Revenue service
No. 19 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) in April 1915 as Caddo and Choctaw Railroad (C&CRR) No. 4. It was Baldwin's 42,000th locomotive produced. [1] [3] [2] The locomotive was also christened with the name of "R.L Rowan"; an engineer on the railroad. [1] In the early 1920s, No. 4 was sold to the Choctaw River Lumber Company while still retaining its No. 4. [2] The engine worked in Arkansas until 1920, when the locomotive was sold off to the United States Smelting, Refining and Mining Company, based out of Boston, Massachusetts, there it was renumbered to No. 2069 and worked hauling lead ore from the mine to the smelter yard. [1] [2] [4]
The engine was then sent to Pachuca, Mexico, a silver rich region northeast of Mexico City. [1] The locomotive was repainted and re-lettered "Cia de Real del Monte y Pachuca" as their No. 105. [2] Around the time that the engine was sent to Mexico, it was apparently converted to burn oil instead of coal. [1] It was also while the engine was in Mexico that it got its nickname, "Pancho". [2]
After a four-year stint in Mexico, No. 105 was again sold to the McCloud River Railroad (MCR) in Northern California, which renumbered it to No. 19 as they had an identical locomotive to No. 19, No. 18. [2] It was also revealed that when the crews in McCloud, California, were fixing and repainting the locomotive in 1920, bullet holes were discovered in the locomotive's cab and exterior. [3] The engine worked in regular service on the McCloud River Railroad until purchased by the Yreka Western Railroad (YW) three decades later in 1953, when the railroad began acquiring diesel locomotives. [5] [6] [3] [2] [4]
Excursion service
After its retirement from freight service, the railroad decided to tap into the steam excursion potential and in 1956, took both Numbers 18 and 19 for excursions between Yreka and Montague. [6] [4] In 1958, No. 19 was replaced by diesel locomotives again, but still continued in excursion service. [4] On June 9, 1962, No. 19 ran a long doubleheader excursion train with recently restored McCloud Railway 25, from McCloud to Pondosa and return. [6] It continued to haul excursion trains for YW until 1970, when it was put into storage. [4] That same year while still owned by YW, No. 19 was leased for summertime excursion service in Oregon on the Oregon, Pacific, and Eastern Railway (OPE) of Cottage Grove, Oregon. [7] [4] In 1988, the OP&E was abandoned and No. 19 returned to the Yreka Western. [1] [3] [2]
Upon returning to Yreka Western, the railroad began excursion operations again in the summer of 1986 and in 1989, No. 19 would become the primary motive power again for the railroad. [4] In April 1994, No. 19 returned to McCloud, California, to operate on the McCloud Railway (MR). [3] [2] No. 19 returned to Yreka and operated on the railroad until November 2008, when the engine was taken out of service. [5] [3] [2] However, that would be the last time No. 19 operated on the Yreka Western as the railroad ceased operations that same year. [8] [5] [3] [2]
In 2016, No. 19 was seized by the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office. [3] [2] In October, it was sold at auction to the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio for $400,000. [1] [3] [2] [8] It eventually arrived on property on June 2, 2017. [9] In 2020, restoration work officially began to return the engine to operational condition. [10] On October 11, 2025, it was confirmed that No. 19's restoration is near completion and it was announced that No. 19 will return to steam on April 9, 2026 for a three day grand steam christening event. [11]
