Southern Pacific 2472 is a P-8 Class

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 locomo ...

heavy "

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

" type steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) in 1921. SP No. 2472 is one of three surviving Southern Pacific P-8 class 4-6-2 Pacific locomotives, the other two bring Nos. 2467 and 2479. The

designation means it has four leading wheels, six driving wheels, and two trailing wheels.

History

Revenue service

SP 2472 and the other "

" locomotives served the '' Overland Route'' from Ogden, Utah, to

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. On November 30, 1929, SP's Ogden shops added a

feedwater heater A feedwater heater is a power plant component used to pre-heat water delivered to a steam generating boiler. Preheating the feedwater reduces the irreversibilities involved in steam generation and therefore improves the thermodynamic efficiency of ...

to the locomotive, which increased its overall weight to . SP 2472 again underwent a rebuild at SP's Bayshore shops in

Brisbane, California Brisbane (pron. , unlike Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) is a small city located in California in the northern part of San Mateo County on the lower slopes of San Bruno Mountain. It is located on the southern border of San Francisco, on the ...

(

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Daly ...

), completed on November 26, 1940, which increased its boiler pressure to and its

tractive effort As used in mechanical engineering, the term tractive force can either refer to the total traction a vehicle exerts on a surface, or the amount of the total traction that is parallel to the direction of motion. In railway engineering, the term t ...

to . After being replaced by the

4-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This type of steam locomotive is commonly known as ...

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

" type locomotives, 2472 and all other Pacific locomotives were sent to work

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

-Oakland passenger trains and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

- San Jose commute trains, along with occasional freight service. This locomotive was retired from regular revenue service on February 7, 1957, during Southern Pacific's

dieselization Dieselisation (US: dieselization) is the process of equipping vehicles with a diesel engine or diesel engines. It can involve replacing an internal combustion engine powered by petrol (gasoline) fuel with an engine powered by diesel fuel, as o ...

, and on April 10, 1959, 2472 was donated to

, which put the unit on static display at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds, it remained there until 1976 when a group of volunteers decided to restore the locomotive.

Excursion service

Restoration work was completed on April 30, 1991 just in time to participate in ''Railfair 91'', which took place in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

on May 1 1991, it featured other famous steam locomotives, such as Southern Pacific GS-4

4-8-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type wa ...

"Northern" 4449,

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

FEF-3 4-8-4

844 __NOTOC__ Year 844 ( DCCCXLIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – Battle of Mauropotamos: A Byzantine expedition under ...

, Union Pacific

4-6-6-4 In Whyte notation, a 4-6-6-4 is a railroad steam locomotive that has four leading wheels followed by six coupled driving wheels, a second set of six driving wheels and four trailing wheels. 4-6-6-4's are commonly known as Challengers. Other eq ...

"Challenger" 3985, Union Pacific 0-6-0 4466, and British Great Northern Railway J13 0-6-0

tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...

1247. In the 1990s and early 2000s, 2472 pulled several excursions and

Caltrain Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a California commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose at Tamien station with weekday rush hour service running as fa ...

specials such as the "Toys for Tots", and double-headed on an excursion in 1992 (during the NRHS Convention) with the 4449. SP 2472 received

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail saf ...

-mandated boiler work at Hunters Point Naval Base in San Francisco, during 2005–06 when the

Golden Gate Railroad Museum The Golden Gate Railroad Museum is a non-profit railroad museum in California that is dedicated to the preservation of steam and passenger railroad equipment, as well as the interpretation of local railroad history. History The Golden Gate Railr ...

(GGRM) was located there. The GGRM and all other tenants at Hunter's Point had to leave the former navy base in 2006 due to redevelopment. The initial equipment move took place in February 2006, although an extended lease on the shop building allowed work to continue on 2472 for ten more months. On December 31, 2006, SP 2472 and the remaining pieces of GGRM rolling stock completed relocation to the

Niles Canyon Railway The Niles Canyon Railway (NCRy) is a heritage railway running on the first transcontinental railroad alignment (1866, 1869) through Niles Canyon, between Sunol and the Niles district of Fremont in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, ...

, located in Sunol, California, on the east side of San Francisco Bay. The locomotive became serviceable in February 2008, and was stored in Niles Canyon at the Brightside Yard between operations. SP 2472 has operated in Niles Canyon, usually on Memorial Day weekends and Labor Day weekends, and on other dates as announced. In Spring 2015, the Golden Gate Railroad Museum announced that they will be leaving Niles Canyon and SP 2472 would pull the last excursions in Niles Canyon on the 2015 Labor Day weekend. The relocation move of SP 2472 to the

Northwestern Pacific Railroad The Northwestern Pacific Railroad is a regional shortline railroad utilizing a stretch of the 271 mile mainline between Schellville and Windsor with freight and Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) commuter trains. Formerly, it was a reg ...

Schellville, California Schellville is an unincorporated community in Sonoma County, California, United States. Schellville was named after Theodore L. Schell, who lived on a ranch nearby. The community is located in the vicinity of the junction of California State Rout ...

started on March 1, 2020 when the P-8 Pacific-type steam locomotive, along with two former Southern Pacific Railroad diesel locomotives (both in operating condition) that belong to GGRM, were towed by two Union Pacific locomotives towards Schellville. On October 9, 2021, 2472 was fired up for the first time since 2015. It was scheduled to make its excursion return hauling Labor Day Weekend 2022 trains from September 4th through September 5th before its 15-year-overhaul begins, but the event was later canceled and the railroad had the engine fired up for an open house.

References

External links

{{Commons category
Southern Pacific P-8 No.2472
by

2472 in Niles Canyon
(DVD about the 2008 Memorial Day Weekend Excursion in Niles Canyon) 2472 Baldwin locomotives 4-6-2 locomotives Individual locomotives of the United States Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area Alameda County, California Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1921 Preserved steam locomotives of California

History

Revenue service

Excursion service

See also

References

External links