The ''Olomana'' is a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

locomotive 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 ...

in 1883 for the Waimanalo Sugar Company in Hawaii. It is currently in the

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is a railroad museum in Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The museum is located on the east side of Strasburg along Pennsylvania Route 741. It is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Mus ...

, on loan from the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

. It was the third self-propelled vehicle to operate in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

History

The ''Olomana'' arrived in the

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent islan ...

in August 1883, after a two-month journey sailing around

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

. It was owned by the Waimanalo Sugar Company on the island of

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O ...

, and hauled

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...

from the fields to the

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

. The ''Olomana'' was operated by a lone engineer and ran at an average speed of on sets of prefabricated, gauge railroad tracks that could be taken apart and reassembled at a different location. Originally burning coal, the ''Olomana'' was converted to run on oil in 1928. Dried cane was tried, but it left hard-to-remove residue inside the engine. The ''Olomana'' and two similar locomotives were replaced by trucks and retired in 1944. The locomotive was bought by

Gerald M. Best Gerald M. Best (1895–1985) was a noted railroad historian, writer, photographer, and one of the top sound engineers in the motion picture industry.. After receiving an electrical engineering degree from Cornell, Best served in the Army Signal Co ...

in 1948, who shipped it back to the

continental United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

. The ''Olomana'' was stored at a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

backlot A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction. Uses Some movie studios build a wide variety of ...

until 1951, when Best moved it onto property owned by

Ward Kimball Ward Walrath Kimball (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002) was an American animator employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was part of Walt Disney's main team of animators, known collectively as Disney's Nine Old Men. His films have been honored ...

, who owned a small, working railroad in his backyard, called the

Grizzly Flats Railroad The Grizzly Flats Railroad (GFRR) was a 3-foot () narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge heritage railway, heritage railroad owned by Disney animator Ward Kimball at his home in San Gabriel, California. The railroad had of track, and was operated ...

. Best and Kimball restored the ''Olomana'' from 1952 to 1953. It was also converted from oil-burning to

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

, who was often invited to visit Kimball and occasionally ran the locomotive, remarked that the ''Olomana'' was "the nearest thing to a

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

engine he had ever seen." Best donated the ''Olomana'' to the Smithsonian in the

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...

in 1977. The locomotive was moved on January 23, 1999, from the American History museum to the

Arts and Industries Building The Arts and Industries Building is the second oldest (after The Castle) of the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Initially named the National Museum, it was built to provide the Smithsonian with its first proper facil ...

. The ''Olomana'' was moved, again, later the same year to the

in Strasburg,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in what was supposed to have been a temporary arrangement before it was moved to a permanent location near

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: * Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California * Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County * Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in T ...

References

External links

The ''Olomana'' in the Kingdom of Hawaii
(

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Olomana (Locomotive) 0-4-2ST locomotives Artifacts in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution Baldwin locomotives Collection of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania History of Oahu Individual locomotives of the United States Rail transportation in Hawaii 3 ft gauge locomotives Preserved steam locomotives of Pennsylvania