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El Gobernador was an American 4-10-0 steam locomotive built by Central Pacific Railroad at the railroad's Sacramento, California shops. It was the last of Central Pacific's locomotives to receive an official name and was also the only locomotive of this wheel arrangement to operate on United States rails. El Gobernador was the largest steam locomotive in the world when it was built. Its name is reminiscent of the railroad's first locomotive, Gov. Stanford , as El Gobernador is Spanish for The Governor. This locomotive is a Mastodon type. [1] [2] Confusingly, this was the unofficial name for an earlier engine, "Mastodon" No. 229, the first successful 4-8-0 ever built. Both engines looked nearly identical, except that El Gobernador was longer and had an additional pair of drivers.
El Gobernador's construction was completed in February 1883, amid much fanfare from the railroad, but it did not enter service until March 1884, just over a year later.[ citation needed ] During this time, while still in Sacramento, the gigantic engine was used as an advertising tool by the railroad, to spectacular effect. According to author Guy L. Dunscomb, the engine was kept under steam near the Central Pacific's passenger depot, where it would await the arrival of passenger trains coming in from the east. As the train arrived, El Gobernador would steam past the depot dragging a long line of empty freight cars behind it and causing quite a stir in the process. The engine would then be uncoupled and placed on adjacent trackage, where the passengers could get a good close-up look at the locomotive.[ citation needed ]
Part of the delay between construction and operation was due to the railroad's track and infrastructure of the time.[ citation needed ] It was originally designed to haul trains out of California's San Joaquin Valley via Tehachapi Loop. The locomotive was disassembled into five large subassemblies for transportation to the pass because it was thought to be too heavy for the various bridges along the route to the pass.
Operationally, the locomotive did not fare as well as was hoped due to its large cylinder size and small fire grate area (one fireman even commented in anger, "All Hell couldn't keep steam up in that engine!"[ citation needed ]). During initial shakedown runs around Sacramento, it was found, for example, that the engine's cylinders, which were originally built with innovative rotary valves, were not working properly. This necessitated casting an all-new set of cylinders with conventional slide valves and Stephenson valve gear. Central Pacific attempted to further remedy the problems in an 1885 rebuild which increased the locomotive's weight to 154,400 lb (70,000 kg), with 121,600 lb (55,200 kg) on the drivers. It was during this time that coal was apparently tried as a fuel in an effort to gain better steam economy. Several photographs exist of the locomotive in the Kernville yard, its tender loaded with coal instead the usual cord wood.
In the railroad's 1891 renumbering plan, El Gobernador received road number 2050.[ citation needed ] The rebuild was not as successful as the railroad hoped and the locomotive was scrapped on July 15, 1894. After dismantling, the engine's massive boiler was used to provide steam for stationary engines in the railroad shops at Sacramento until scrapped in 1905. However, the boiler from the locomotive is likely still in existence and was used as yard embankment fill near the Sacramento River that is nearest to the old shops, now owned by the California State Railroad Museum [3]
This engine appears to have largely been a victim of impatience on the part of the railroad's president, Leland Stanford.[ citation needed ] A locomotive this size had never been constructed before and proved to be a unique engineering challenge. For example, the engine's frame alone was so large, that it had to be cast in two separate sections instead of all at once as with other locomotives built at Sacramento. As soon as master mechanic A. J. Stevens was able to figure out a part, Stanford would order it built and installed on the new engine, without giving any proper time for testing. Stanford also apparently kept the other members of The Big Four (minus Mark Hopkins, who had died several years before) in the dark about the project as well. Once, while Stanford was away, Charles Crocker came through the locomotive works on a tour of inspection and saw the partially completed El Gobernador under construction. Having not been told about the project, he angrily demanded to know what they were up to. When told by A. J. Stevens that they were attempting to build the largest engine in the world, Crocker ordered all work stopped immediately. Meanwhile, Stanford returned to find that no new work had been done on the engine and when informed of the events that transpired, Crocker's orders were countermanded in no uncertain terms.[ citation needed ]
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 to heat water in the locomotive's boiler to the point where it becomes gaseous and its volume increases 1,700 times. Functionally, it is a steam engine on wheels.
The Southern Pacific was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Company and Southern Pacific Transportation Company.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-6-2 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 4-6-2 locomotive became almost globally known as a Pacific type after a locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia was shipped across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-2 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 the Mountain type, though the New York Central Railroad used the name Mohawk for their 4-8-2s.
A 2-8-8-4 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation, has two leading wheels, two sets of eight driving wheels, and a four-wheel trailing truck. The type was generally named the Yellowstone, a name given it by the first owner, the Northern Pacific Railway, whose lines ran near Yellowstone National Park. Seventy-two Yellowstone-type locomotives were built for four U.S. railroads.
The California State Railroad Museum is a museum in the California State Parks system that interprets the role of railroads in the Western U.S.. It is located in Old Sacramento State Historic Park at 111 I Street, Sacramento, California.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, usually in a leading truck or bogie, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and no trailing wheels. In North America and in some other countries the type was usually known as the Twelve-wheeler.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, a 2-6-6-2 is a locomotive with one pair of unpowered leading wheels, followed by two sets of three pairs of powered driving wheels and one pair of trailing wheels. The wheel arrangement was principally used on Mallet-type articulated locomotives, although some tank locomotive examples were also built. A Garratt locomotive or Golwé locomotive with the same wheel arrangement is designated 2-6-0+0-6-2 since both engine units are pivoting.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-10-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, ten powered and coupled driving wheels, and no trailing wheels. Central Pacific Railroad's El Gobernador, built in 1883, was the only locomotive with this wheel arrangement to operate in the United States. The name "Mastodon" has also been applied to this type, though this nickname has also been mistakenly used for the 4-8-0 arrangement, leading to some confusion. Sources refer to the 4-8-0 as the Twelve-wheeler. Later, these locomotives were named "Super Mastodon's."
The GS-5 was a class of streamlined 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) from 1942 to 1958. A total of two were built by the Lima Locomotive Works, numbered 4458 and 4459. GS stands for "Golden State" or "General Service."
The GS-3 was a class of streamlined 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) from 1938 to 1957. A total of fourteen were built by the Lima Locomotive Works, numbered 4416 through 4429. GS stands for "Golden State" or "General Service."
Gov. Stanford is a 4-4-0 steam locomotive originally built in 1862 by Norris Locomotive Works. Following construction, it was disassembled and hauled by the ship Herald of the Morning around Cape Horn to California, then up the rivers aboard the schooner Artful Dodger, arriving in Sacramento on October 6, 1863. With a dedication ceremony that included artillery discharge, it entered service on November 9, 1863, and it was used in the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in North America by Central Pacific Railroad bearing road number 1. It was Central Pacific's first locomotive and it is named in honor of the road's first president and ex-California governor, Leland Stanford.
C. P. Huntington is a 4-2-4T steam locomotive on static display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California, USA. It is the first locomotive purchased by the Southern Pacific Railroad, carrying that railroad's number 1, and it is named after one of the Big Four who founded it.
Baldwin 60000 is an experimental steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in 1926, during the height of the railroading industry. It received its number for being the 60,000th locomotive built by Baldwin.
Mastodon was the unofficial name of the Central Pacific Railroad's number 229, the world's first successful 4-8-0 steam locomotive.
T. D. Judah was the name of a 4-2-2 steam locomotive owned by the Central Pacific Railroad. It was named in honor of the railroad's first chief engineer, Theodore Dehone Judah, who had championed and surveyed a passable route over the Sierra Nevada for the Transcontinental Railroad.
Class E6 on the Pennsylvania Railroad was the final type of 4-4-2 "Atlantic" locomotive built by the railroad, and second only to the Milwaukee Road's streamlined class A in size, speed and power. Although quickly ceding top-flight trains to the larger K4s Pacifics, the E6 remained a popular locomotive on lesser services and some lasted to the end of steam on the PRR. One, #460, called the Lindbergh Engine, is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. It was moved indoors to begin preparations for restoration on March 17, 2010. On January 10, 2011, PRR #460 was moved to the museum's restoration shop for a two- to three-year project, estimated to cost $350,000. The engine is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Central Pacific Railroad number 173 was a 4-4-0 steam locomotive built by Norris-Lancaster for the Western Pacific Railroad in 1864. After its acquisition by Central Pacific, 173 was involved in a bad wreck, lying idle for two years before undergoing a sweeping reconstruction by the line's Sacramento Shops. It subsequently became the prototype for the railroad's engines when the CP began constructing locomotives. The engine was successful, and more engines were built to 173's design.
Southern Pacific No. 1744 is a preserved American class "M-6" 2-6-0 "Mogul" type steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Southern Pacific Railroad in November 1901. Originally equipped with Vauclain compound cylinders, it was rebuilt with conventional cylinders in 1912. It operated for many years out of Oakland, California on the Southern Pacific's Western Division and in California's Central Valley where the locomotive and its classmates were fondly called “Valley Mallets” by their crews. The locomotive was made famous in later years by pulling some of the last steam excursions on the SP alongside other steam locomotives, including 4-8-4 4460. In 1959, No. 1744 was donated to the Sons of Utah Pioneers in Corinne, Utah where it remained on static display, until 1980. That year, it was restored by New London Railroad and Village Incorporated to operate on the Heber Valley Railroad in Heber City for the rest of the decade.
The Southern Pacific Class T-1 is a class of 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" steam locomotives built by the Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works and the Schenectady Locomotive Works for the Southern Pacific Railroad.