| Bisso Towboat Co. 0-6-0 number 2 still wore the lettering of its previous owner, the Texas Pacific-Missouri Pacific Terminal Railroad of New Orleans (TPMPT), when it was photographed in 1980. The loco – and its sibling No. 1 – had been built by Alco-Richmond in June 1907 (42928-42929) as Trinity & Brazos Valley 75 and 76, for use at Galveston; but following the T&BV’s bankruptcy in 1914, the railroad lost its access to Galveston from Fort Worth over the Santa Fe and the two switchers became redundant. The City of Houston bought the two locomotives via the Barry Equipment Co. in 1917 and they arrived on 31 March lettered Houston Municipal 1 and 2. They were leased to the International & Great Northern from March 1918 until October 1921, and were sold to Grant Locomotive and Car Works [of Houston] in1922. They subsequently moved to the TP-MPT where they retained their previous numbers. In early 1948 the TP-MPT received four Alco S2 diesels, and the 0-6-0’s were sold to Bisso by August 1949. Besides operating coal-burning towboats and ferries, Bisso also provided coal for other vessels and used its locos to move hopper cars from a 2-track yard along the New Orleans Public Belt then up the Mississippi River levee to its coal-handling facility along the river. Bisso’s coaling operation ended around 1955, and with it, the need for any locomotives. No. 1 disappeared, and was probably scrapped; but No. 2 remained on Bisso property until 2010, when it was donated to the Louisiana Railway Heritage Trust. |