Steam & Excursion > SP #4449 Being Readied For Display Portland, OR 1958!

We all have the City Of Portland, Oregon to thank for asking Southern Pacific for a "large engine" for display in 1958 The City planned to display locomotives of all 3 railroads that served the City over the years.

The call went out to SP in early April 1958 and the railroad responded by pulling the first engine they came across in the deadline at Bakersfield, CA in the form of SP #4449. Doyle says that roller bearing #4458 was right behind 4449 in the deadline, but it was decided that switching out a roller bearing engine for simply display was not worth the effort. DANG!

Here are a pair of rare images taken in late April 1958 at SP's Brooklyn Roundhouse showing #4449 just arrived from California being spruced up for her display at Oaks Park that would fortunately last only 16 years before she would be removed for service on the American Freedom Train. The rest, as they say is history.

For now, let's wonder if the crew working on this dead and skirtless GS-4 Daylight had any idea that they were in fact preparing a type of time capsule that would be opened in a few years to show future generations what a thrill it is to see a super-power steam locomotive at speed.


Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/13 13:49 by LoggerHogger.

---

---

Great shots, Martin! I've never seen any of the '49's arrival at Brooklyn before. Yeah, if only those guys knew...

Thanks for those great photos, Martin!
In had no idea that a GS-5 was that close
to being saved. Sigh.....
But the 4449 has served admirably -- and,
really far more than admirably all these
years. What a locomotive!!!

Great story! Thanks for sharing. 4458 would of been nice to have but 4449 makes all of us proud to have her.

Long live the Espee

sphauler

Looks great without the skirts

The buildings that several folks have asked me about in these photos are the backshops that still stood in 1958.

Martin

I've asked this before, but I'll try again. Does anyone have any pictures of that deadline in Bakersfield? Thanks in advance.

This would have been less than three years since SP 4-10-2 #5021 was the last steam locomotive to depart Brooklyn yard in active service in October 1955. There must have been plenty of crews in Brooklyn that passed by the #4449 that day who would have liked to have fired her up for a run down the valley.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/13 17:55 by haneckow.

ddg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Looks great without the skirts

Don't we all love a pretty girl who "looks great .....!"

4449 surely fills the bill.

-john

Have you ever seen the photos of the SP 4449 when she is leaving the park for restoration? She really looks in bad shape but I thought those photos were great to see. Hard to find photos of the park locomotives in the 60's and 70's.

Posted this before. 1968, and I thought to my young self "How sad I never will see anything like this in operation"...

~ BZ

---

Where was the above photo taken?

The color photo shows 4449 on her display site in Oaks Park in Portland, OR.

Martin

Notch16 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Posted this before. 1968, and I thought to my
> young self "How sad I never will see anything like
> this in operation"...
>
> ~ BZ


I know what you mean. That's what I said about the 3751 back in the 1970s. Boy, was I wrong and I'm glad I was.

JDE

Awesome photo of the SP 4449! She sure does look spooky. I wish I could have taken some night photos when she looked like that. They would be pure gold now days. Very rare to find any photos of the old girl on park display. Even more rare is to find the SP&S 700 on display in the park. I even talked to Doyle and asked him if he knew where any photos were of the two steam engines when they sat in parks, and he said he didn't know of any.

Here is a photo I dug up from my collection of the SP&S 700 in Oaks park. Date and photographer are unknown.

---

Anyone else notice someone's sense of nostalgia when they put "99" in her train indicator boards? I bet the guys doing the work really had great pride in what they were doing getting her ready to display. It also looks like they didn't cut her piston rods, which is surprising. Can anyone confirm this? Perhaps someone who as involved in the AFT restoration?

They rods on 4460 were cut prior to her long dead in train tow. I know its much further than the 49 went, but from Bakersfield to Portland still isn't just a stroll in the park.

4449's piston rods were not cut when she was shipped to Portland. The main rods were dropped and then reattached when the engine got to Portland.

Martin

Thanks Martin,

I wonder why the difference in practice between when they shipped the 49 and the 60. Different roundhouses or foremen? Does dropping the rods put a really low speed restriction on a locomotive as I would imagine the wheels would be far out of balance without the additional weight of the main rods to offset the counterweight. I beleive this is also how the C&O 614 was transported to its current display location.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/13 16:32 by PhillipJohnson.

Phil,

Any time you had a dead in tow steam locomotive the orders were to travel at restricted speeds. Even when engines had messengers on board to lubricate the engine, the orders were still to travel at restricted speeds.

When the Shay I work on Shay, the Mount Emily Shay #1, was towed by the UP from LaGrande, OR to Portland Oregon (about 200 miles) the lineshafts were left connected (!) and the engine towed at 10 mile per hour the whole way. Yes, there was a courier along to keep her lubed. Now THAT is a SLOW train!

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/13 05:40 by LoggerHogger.