TOPEKA, KS—Railroad history is in the making.

A group of area railroad and history buffs have formed the Topeka Steam Train Association, with a mission of finding long lost Santa Fe steam locomotive number 4076, which was sunk in a 1951 flood at the Kaw River in Topeka. “We are very excited to begin looking for this long lost piece of Topeka history,” a spokesperson for the TSTA said.

Locomotive 4076 is a 2-8-2 “Mikado” type steam locomotive. It was built in 1924 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for freight service on the Santa Fe Railroad. It was retired in 1950, and in 1951 was placed with several other engines destined for the scrap heap on the Santa Fe’s bridge over the Kaw to provide extra weight in preparation for flooding. On July 13, the bridge collapsed, taking all of the locomotives into the river with it. All of them were later found and stripped for parts—except for the 4076.

Once located, the group plans to raise the locomotive out of the water and move it to a warehouse owned by one of the board members. There, the 4076 will be cosmetically restored to its original 1924 appearance and evaluated for a full restoration to operational condition. “IF we are able to get the 4076 running,” the TSTA says, “we plan to upgrade it for higher speeds than it was originally designed for and run high speed excursions over the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway all throughout Kansas for everyone to enjoy.” BNSF has already donated $4 billion to the project and will provide crews and passenger cars for excursions if the engine is able to be returned to service once removed from the river.

If restoration to operation isn’t possible, the TSTA has said they will attempt putting an internal combustion engine inside of the 4076, and run low speed excursions around the City of Topeka. The TSTA says, “Whatever the outcome is, we are looking forward to giving Locomotive 4076 a new lease on life.”

Thomas, I think you got pranked.