Began auctioning its equipment and materials
Though its wheels remain motionless, the rust never forms on Two Spot.
Two Spot is a Baldwin 2-8-0 locomotive that sits on a section of display track in downtown Flagstaff along Old Route 66 just east of the train depot. Born in 1911 as No. 25 in Pennsylvania, the steam locomotive got its nickname after the water bags that hung below its engineer windows steadily wore off paint, leaving a spot where the 5 was next to the 2.
The Arizona Lumber and Timber Company bought the locomotive in 1917, and it remained in Flagstaff its entire working life. It now stands as a memory of the timber workers and Flagstaff’s logging days. After having eight different owners, the engine was retired in 1966, resting on the property of Stone Forest Industry, the last lumber company to operate in Flagstaff. The company closed its doors in 1993, and the company began auctioning its equipment and materials.
In 1999, thanks to Flagstaff train enthusiast and historian and essayist Malcolm Mackey, Two Spot was placed downtown to remain intact for all travelers coming through town to view. But acquiring Two Spot was an arduous task, and Two Spot almost found itself sitting in Oregon, which didn’t put up the money in time. Mackey, who wrote a book detailing the efforts to keep the train in town, said he was one of a group who put up $10,000 to buy the engine for about $45,000.