Southern Pacific “Daylight” No. 4449 will lead a series of brief excursions on Aug. 28 from its home at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center in Portland to nearby Oaks Park along the Oregon Pacific’s former Portland Traction Co. trackage. The trips are part of the 35th annual National Garden Railroad Convention being held in Portland this week.
On Friday, the locomotive is expected to lead another short trip for members of the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, the group that maintains the facility that houses No. 4449 and Portland’s two other steamers, Spokane, Portland & Seattle 4-8-4 No. 700 and Oregon Railroad & Navigation Co. 4-6-2 No. 197.
This week’s trips are taking place on the same route used for the annual Holiday Express excursions.
This week’s outings on the Oregon Pacific are expected to be the only time to see the 4-8-4 run before the annual Holiday Express runs later this year. SP No. 4449 last led a public main line excursion in June 2017 with a run to Bend, Ore. via the Columbia River Gorge and the Deschutes River Canyon. In 2018, it made a surprise appearance on BNSF Railway’s Fallbridge Subdivision to shoot scenes for an upcoming IMAX film.
I would love to see the SP 4449 back in California on former Southern Pacific rails, but I can tell that is very unlikely.