Arizona & Pacific Railroad
Former Flagstaff and Middle Verde Railroad Engine #2 Coconino
History of the Flagstaff and Middle Verde Railroad Engine #2 Coconino
Allan Herschell S-16 builder’s number 59-1866 was originally owned by Westchester County and operated at Playland Amusement Park in Rye, NY. She was shipped from the North Tonawanda, New York factory of Allan Herschell with three cars on April 9, 1959 and was only the second S-16 built. The first S-16 off of the factory floor went to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In is unclear how long our S-16 operated at Playland. By early 1991, she was owned in non-operating condition by a park train enthusiast in Ohio. In September of that year he and Malcolm Mackey reached an agreement on a purchase price and the train was headed to Arizona.
She was in very rough shape and needed a great deal of TLC. Malcolm completely disassembled and rebuilt the engine and tender when time permitted over several years. Many of the characteristic Allan Herschell parts such as the headlight casting and the pilot were missing. Malcolm took that as an opportunity to be creative and he built a pilot reminiscent of the logging railroads that once operated near his home in Flagstaff, Arizona. He found a new funeral urn that he crafted into a headlight and although he found an original Allan Herschell headlight casting years later, he had grown fond of the headlight fashioned from the urn and did not replace it. The urn headlight remains in place today.
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She once again moved under her own power, on Malcolm’s F & MV Railroad in Camp Verde, Arizona on May 31, 2000 as F & MV No. 2 the ”Coconino”. She ran on the F & MV from May of 2000 until August of 2012. She now operates on the A & P RR in Peoria, AZ.
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We would love to have photographs that might exist of this engine when she was in operation at Playland in New York.