No. 1477 last operated in 2007 in Colorado, shown here on the Rio Grande Scenic near Alamosa.
Jim Wrinn
SUNOL, Calif. – The Pacific Locomotive Association has purchased Southern Pacific 2-6-0 No. 1744, which will be rebuilt for operation on the Niles Canyon Railway.
The 1910 Baldwin-built Mogul-type locomotive operated for many years out of Oakland on the SP Western Division and in California’s Central Valley where the type were fondly called “Valley Mallets” by their crews. The locomotive was made famous in later years by operating on several of the last steam excursions on the SP. After many years of operating around the U.S., No. 1744 is returning home to once again operate through Niles Canyon on the last leg of the Transcontinental Railroad.
After retirement in 1958, the locomotive operated at the Heber Valley Railroad in Utah, moved to Texas and was restored for a brief period of operation in New Orleans. Iowa Pacific bought the locomotive and ran it on the San Luis & Rio Grande over Colorado’s La Veta Pass in tourist service during 2007 until it was sidelined with boiler issues. The locomotive was disassembled, boiler work was started, and then work stopped as funding ran short. The locomotive has sat disassembled since 2008 with the boiler moving from Alabama to Texas and then back to Colorado during this time.
The Pacific Locomotive Association is currently in the process of gathering the pieces together in Colorado for shipment. The boiler will be sent to a contract shop for repairs while the rest of the locomotive will be shipped to Niles Canyon.
For more information, or to donate, to go to plasteam.ncry.org.
No. 1744 rounds a bend at La Veta, Colo., on the Rio Grande Scenic in 2007.
Jim Wrinn
The wife and I just notice 1744 in the Rock Hudson / Jean Simmons movie ” The Earth is Mine” 1959.
The local was the Napa Valley.
I was on a Niles Canyon photo charter last month. Good trip.
But they will be hard pressed to match the 1744 trips on the Rio Grande Scenic and one photo charter in particular. My British friends had charted a trip over La Veta pass and invited some of us Americans to participate.
I rescued Jake that morning from the British chase bus and told him I knew this place on the valley floor where there was a short grade before we boarded the train to go over the pass. The train arrived at the grade just after the sun came up over the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Earl Knoob was at the throttle and John Charles firing. They put on such a great show that Jake was ecstatic and he has seen a lot of steam around the world.
This is a great locomotive and I will pay to see it running again.
Great bunch, the Niles Canyon crew! If they say they’re going to do it, bank on it, it’ll get done.
One word, “perfect”!
Great news! From the timeline on the Niles Canyon Railway site, it looks like this ran in Utah through the 1980’s. I have fuzzy memories of rides behind steam power during that time on the Heber Creeper (a niece and nephew were born in Salt Lake City in that period and uncles need to take charge of this kind of thing), and this type looks right, somehow…