Lincoln Park in Lima is located just north of Lima Memorial Hospital and has a large railroad exhibit. The star of the show is 779, the last steam locomotive built by the Lima Locomotive Works in May of 1949.

When the 779 was built in Lima in 1949, it was the last steam locomotive the company would build. Though the Lima Locomotive Works had salesman making contact with railroads in the US and this model of steam locomotive was still listed in the LLW's catalog, the simple truth is that no more orders for steam locomotives were ever placed at the Lima Locomotive Works and, when the 779 was built in May of 1949, the LLW didn't know they were building the last one.

Another interesting fact is that on the same day the 779 was delivered to the Nickel Plate Railroad, the LLW introduced its first diesel electric locomotive.  Lima was the smallest of the three primary locomotive builders and the last to transition to diesel, so the days of the “Loco” (as people in our area knew the Lima Locomotive Works) were numbered.  Is there a point to this history – especially a spiritual point?

As the pastor of a wonderful church and congregation, I don't always have all the answers, but I am working hard on the questions!  Where is God leading, what's next for our church,  who are the leaders God is preparing for the future, are we successful by Biblical standards, is Union Chapel faithful to our mission of “pursuing passionately the reaching and discipling of people for Jesus Christ?”, and a dozen or more other questions.  I've learned that sometimes the questions generate and produce the answers!

I know the spiritual kingdom is different than a business, but I'll always wonder if a company might still be employing people and building locomotives in Lima, if in May of 1949, leaders could have seen the changes that were coming with greater clarity and let the questions produce the answers!

Pastor Mark