History of Dierks Train #227
The little logging mike that sets at Broken Bow, OK next to the crossing of the TO&E R.R. and highway 259 was the last steam locomotive to operate in McMcurtain county.
It made its final run in the summer of 1963 from Clebit, OK to Wright City, OK. a 32 mile trip on spur #1 of the Dierks Forest Inc. logging railroad. The spur was known locally as the Clebit Spur, it was a logging spur built off of the TO&E mainline in 1914 and the last spur taken up in 1972.
The 227 begin it’s life at the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA. When it was finished in May of 1927 it was one of the last 4-8-4 Mikado type locomotives built in Philadelphia because that plant was shut down in June of 1928.
The 227 and it’s sister engine 226 were built for the Dierks Lumber and Coal Co. and were lettered DL^CCo. Arrived in DeQueen, AR in June of 1927 in a Kansas City Southern train and set out on the connecting track north of the D&E depot.
They were taken from there to the D&E shops where they were inspectd and serviced. The 227 went to work hauling logs from a new logging campo on the Saline river north of Dierks, AR called Harper Springs Camp to the sawmill in Dierks.
