Ship to Canada
Ship to USA
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| Mike Bennett's Southern Pacific puzzle assembled by Elmer Prather |
Southern Pacific 4449, also known as the "Daylight", is one of only two GS-class locomotives surviving, the other being GS-6 4460 at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. I have seen this locomotive at the Museum of Transportation. GS is abbreviated from "Golden State", a nickname for California (where the locomotive was operated in regular service), or "General Service".
The locomotive was built by Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio, for SP in May 1941. No. 4449 was retired from revenue service in 1956 and put in storage. In 1958, the SP donated the locomotive to the City of Portland, Oregon. In 1974 the locomotive was restored to operation. The engine has operated in excursion service throughout that area since 1984.
I have had the pleasure of riding several different steam engines in my life. My favorite and longest steam engine ride was from the Terminal Station in Atlanta, Georgia to the Terminal Station in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a three hour ride. The steam engine was Norfolk and Southern Railroad engine number 611. When we got to Chattanooga, we had lunch at the restaurant in the terminal building. I have included a picture of the steam engine that took us there and back. If you will notice, the steam engine we took to Chattanooga had the same color paint configuration along its side as the engine in the puzzle.
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| Norfolk and Southern Railroad Engine Number 611 |
Before and during our trip I spoke with several of the volunteers who maintained and operated this engine. I found out how much they loved and respected their engine. The Train Engineer stopped the train about half way to Chattanooga and let all of the riders off the train and backed it up several miles and then he drove the train by us at full steam. We took a lot of pictures of the train as it passed. It was amazing to see all of the people parked at some of the railroad crossings taking pictures of the train as it passed on the way up and on the way back. It appeared that a lot of people love steam engines.
Engine number 611 was used for excursions throughout the Southeastern United States for several years. These excursions stopped in 2018 when Amtrak changed the rules concerning excursion trains being on their tracks. Engine number 611 is now located in the Virginia Museum of Transportation.
There are still a few steam engines running excursions in America but not very many due to the cost of maintaining the equipment and regulations. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to ride as many of them as I did. Those steam engine rides are fond memories for me.
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| Southern Pacific 1000 piece puzzle by Mike Bennett |