Western Pacific 94 is a 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler type steam locomotive built in 1909 by the American Locomotive Company for the

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

. It is preserved on display at the

Western Railway Museum The Western Railway Museum, in Solano County, California is located on Highway 12 between Rio Vista and Suisun. The museum is built along the former mainline of the Sacramento Northern Railway. Their collection focuses on trolleys, as it is ...

in Suisun City, California. This locomotive was the first steam locomotive to travel on the

Feather River Route The Feather River Route is a rail line that was built and operated by the Western Pacific Railroad. It was constructed between 1906 and 1909, and connects the cities of Oakland, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The line was built to compet ...

History

This locomotive has attended the Western Pacific's Golden Spike ceremony at

Keddie, California Keddie is a census-designated place in Plumas County, California, United States. The population was 66 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land. Keddie is the locati ...

, on November 1, 1909. For the 50th anniversary of the Western Pacific, it was painted with gold stripes and pulled a special train into Oakland, California. After steam ended on the Western Pacific, 94 was held for special events by the railroad, on August 22, 1960, the engine was on the point of the ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall ...

'', and also starred in the Disney movie " ''Pollyanna''," which was released the same year. After 55 years on the Western Pacific, 94 was donated to the Maritime Museum in

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 ...

in 1964, in 1966 the engine was placed in storage at Key System's Maintenance Building. In 1979, the Western Railway Museum acquired 94, and the engine was moved from Oakland to Rio Vista Junction in April of that year. By the end of 1979, the locomotive was under steam at the museum. It was used in

excursion service A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

for the Museum until 1986. As of 2023, No. 94 is on static display inside the Western Railway Museum. Due to the locomotive’s poor mechanical condition, it will likely never run under steam again.

References

External links

* * * 4-6-0 locomotives 94 ALCO locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1909 Individual locomotives of the United States Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Preserved steam locomotives of California {{steam-loco-stub