Aubrey Green and the mystery of Engine Number 9

Aubrey Green of Portland, Oregon, is trying to track down an old mystery from his childhood in Havre, the town he left in 1943 and has recently returned to on his quest.

Green is 88 years old, the child of rail worker Theodore R. Green, better known as Red, and Phyllis Green, formerly Phyllis Williams, and his search is for a mysterious locomotive that used to be stored in Havre’s old roundhouse, now long gone.

He said he remembers always noticing little Engine Number 9 stored in the northeast corner of the building, and even as a child wondered why the lonely little engine sat back there, never used, and wonders where it is now. This little mystery stuck in the back of his mind for decades until about a year ago when he decided to try and find out about that little engine.

“For some reason little Engine Number 9 never left back here,” he said pointing to his head.

Green said he always had a mind for details and his brain always seemed to record the most inconsequential things.

Indeed, he recalls the round house and old machine shop in great detail, recounting the driveshaft that ran through the latter, how workers would take off and disassemble the trains’ wheels storing them up high so they could repair the machinery underneath.

He said some details have faded but for the most part he vividly remembers the place, everything from the blacksmith’s shop to the foreman’s shack.

He said the memories are still strong even though he only saw any of this when bringing his father lunch, which he didn’t need to every day, and he’s not sure why he connected with the place like he did.

“My mind remembers this like it was my own backyard,” Green said. “Why? I don’t know. All the other relatives of my age don’t remember it. I’m the only one.”

Greene said he thinks he may have solved the first part of the mystery already, but hopes to confirm his conclusion during his visit to Havre which he hasn’t been to since 1985 during a trip with his wife.

He said he found a complete roster of every steam locomotive Great Northern Railway ever had and thinks he found the engine, and it appears to have been the first of its model manufactured by Great Northern Railway.

He said he suspects that may be why it was never used, as he’d heard that James J. Hill, who owned the railway, kept the first locomotive he owned after buying it, and he thinks he may have done the same with the first engine of this type the company made.

However, Green said, the second half of the mystery remains: Where is little Engine Number 9 now.

He said it’s entirely possible that it was scrapped, like so many others were when they were decommissioned, but if his conclusion about its lack of use is true, he said, he wonders if it may be in a museum somewhere.

Green is speaking with local historians and other institutions, including the Havre Daily News, trying to find anyone who might know where the engine went, but he hasn’t had any luck yet.

He said it may be so long ago that no one remembers, but he’s hoping he might find that little engine.

Green lives at 2103 Southeast Tacoma Street, Portland Oregon, 97202, and his phone number is 503-489-3232.