Locomotive, car at LASM to be moved to museum

• By MARSHA SHULER
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jul 15, 2009 - Page: 1B

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After three decades, the last of the train cars stationed at the museum on River Road are moving.

The locomotive steam engine and the attached, coal-hauling tender car at the Louisiana Art and Science Museum are scheduled to move this fall to Tioga, Secretary of State Jay Dardenne said Tuesday.

The locomotive is being relocated to a museum Dardenne’s office is opening later this year in the central Louisiana community.

Several of the train cars that made up the longtime exhibit at LASM were moved about 18 months ago. But the locomotive and tender car were not part of that deal.

The state’s newly approved construction program earmarked $300,000 to move and renovate the cars, Dardenne said.

Dardenne said the LASM does not have any use for the rail cars “or the money to do anything with them.”

“They contacted us to see if we were interested in the locomotive. I said if we can get the money, we will take it,” Dardenne said.

With the concurrence of city-parish officials, Dardenne said, his agency was able to tap $300,000 out of $400,000 in leftover funds from a prior appropriation for redevelopment projects. The museum will get the rest to re-landscape the area, “tying into the riverfront landscaping effort,” Dardenne said.

“It all fell together,” he said.

LASM Director Carol Gikas said the museum would donate the rail cars to the state.

“They have been here since the mid-1970s, and over time our mission has changed. It no longer fits in with our mission so it’s not a priority for our resources,” Gikas said. “The cost of renovating and maintaining is not anything we can afford.”

Gikas said the museum has been “looking for an appropriate home for them” for several years.

The cars sit on tracks on River Road between Convention Street and North Boulevard.