy Taggart purchased Miller's interest in the line.
In later years, Locomotive #1 remained in the possession of Tommy Taggart. He donated the locomotive to the Fort Smith Trolley Museum in June 1988, along with Augusta Railroad Locomotive #6 (Former U.S.
Army Quartermaster Corps Locomotive #821), where it remains today."