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Black Hills Central Railroad's Famous Engine #7
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Black Hills Central Railroad's Engine #7 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1919 as a 2-6-2 locomotive and turned 100 in 2019. Known as a "soaker," it was a non super-heated engine that used large amounts of water carried in its 75,000-pound tender, and that extra weight reduced the number of cars it could pull. Built originally for the Ozan-Graysonia Lumber Co. in Arkansas, it later operated on the Caddo and Choctaw Railroad, was sold in 1938 to the Prescott and Northwestern in northern Arkansas, and was acquired by Black Hills Central Railroad in 1962. It remained in service at the 1880 Train until 2012, when it was retired and placed on display. Engine #7 also became known for screen appearances in Gunsmoke-Snow Train, Walt Disney's Scandalous John, Orphan Train, and Steven Spielberg's Into the West, for which the engine, its tender car, and a vintage drover's car were craned onto trailers and trucked to New Mexico for more than a month of filming.
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