Texas and Pacific 610, also known as Will Rogers, is a I-1AR class "Texas" type steam locomotive. It is the only surviving example of the Texas and Pacific Railway's (T&P) class I-1AR 2-10-4 locomotives. Built by the Lima Locomotive Works in June 1927, No. 610 and its class were based on Lima's prototype "Super Power" 2-8-4 design, and the T&P rostered them to pull fast and heavy freight trains.
No. 610 last ran for the T&P in 1950, before it was retired. It was then put on static display at the Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas. In the late 1960s, No. 610 was at risk of being scrapped before the 610 Historical Foundation, a group of railfans, acquired the locomotive. In 1975, work began to restore No. 610 to operating condition, and the following year it pulled the American Freedom Train throughout Texas.
From 1977 to 1980, No. 610 was leased by the Southern Railway to pull excursion trains for their steam program. In 1981, No. 610 returned to Fort Worth under its own power. The following year, it moved to a small museum complex for display. In 1986, it was moved again to the Texas State Railroad in Palestine, Texas. As of 2026, No. 610 remains in storage under Texas State Railroad ownership, and it is towed outdoors for display during occasional events.
Construction and design
During the 1920s, the Texas and Pacific Railway (T&P) was undergoing a restructuring process, under the guidance of the company's president, John L. Lancaster. Lancaster sought for the T&P to acquire faster and more powerful locomotives than their G-1 Class 2-10-2 "Santa Fe" types, to compete with intercity truck services and to assist the booming oil industry of Texas. In 1925, the Lima Locomotive Works of Lima, Ohio, constructed and demonstrated their prototype A-1 Class 2-8-4, which was designed by William E. Woodard and was proclaimed as a "super power" locomotive with its high horsepower output.
The A-1 was tested on trackage owned by the T&P's future parent company, the Missouri Pacific (MoPac), and after observing the A-1's performance, T&P executives became impressed. As a result, in June 1925, the T&P placed an order for ten copies of the A-1 to be built and delivered, but with ten driving wheels, instead of eight. They became the world's first locomotives to be constructed with a 2-10-4 wheel arrangement. The new 2-10-4s (Nos. 600-609) were classified as I-1s, and the wheel arrangement was named the "Texas" type, on behalf of the T&P. They were equipped with several design features that were identical to those on the Lima A-1, including diameter driving wheels, articulated side rods, articulated trailing trucks, and Baker valve gear.
The I-1s were equipped with cylinders and a boiler pressure of . They were able to produce of tractive effort, stretching to with the activation of their Franklin Railway Supply booster. When the T&P was satisfied with the performance of their I-1s in 1927, the railroad ordered fifteen more copies from Lima, built and delivered during the summer. These locomotives (Nos. 610-624) were classified as I-1As, since some of their design features were altered from those on the I-1s: their throttle type was changed to allow room for an ornate flange on the smokestack, and the boiler pressure was raised to . This boosted the locomotives' tractive effort to ( via booster).
The T&P ordered additional altered batches of 2-10-4s from Lima; the I-1Bs (Nos. 625-639) in the spring of 1928, the I-1Cs (Nos. 640-654) in the summer of 1928, and the I-1Ds (Nos. 655-669) in the fall of 1929. At seventy locomotives, the T&P owned the largest fleet of 2-10-4s in the United States, until the introduction of the Pennsylvania Railroad's J1 Class in the early 1940s. The only major design flaw the T&P 600s had was their poorly counterbalanced driving wheels; at , the driving wheels would lift off the rails, so the locomotives received a speed restriction to travel at lower speeds, despite their abilities to travel at higher speeds.
In 1937, John Lancaster, who anticipated the outbreak of World War II and the ensuing military traffic, ordered for all seventy of the T&P 600s to be rebuilt at the railroad's Lancaster shops in Fort Worth to fix their counterbalancing issues and to extend their speed limit to . The locomotives received new valve pilots, lightweight nickel-steel main and side rods, and disc driving wheels shipped from the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The 600s also became equipped with steam and signal line equipment for passenger service. The rebuilding process took place between December 1937 and August 1941, and their classification names received an "R".
History
Revenue service No. 610 was the first locomotive of the I-1A class, built and delivered to the T&P in June 1927, at a cost of $106,656.41. No. 610 was mostly assigned in revenue service to pull heavy long-distance freight trains on T&P's mainline between Texarkana and El Paso, and en route, the locomotive traveled through the cities of Marshall, Longview, Dallas, Fort Worth, Abilene, Midland and Odessa. No. 610 also regularly pulled freight trains out of Shreveport, Louisiana.
No. 610 was originally restricted to operate below because of its poorly-counterbalanced driving wheels. However, in August 1938, No. 610 was rebuilt in the Lancaster shops in Fort Worth with Baldwin disc driving wheels and lightweight nickel-steel rods to eliminate its speed restriction, and it was reclassified as an I-1AR. During World War II, No. 610 and other 600 locomotives were assigned to pull trains of military soldiers and war materials on the El Paso-Texarkana route and on the MoPac from Longview to Palestine, and beginning in 1939, they pulled trains from Fort Worth to Denison.
In 1945, John Lancaster retired from the T&P, and William G. Vollmer succeeded him as president. Under Vollmer's guidance, the railroad began to order diesel locomotives from the Electro-Motive Division (EMD) to replace their steam fleet. Having accumulated in revenue service, No. 610 was retired from the T&P in February 1950. The railroad completely dieselized its operations the following year.
First retirement In January 1951, after Fort Worth city mayor F. Edgar Deen requested to Vollmer that the T&P preserve a steam locomotive, Vollmer had No. 610 withheld from scrapping and donated to Amon G. Carter, a local publisher, art collector, and board chairman of the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show. Carter then donated No. 610 to the Southwestern Exposition, and arrangements were made to relocate the I-1AR to the exposition grounds near the Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum, with the Frisco Railway providing a spur line for the locomotive to enter the new display site. On January 27, No. 610 was put on static display at the show grounds, and a dedication ceremony was held in which the locomotive was named after humorist and commentator Will Rogers.
Following the ceremony, vandals began to remove parts from No. 610, but in 1952, Carter had a fence propped up around the locomotive for protection, and the exposition spent $500 to replace the missing parts. In 1955, No. 610 became the last remaining example of T&P's 2-10-4 fleet, since the rest of the 600 locomotives had been scrapped; I-1BR Class No. 638, which had been on static display at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas since December 1949, was scrapped after being heavily vandalized. Amon Carter died the same year, and without his protection, No. 610 was slowly tarnished by the outdoor elements in ensuing years. F. Edgar Deen also died in 1967. By 1968, both the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show and the city of Fort Worth had disavowed ownership of No. 610 as they were unable to maintain the locomotive.
Fort Worth residents feared a repeat of No. 638's scrapping, and they launched a campaign for the city to donate No. 610 to a group of railfans and experts who would be able to keep the locomotive in good condition. In April 1969, the Texas Christian University fraternity of Phi Delta Theta began to redevelop their property alongside the Will Rogers Coliseum, and in doing so, they planned to rip up the spur line that connected No. 610's display site to the national rail network.
In June 1969, local machine shop owner David F. Pearson learned that No. 610 was going to be isolated from the rail network, and he also feared the locomotive would be scrapped. He and a group of fellow railfans negotiated with the city of Fort Worth to obtain ownership of No. 610 for a token fee of $1, with the stipulation that it be moved out of the display site. No. 610 was subsequently moved to the Frisco Railway’s north side yards for temporary storage, and then it was moved again to the Fort Worth Army Depot. Dave Pearson sought to restore No. 610 to operating condition to pull excursion trains between Fort Worth and Dallas, and created a nonprofit organization called the 610 Historical Foundation to begin the project. The foundation launched a fundraising campaign to cover the initial estimated restoration cost of $10,000, and they began searching for steam locomotive experts for help.
In 1970, the 610 Foundation began negotiations with the T&P for permission to pull passenger excursions on its Dallas-Fort Worth mainline, but MoPac’s vice president-operations, E. L. Manion, declined to allow the group trackage rights, citing it would disrupt the safety and regular freight operations on the right-of-way, and all suitable facilities were unavailable. The foundation also negotiated with other railroads, including the Santa Fe and the Rock Island, for trackage rights to operate No. 610, but to no avail. During the early-mid 1970s, the 610 Foundation struggled to raise the required funds.
Renovation and American Freedom Train service In the early 1970s, the cross-country American Freedom Train was being developed to celebrate the Bicentennial of the United States, and a nationwide search for a steam locomotive for pulling the train was underway. The 610 Foundation negotiated with the AFT Foundation to allow No. 610 to pull the Freedom Train throughout Texas and possibly other parts of the southwestern United States, including New Mexico and Oklahoma. By July 1974, Don Ball, the vice president for government and business relations for the AFT Foundation, promised that No. 610 would pull the train in Texas in early 1976, on the condition that its restoration be completed in time. On August 1, a new fundraising campaign was launched. No. 610's restoration was re-estimated to cost $100,000 to complete, with $75,000 being required to be donated from Texas residents; the cost was later reportedly finalized at $300,000.
Simultaneously, Dave Pearson had become close friends with Amon G. Carter Jr., who was a local investor and Amon G. Carter's son, and he had joined the 610 Foundation and began funding the project. On February 16, 1975, No. 610 was moved to the Fort Worth Stockyard Area, where the restoration process began the following month, with assistance from the Stockyards Area restoration committee. Pearson contracted Chicago-area railfan and steam locomotive mechanic Richard Jensen to lead the restoration process. Jensen had to acquire around 3,000 new custom-made parts to replace those on No. 610, while other parts of the locomotive were cleaned and refurbished. Many donations were made to the restoration, including $435 from a Western Hills Elementary School art show, and a private $50,000 loan was made for work to continue without stoppages.