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At last, a picture of me with the greatest lady in the world—ex-Southern Pacific 4-8-4 Northern GS-4 4449 (left). Of course, my friend Jerry had to coax me to climb up. Then we took pictures of each other taking pictures (right). The lady's currently painted in the American Freedom Train scheme she wore in 1975 and 1976. In recent years, she was dolled up in the orange-and-red livery of the Coast Daylight, the luxury passenger train she pulled from 1941 to 1956 (and for which she was built). The roundhouse volunteers showed us almost indistinguishable tape stripes under the AFT scheme, allowing the crew to repaint her back to Daylight in a day. The 4449 is now owned by the City of Portland, to whom she donated for use as a static display in a city park. |
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While I stood on the long hallowed forward steps of 4449, I just couldn't resist a photo looking backward on the running board (left). Years ago, I had an opportunity to get the same shot (looking forward) of the other operating Northern, UP's FEF 844. Jerry encouraged my upward pilgrimage for a posterity photo (right) of the famous builder's plate—Lima (Ohio) Locomotive Works N° 7817, part of their SuperPower series of high horsepower, high pressure steam locomotives. Also bolted to the smokebox are a plaque thanking the people of Portland for their 1975 donation of 4449 as an operating steam museum, and the (now cracked) plate for The Superheater Co. who made the equipment which boosts 4449's steam temperature to around 400°F, capable of exerting more force. |
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It hardly seems possible that such a high stepping classy gal as 4449 could be 61 years old. But her birthday was in 1941, and mine was in 1951, so we're both caught in the inevitable march of time. Still, I hope my keepers take such exceptional care of me that I look as good as that when I become a sextegenerian. Her silver-painted smokebox could easily have been photographed upon the Coast Daylight's inauguration in 1951, or her two-year trip around the United States celebrating our country's bicentennial. The silver-and-color striped pilot is a standout, whether in patriotic blue (left) or Daylight orange (below right). And the long panels of streamlining flanking the lady's boiler give her a racy, fast-moving appearance even when she's parked in the roundhouse (right). |
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Contrast the roundhouse photos above with these shots taken during boarding for the 1981 California State Railroad Museum special which ran northbound from Oakland, Calif., to Portland behind 4449. The lady was hostled into place on her 40th anniversary (left). As previously mentioned, the steady creepage of time has forced some concessions on my part—the hat's become a necessity on sunny days rather than the railroad affectation it was in 1981 (right); there's a solar panel (the kids' term for it) to protect; the hair isn't nearly as … ummm … excessive. |
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