Friday Night Steam

Lots and lots of steam!!! Merry Christmas!!!

History

Southern Pacific 4449 is the only surviving example of Southern Pacific Railroad's (SP) GS-4 class of steam locomotives. The GS-4 is a streamlined 4-8-4 (Northern) type steam locomotive. GS stands for "Golden State", a nickname for California (where the locomotive was operated in regular service), or "General Service." The locomotive was built by Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio, for SP in May 1941; it received the red-and-orange "Daylight" paint scheme for the passenger trains of the same name which it hauled for most of its service career. No. 4449 was retired from revenue service in 1957 and put into storage. In 1958 it was donated, by the railroad, to the City of Portland who then put it on static display in Oaks Park, where it remained until 1974. It was restored to operation for use in the second American Freedom Train, which toured the 48 contiguous United States for the American Bicentennial celebrations. Since then, 4449 has been operated in excursion service throughout the continental US; its operations are currently based at the Brooklyn roundhouse in Portland, where it is maintained by a group of dedicated volunteers called Friends of SP 4449. In 1983, a poll of Trains magazine readers chose the 4449 as the most popular locomotive in the nation.

Revenue Years: 4449 was the last engine manufactured in Southern Pacific's first order of GS-4 (Golden State/General Service) locomotives. 4449 was placed into service on May 30, 1941, and spent its early career assigned to the Coast Daylight, SP's premier passenger train between San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, but it also pulled many other of the SP's named passenger trains. After the arrival of newer GS-4s and GS-5s, 4449 was assigned to Golden State Route and Sunset Route passenger trains. 4449 was re-assigned to the Coast Division in the early 1950s. One of 4449's career highlights happened on October 17, 1954, when 4449 and sister 4447 pulled a special 10-car train for the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society from Los Angeles to Owenyo, California, and return. In 1955, after being one of the last few Daylight steam engines in Daylight livery, 4449 was painted black and silver and its side skirting (a streamlining feature of the Daylight steam engines) was removed due to dieselization of the Coast Daylight in January of that year. 4449 was then assigned to Southern Pacific's San Joaquin Valley line, occasionally pulling passenger trains such as the San Joaquin Daylight between Oakland and Bakersfield as well as fast freight and helper service. 4449 was semi-retired from service on September 24, 1956, and was kept as an emergency back-up locomotive until it was officially retired on October 2, 1957, and was placed in storage along with several other GS-class engines near Southern Pacific's Bakersfield roundhouse.

On Display: In 1958, when most of the GS class engines had already been scrapped, a then black-and-silver painted 4449 was removed from storage and donated to the city of Portland, Oregon, on April 24, 1958, where it was placed on outdoor public display in Oaks Park. Since the equipment was considered obsolete, 4449 was not actively chosen for static display. It was picked simply because it was the first in the dead line and could be removed with the least number of switching moves. During its time on display, 4449 was repeatedly vandalized and had many of its parts stolen, including its builder's plates and whistle. The locomotive quickly deteriorated due to neglect. It was evaluated for restoration in 1974 after becoming a candidate to pull the American Freedom Train. Its size, power, and graceful lines made it a good fit for the Bicentennial train. After finding that 4449's bearings and rods were in good shape, it was chosen.

American Freedom Train: 4449 was removed from display on December 14, 1974, and restored at Burlington Northern's Hoyt Street roundhouse in Portland and returned to operation April 21, 1975, wearing a special paint scheme of red, white, and blue. As part of the American Freedom Train, the engine pulled a display train around the most of the United States. Afterwards, 4449 pulled an Amtrak special, the Amtrak Transcontinental Steam Excursion. After nearly two years on the road, 4449 was returned to storage in Portland, this time under protective cover and not exposed to the elements.

Present Day: In 1981, SP 4449 was returned to its original "Daylight" colors for the first Railfair at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California. In 1984, 4449 pulled an all Daylight-painted train from Portland to New Orleans, Louisiana and back, to publicize the World's Fair. The 7,477-mile (12,033 km) round trip was the longest steam train excursion in US history. In 1986, 4449 went to Hollywood to appear in Tough Guys, and pulled business trains for the Southern Pacific. No. 4449 had another famous moment in 1989 when 4449 and Union Pacific 844 (another famous 4-8-4 steam engine) made a side-by-side entrance into the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal in 1989 for the station's 50th anniversary celebrations. No. 4449 returned to Railfair in Sacramento in 1991 and again in 1999. In 2000, 4449 was repainted black and silver for a Burlington Northern Santa Fe employee appreciation special, then was repainted into the American Freedom Train colors again in early 2002 after the events of the September 11th terrorist attacks. In 2004, the locomotive was returned to Daylight colors again, this time in its "as delivered" appearance.


from Wikipedia:

Southern Pacific 4449
SP 4449 standing idle under steam, waiting to start Christmas excursion, December 13, 2005
Specifications
Power type	Steam
Builder	Lima Locomotive Works
Serial number	7817
Build date	May 1941
Configuration	4-8-4
Gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Driver diameter	80 in (2,032 mm)
Weight on drivers	275,700 lb (125,100 kg)
Locomotive weight	475,000 lb (215,000 kg)[1]
Locomotive and tender combined weight	870,000 lb (390,000 kg)[2]
Fuel type	Bunker Oil
Cylinder size	25.5 in (650 mm) dia × 32 in (810 mm) stroke
Tractive effort	64,800 lbf (288,000 N), 78,000 lbf (350,000 N) with booster
Career
Railroad(s)	Southern Pacific
Class	GS-4
Number in class	28
Number	4449
Nicknames	"The Daylight"
First run	May 30, 1941
Retired	October 2, 1957
Restored	Removed from Oaks Park on December 14, 1974
Current owner	City of Portland, Oregon
Disposition	Currently under restoration; based in Portland, Oregon, at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center

1981-present

Along the Kootenai, west of Troy, Montana, 2009.

from Wikipedia:

In 1981, 4449 was returned to its original "Daylight" colors for the first Railfair event at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California.^[8] In 1984, 4449 pulled an all Daylight-painted train from Portland to New Orleans, Louisiana and back, to publicize the World's Fair. The 7,477-mile (12,033 km) round trip was the longest steam train excursion in US history.^[9] In 1986, 4449 went to Hollywood to appear in Tough Guys, and pulled business trains for the Southern Pacific.^[10] 4449 had a notable moment 1989 when the engine and famed 4-8-4 Union Pacific 844 made a side-by-side entrance into Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal in 1989 for the station's 50th anniversary celebration.^[11] The two locomotives then raced each other on Santa Fe's and Southern Pacific's parallel main lines through Cajon Pass,^[11] with 4449 eventually taking the lead. No. 4449 returned to Railfair in Sacramento in 1991 and again in 1999. In 2000, 4449 was repainted black and silver for a Burlington Northern Santa Fe employee appreciation special. It was painted black and silver to mark that BNSF is a freight railroad and to commemorate the days of the 4449's and other GS locomotives assigned to freight, helper, or local passenger trains.^{[citation needed]} 4449 was repainted into the previous American Freedom Train scheme again from early 2002 to 2004 after the events of the September 11th terrorist attacks.^[12] In the fall of 2004, 4449 returned to the classic Daylight paint scheme, this time in its "as delivered" appearance.
On May 18 and May 19, 2007, the engine made another appearance with UP 844 in the Pacific Northwest for the "Puget Sound Excursion", on BNSF Railway tracks from Tacoma to Everett, round-trip.

SP 4449 decked out as the Holiday Express.

On March 24, 2009, it was announced that 4449 would attend Trainfestival 2009 in Owosso, Michigan from July 23–26 with an all-day excursion planned on the 23rd and 24th and a photo runby planned for each trip. The engine was then placed on display for the rest of the event. The historic 2,500 mile move from Portland to Owosso was arranged by the Friends of the 4449, Amtrak, Steam Railroading Institute of Owosso, and the Friends of the 261. The organization of Milwaukee Road 261 lent some of their first class passenger cars, including former Milwaukee Road Super Dome #53 and Cedar Rapids Skytop Lounge for the 4449 and for the other excursion trains at the festival. The train left Portland on July 3 and returned on October 20. Future excursions are being planned to follow the locomotive's mandatory 15-year inspection and overhaul, currently (as of summer 2013) in progress.^[13]