This is one of four Class 500 Ten Wheeler
(4-6-0) type locomotives built for the
Louisiana & Arkansas Railroad by Baldwin in 1920 (#502-#505). Two of the class had already been supplied by Baldwin in 1916 (#500-#501). These were the only superheated locomotives on the L&A, and amongst the largest Ten Wheelers built in North America at the time.
The L&A was formed in 1897 when William Edenborn, a wire and steel magnate, built a railroad from Shreveport to New Orleans, LA. The connection across east Texas from Jefferson to McKinney, TX, came in 1923
and branch lines served Vidalia, LA, and Dallas, TX.
The Kansas City Southern acquired control of the L&A in 1939, but operated it as a separate entity until 1992, although the identity gradually disappeared in the 1950s and 1960s as the KCS name was adopted for all its properties.
#503 is equipped with Southern valve gear and
22" x 28" cylinders. It has an engine wheelbase of 25' 6" and driver wheelbase of 14' 10" and weighed 194,000 lbs, 153,000 lbs on its 57" drivers. With a 34.4 sq ft grate and 200 sq ft firebox, it had a total heating surface of 2,997 sq ft, including 548 sq ft superheating.
Operating at a boiler pressure of 200 psi, #503 delivered 40,418 lbs tractive effort. The tender weighs 143,300 lbs light and has a capacity of 7,000 gallons of water and 14 tons of coal.
#501 was scrapped in 1947, #500 in 1948. The Louisiana Midland picked up #503 in 1948, and the Texas & Northern #502 in 1949. #504 was bought by the Texas Southeastern in 1950, and #505 was scrapped in 1953. #503 transferred to the LM's sister company, the South Shore Railway at Jackson, LA, in 1950. When, in 1957, Port Arthur expressed an interest in obtaining a steam engine for display, the Kansas City Southern bought #503 from the South Shore and sold it to the City of Port Arthur for $1. The Lions Club of Port Arthur sponsored restoration. It is on display in Bryan Park and, although lettered KCS #503, it never operated as a KCS engine.
