Standing near the intersection of U.S. Highway 259 and the Texas, Oklahoma & Eastern Railroad tracks in Broken Bow is a piece of McCurtain County history: Dierks Train #227, a steam locomotive that played an important role in the region’s timber and railroad industries.
The locomotive was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in May 1927 for the Dierks Lumber and Coal Company. It was one of the company’s pair of sister locomotives, #226 and #227, and was built as a 2-8-2 “Mikado”-type locomotive. After arriving in DeQueen, Arkansas, the 227 was put to work hauling logs from the company’s logging camps to its sawmills.
The locomotive primarily operated in Arkansas until 1945, when it was transferred to Wright City, Oklahoma. From there, it hauled logs from the Clebit area to the Wright City sawmill. The Clebit Spur, a logging railroad spur built in 1914, became an important part of the area’s timber operation. When a fire destroyed the Wright City mill in the mid-1950s, the 227 also hauled logs to the Broken Bow mill during 1956 and 1957.
In 1954, following the restructuring of the Dierks Lumber and Coal Company, the locomotive was relettered for Dierks Forest, Inc. It continued working in the McCurtain County timber industry until the summer of 1963, when it made its final run from Clebit to Wright City, a 32-mile trip along the Clebit Spur. It was the last steam locomotive to operate in McCurtain County.
After its retirement, the 227 remained at Wright City until 1972, when Weyerhaeuser Company donated the locomotive to the City of Broken Bow. It was transported to Broken Bow that summer by the Texas, Oklahoma & Eastern local railway. Interestingly, Kelly Baker, who served as the locomotive’s conductor on its final run, was part of the crew that helped move the 227 to the trains long time home on South Park Drive in Broken Bow. Finally, in the summer of 2018, the 227 was moved to its current home on the Broken Bow Area Chamber lawn, which was originally Broken Bow’s train depot.
Today, Dierks Train #227 serves as a lasting reminder of the Dierks family’s lumber industry, the railroad’s role in building Broken Bow, and the generations of people who worked in McCurtain County’s timber industry. The City of Broken Bow preserves the locomotive as a historic landmark, while the Broken Bow Area Chamber of Commerce is responsible for the Train Yard.
Nearly 100 years after the locomotive’s construction, the 227 remains a visible connection to the era when railroads and timber helped shape Broken Bow and the surrounding communities.