Louisiana & Arkansas Railway #509 was built in 1913 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works as #403, one of six Ten Wheeler type (4-6-0) locomotives delivered that year (#400-#405).
The engine weighs 179,000 lbs, 139,750 lbs on its 57” drivers. The driver wheelbase is 14’ 10”, the engine wheelbase 25’ 6”. It is equipped with Walschaert valve gear and has 20” x 28” cylinders. The grate is 34.2 sq ft, the firebox 200 sq ft and, with a total heating surface of 2,901, they delivered 36,827 lbs tractive effort. The tender was 149,100 lbs in weight with a capacity of 7,000 gallons of water and 12 tons of coal. All six were rebuilt between 1927 and 1931 with 22" cylinders and renumbered #506-#511. #509 was converted to an oil burner at Minden, LA, in 1928.
The Louisiana & Arkansas was incorporated in 1898 to acquire former logging railroad properties in Arkansas and Louisiana. Its main line ran three hundred and thirty-two miles from Hope, AR, to Shreveport and New Orleans, LA. Branch lines served Vidalia, LA, and Dallas, TX. The identity of the L&A disappeared in the 1950s and 1960s, as the Kansas City Southern name was adopted for all properties.
In 1945, #509 was sold to the Louisiana Midland Railway in Jena, LA, set up to take over the branch line from Packton to Vidalia, LA, that the L&A planned to close.
At some point, #509 was sold to the South Shore Railway Co., in Jackson, LA, and then went through nine different owners before being bought by the Friends of the Cookeville Depot Museum in 2002. It was rebuilt to match the fleet of Baldwin 4-6-0s operated by the Tennessee Central Railway Company and is on display as Tennessee Central #509 at the Cookeville Depot.
