New Orleans century-old steam engine must leave Ochsner land

On a sliver of land in Jefferson Parish, between packed parking lots and near a helicopter landing pad, sits a bygone mode of transportation: a steam engine.

The hulking Southern Pacific engine No. 745 has made a modest home here, on a short stretch of rail surrounded by Ochsner Medical Center's expanding Jefferson Highway campus, since 1984. Before that, it stood — regal but rusty — in Audubon Park.

The last Louisiana-built steam locomotive left in the state, it has survived the scrap heap for a century, thanks to a dedicated band of volunteers who, on a muggy weekday afternoon, were tinkering with the electrical equipment on another engine down the track.

"This is a New Orleans baby," said Ed Hennisen, a 76-year-old volunteer sporting a yellow safety vest with "745" on its back. "We'v