The train that this petition is about holds a dear memory on my heart as after eating ice cream by the nearby ice cream parlor (Kelly’s Ice Cream) past a trail where railroad tracks use to be sit’s a old packaging warehouse, where a dear old locomotive sits along with 2 boxcars from the “Fruit Growers Express” .Now what is impressive about this locomotive is the fact that it’s Turing 100 years old in 2027! So as an early birthday present for this special locomotive, I think it is deserving of a fix up & wash down with a new coat of paint to go with it. Nothing much needs fixing but it should be fixed to working order as long with the original track bed that it use to run on. And here is this locomotive story:

This 0-4-0 tank locomotive was built by the Cooke Locomotive Works in 1927 (CN: 66305). It was sold new to the General Portland Cement Co. in Brooksville, FL. From Brooksville it was acquired by Dr. Albert Folds of Marianna, FL along with an 0-6-0T. Somewhere along the way I have been told that it was owned my Mammouth Sound, although I do not know this to be true. Both locomotives were stored in Green Cove Springs, FL for several years. The 0-4-0T was once displayed at the SR Depot in Apopka. The 0-6-0T was last known to be at North American Tank Car Co. in San Antonio, TX. Dick Perkins bought the 0-4-0T and moved it to Oviedo by truck where it was rebuilt to operating condition. It remained in operating condition for several years and was operated frequently. Its last significant operation under steam was to Winter Garden, FL and return via Sanford on the Seaboard System (CSX). The locomotive last ran in 1984. Dick donated the locomotive to the NRHS in Jacksonville along with the former Fruit Growers Express refrigerator cars. Through a mix-up of dates, the branch line track through Oviedo was cut and pulled prior to the equipment being moved out by rail. There is a sister locomotive located at the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Ohio. They are three numbers apart off the assembly line.

This 0-4-0T is currently owned by Arthur Evans and sits behind an art studio called Studio-G. The two former Fruit Growers Express refrigerator cars parked in front of it that have been converted into studios of some sort. Both cars are lettered: "Antigua Pool Co., Inc." Sometime in the mid-1990s the right-of-way next to this locomotive was converted into a bike trail. It looks like the 0-4-0T recently received a paint job. I have been told that the 0-4-0T in Jacksonville is also its sister. I have also been told that Arthur Evans wishes to display this locomotive at the old Nelson Packing House.