Great Northern Railway 1355 is a

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

steam railway locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomoti ...

built by

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

in 1909 for the Great Northern Railway in the United States. It was built as a

4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abse ...

, Ten-Wheeler, type, but it had an extensive rebuild in 1924 when it became a

4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomotiv ...

, Pacific, type. During its career, it pulled both freight and passenger trains, including the Great Northern's crack Empire Builder and

Oriental Limited The ''Oriental Limited'' was a named passenger train that ran between Chicago, Illinois and Seattle, Washington. The train was operated by the Great Northern Railway between St. Paul, Minnesota and Seattle, Washington, and by the Chicago, Bur ...

. It was built as one of 25 class E14 Ten-Wheelers and passed its inspections at the GN's Dale Street Shops in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

on November 19, 1909. It spent its first ten years near Hillyard, Washington and then in 1919, was sent to Spokane, both in passenger service. On February 19, 1924, it returned to the Dale Street Shops for a major rebuild. It's not clear whether this was actually a rebuild or virtually a new engine. New parts included a Belpaire firebox, longer boiler, type A

superheater A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There ar ...

, new solid leading wheels, a Delta trailing truck which made it a 4-6-2, new brakes, and one of its four conversions between oil and coal fuel. It left the shop on May 29 and was sent to the Willmar, Minnesota division for passenger work. The following January, it was back in the shop to receive a booster engine on its trailing truck. This was removed in 1929. It was renumbered again, to 1355, in April 1926 and converted from coal to oil. It was then dispatched to the

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the ...

division, where it principally handled the Oriental Limited. It spent the last two years of its working life, 1953–55, hauling iron ore on the Mesabi Range until its retirement in 1955. In late 1954, the city of Sioux City, Iowa asked the Great Northern for a steam locomotive. Sioux City was at very southern end of the GN's operations and in July, 1955, 1355 was delivered to the city. In 1995, the locomotive was moved to the former Milwaukee Road Shops and Roundhouse, where it has undergone extensive cosmetic restoration. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 as Great Northern Railway Steam Locomotive No. 1355 and Tender 1451.

References

{{NRHP in Woodbury County, Iowa Great Northern Railway (U.S.) Railway locomotives introduced in 1909 Railway locomotives on the National Register of Historic Places 4-6-2 locomotives 4-6-0 locomotives Baldwin locomotives Passenger locomotives Individual locomotives of the United States

1355 Year 1355 ( MCCCLV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events * January 6 – Charles IV of Bohemia is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Italy in Milan. ...

National Register of Historic Places in Sioux City, Iowa Woodbury County, Iowa Rail transportation on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Preserved steam locomotives of Iowa