This great smiling giant is Union Pacific No. 4466. You are looking at the former star of our very own Sacramento Southern Railroad. This was the engine that pulled our excursion train ride until it was retired in 1999. But before its glory days here at the California State Railroad Museum, it had a much more industrial past.
UP No. 4466 was built during the 1920s, the golden age of steam. This was one of many 0-6-0 engines in service at the time. 4466 was designed as a "switcher" engine. A "switcher" is a locomotive that "builds" trains, meaning it moves rail cars in and out of a railyard to create a chain of cars, or a "train."
No. 4466 was in service for 42 years, serving the railyards of the Union Pacific system in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Grand Island, Nebraska.
Train Stats:
- Builder: Lima Locomotive Works
- Year Built: 1920
- Type: 0-6-0
- Drivers: 56 1/2 inches
- Gauge: Standard
- Boiler Pressure: 200 lbs.
- Cylinders: 21"x26"
- Fuel: Coal
- Weight: 160,000 lbs.
- Tractive Force: 34,400 lbs.
From Winter 1983 to Spring 1984 the UP No. 4466 was lovingly restored by crews at the local Southern Pacific Railroad Central Shops. Museum staff and volunteers did a thorough check of the boiler, running gear, and auxiliary appliances. New fire brick molds were created for the manufacture of brick for the fire box arch, and seventy new boiler tubes were installed. After that much needed restoration and repair, UP No. 4466 was good as new, eager and ready to run again.
On June 3, 1984 No. 4466 re-entered working service, pulling the Museum's first excursion train of the 1984 season. The engine became the backbone of the Sacramento Southern's steam passenger operations until 1999 when it was replaced by the Granite Rock #10. Maintained to FRA standards, UP 4466 was one of the few operating coal-burning steam locomotives in the western United States.
Fun Fact! These types of locomotives were nicknamed "yard goats" due to the way they bumped and butted cars around the yards.
This type of locomotive, a switcher, is built for pulling power, not speed. Its large cylinders would have quickly drained the boiler of steam at normal mainline speeds. However, this served it well for the low speeds and short, hard pulls common in switching.
Our head engineer Ilias Athanasiou, learned how to drive trains with this very locomotive!
Today, UP No. 4466 is no longer operational, but it stands proudly on display in the Museum today.