THE OFFICIAL WEBPAGE

OF ROBERT D. WEST

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ORHF Holiday Express 2008

(NOTE: This website is NOT affiliated with ORHF or SP #4449; visit orhf.org & sp4449.com for current info)

The Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation's annual fund-raiser to raise money for a permanent home for Portland's historic locomotives and railcars is the Holiday Express in December, offering rides to the public along the Oregon Pacific Railroad from Oaks Amusement Park in Sellwood to East Portland and back and features Santa Claus for the children. The 2008 event was scheduled for December 5-7 and 12-14, and used Southern Pacific Daylight steam locomotive #4449 and passenger cars from the Friends of SP #4449, the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society and the Northwest Rail Museum.

Southern Pacific #4449

A member of the fourth type of Southern Pacific's "General Service" or "Golden State" 4-8-4 locomotives (the GS-4 Class), #4449 was built in 1941 by the Lima Locomotive Works to pull Southern Pacific's premier Daylight streamlined passenger trains in Southern California. It was replaced by diesels and retired on October 2, 1957 and donated to the City of Portland, Oregon on April 24, 1958 and placed on display at Oaks Amusement Park with SP&S #700 and Union Pacific #3203. It would be the only Daylight steam locomotive to survive (though similar Southern Pacific non-streamlined GS-6 Class 4-8-4 #4460 also survives and is on display at the National Museum of Transport in Kirkwood, Missouri, it never wore Daylight colors). While in the park, a railroad employee named Jack Holst voluntarily kept the moving parts of the three locomotives oiled until his death in 1972. This would set the stage for #4449's resurrection.

Historical Photo:

SP #4449 with SP&S #700 & UP #3203 at Oaks Park during 1964 flood (Friends of SP 4449)

In the early 1970s, as America's Bicentennial approached, Ross Rowland, Jr., with help from actor John Wayne, began planning a steam-powered museum train of American artifacts called the American Freedom Train that would travel the United States in celebration of the Bicentennial in 1976. By 1973, the project was underway, but a locomotive still had to be chosen. A number of locomotives were considered, including Union Pacific #8444, but in the end, Southern Pacific #4449 was selected to be the American Freedom Train's primary locomotive. On December 14, 1974, #4449 was removed from Oaks Park and moved to Burlington Northern's Hoyt Street Roundhouse near Union Station for restoration.

Historical Photos:

SP #4449 at Oaks Park in 1974 (Friends of SP 4449)

SP #4449 at Oaks Park in 1974 (Friends of SP 4449)

SP #4449 at Oaks Park in 1974 (Friends of SP 4449)

SP #4449 being pulled from Oaks Park to East Portland in 1974 (Friends of SP 4449)

SP #4449 being moved through the East Portland Yard in 1974 (Friends of SP 4449)

SP #4449 at the east end of the Steel Bridge in 1974 (Friends of SP 4449)

SP #4449 at Hoyt Street Yard in 1974 (Friends of SP 4449)

SP #4449 on the Hoyt Street turntable in 1974 (Friends of SP 4449)

SP #4449 on the Hoyt Street turntable in 1974 (Friends of SP 4449)

Though #4449 would actually be one of three steam locomotives that pulled the Freedom Train, it would become the most famous, at it pulled the train throughout the American Midwest and West. Former Reading Railroad #2101 (as AFT #1) was used in the east and former Texas & Pacific #610 was used in Texas. The Freedom Train opened in Wilmington, Delaware on April 1, 1975. As it was in the east, it began its tour with the AFT #1. Meanwhile, newly restored #4449's boiler is put to steam on April 18 for the first time since 1957. She moved under her own power on April 21, and was christened on May 16. She left Portland on June 20 to take over the Freedom Train in Chicago on August 4, after display stops in Sacramento and Ogden (and an unfortunate encounter with a dump truck in Nebraska). #4449 will pull the Freedom Train for the rest of its tour until it ends in Miami on December 31, 1976, except for a brief period in the fall of 1975 when the Freedom Train was pulled by diesels while #4449 was undergoing repairs, about a month in February-March 1976 when Texas & Pacific #610 pulls the Freedom Train in Texas, and four months in the summer when it is pulled on the East Coast again by AFT #1. After the Freedom Train tour, #4449 returned to Portland by pulling a series of Amtrak excursions across the South and West in April, 1977, still in its Freedom Train paint but with the "Amtrak" name added to the tender. This was known as the "Amtrak Transcontinental Steam Excursion." #4449 arrived in Portland on May 1, having visited over 30 states (many more than once) during its Freedom Train and Amtrak Excursion travels, and was placed in storage, although this time it would be stored indoors, protected from the elements

In 1981, #4449 emerged, restored to the post-WWII version of its Daylight paint (with "SOUTHERN PACIFIC " in large lettering in the orange band) to travel to Railfair at the newly-opened California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. It would retain this paint scheme for nearly 20 years (far longer than it had worn it while in regular service & even longer than the locomotive had even been IN regular service), as its travels included a trip to New Orleans to promote the 1984 World's Fair, a trip to Hollywood to be featured in the 1986 motion picture Tough Guys, a trip to Los Angeles to be a guest at the 50th Anniversary of the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal in 1989, additional trips to Sacramento for the 1991 and 1999 Railfairs, and numerous excursions in the Pacific Northwest

In 2000, #4449 had the opportunity to pull Burlington Northern Santa Fe's Employee Appreciation Special. As BNSF didn't want to have a locomotive painted for one of the predecessors of its competition, #4449 had to be painted black with white pinstripes and BNSF heralds for the trip. After the BNSF trip, the black scheme was modified to recall the all-black paint applied during World War II as a cost saving measure and to make locomotives less visible in the event of an aerial attack by the enemy. In 2002, rather than retuning to Daylight paint, #4449 returned to its American Freedom Train paint in remembrance of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In 2004, #4449 was repainted back into Daylight colors, this time the original, as-delivered version, with "SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES " spelled out in smaller letters in the upper red band. This is the paint scheme she wears today. When not in service, it is stored at the historic roundhouse at Union Pacific's Brooklyn Yard in Portland, Oregon and maintained by the Friends of SP #4449.

PNWC #600 Mount Hood

The Mount Hood, SP&S #600, was ordered from the Pullman-Standard Manufacturing Company of Chicago in September, 1946 by the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway for the Portland section of Great Northern's Empire Builder. It was delivered in February 1950. It and sister car Mount St. Helens are sleeper-lounge cars with a small kitchen and 20-seat lounge with a Farnsworth radio, six single-person roomettes and three large 2-person compartments, two of which can opened up to form a 4-person room. The Mount Hood was refurbished by Pullman in 1968 as the company's last project before exiting the sleeping car business. When the SP&S became part of Burlington Northern in 1970, the Mount Hood was assigned #1205, and it was leased by Amtrak from May 1, 1971 until early 1972. The Mount Hood logged almost 5.3 million miles between Spokane and Portland on SP&S, Burlington Northern and Amtrak passenger trains. In 1972, Burlington Northern donated the car to the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. In 1981, the Mount Hood was painted in Southern Pacific Daylight colors to accompany #4449 to the opening of the California State Railroad Museum and on the 7,477-mile 51-day excursion to the Louisiana Worlds Fair in New Orleans in 1984. It was repainted into its original colors, which it still wears today, for the 1985 AARPCO/Union Station neon sign celebration. Mount Hood's sister car Mount St. Helens still exists and is being restored by owner Michael Gelhaus in Spokane.

DLMX #1210 Plum Creek

Great Northern #1210 was built in 1951 by American Car & Foundry as a 60-seat short-distance coach for the Empire Builder. In 1977, Burlington Northern removed the coach seats and converted the car into a mobile classroom. The original overhead storage racks and light fixtures remain. In 1981, Burlington Northern sold the car to Minnesota interests who gave it the name Plum Creek. The Friends of SP #4449 purchased it in 2000.

PNWC #6200

This 56-reversible seat coach was built in 1939 by the Budd Company for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad's Silver Meteor as #6200. It later became Seaboard Coast Line #5604, and became Amtrak #5604 in 1971. It was purchased by the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society from the bankruptcy estate of the Seattle & North Coast Railroad in 1985. It was lettered for the Willamette & Pacific Railroad for a business excursion. A model of this car is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

DLMX #5659 Gordon N. Zimmerman

This car was built by American Car & Foundry in April, 1954 as Union Pacific Baggage Car #5659. It was renumbered to UP #24427 in April 1969 and to UP Maintenance of Way #904227 in 1975. It was purchased from Union Pacific by the Friends of SP #4449 in July, 1997. It initially operated without paint and wore the name Better Idea. It was later painted in Daylight colors and renamed Gordon N. Zimmerman, after a crew member who has been an active volunteer co-coordinating and selling souvenirs on every SP #4449 trip since 1981 and helping to restore 1937 Daylight car SP #3300, former UP mail car #5811, now #4449's tool car and #2901 Clackamas River, #4449's crew sleeper. The Gordon N. Zimmerman made its debut with #4449 at the ArTrain display in Hillsboro from June 29 to July 4, 2002.

PNWC #6800 Red River

This car was built by American Car & Foundry and delivered on May 13, 1950 as Great Northern #1147, a diner-observation for the St. Paul, MN to Grand Forks, ND Red River that seated 20 in the lounge and 21 in the diner. It was converted into a 68-seat coach in 1963, with reversible seats and tile flooring. It became Burlington Northern #6800 in 1970 and Amtrak #6800 in 1974. It was sold to Bill Gawzner in 1978 and then to Great Western Tours of Yreka, CA in 1980, where it was #568. The car accompanied #4449 in the 1984 Louisiana Worlds Fair Daylight. The Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society purchased it in April of 1986.

NRM #2955 James J. Gilmore

Southern Pacific streamlined Parlor/Lounge Observation Car #2955 was built by the Pullman-Standard Company in July 1941 for use on the Morning Daylight between Los Angeles & San Francisco, the same service #4449 was used in, and #4449 almost certainly pulled #2955 at some point in regular service. Later in its career #2955 was used on the Shasta Daylight between Oakland and Portland. It was converted to a 72-seat coach in 1960. Most of #2955's sister cars were rebuilt into full-dome cars by Southern Pacific's Sacramento Shops; #2955 is one of only two to remain as round-end cars. After Southern Pacific retired it, the car was acquired by the Stockton Terminal & Eastern Railroad and ended up being heavily vandalized. The car was acquired by the Northwest Rail Museum of Portland in 1988 and restored to its original Daylight colors. It is named James J. Gilmore after a volunteer who worked on the car but passed away before having the opportunity to enjoy it in excursion service. It is the only former Southern Pacific round-end observation car in remaining in service.

December 6, 2008

These photos and the video below were taken on December 6, 2008.

December 14, 2008

On Sunday, December 14, 2008, the last scheduled day of the Holiday Express, a rare snowstorm descended on Portland. Initially the Holiday Express was going to be cancelled for the day, but after some riders arrived despite the weather, two runs were made before the weather deteriorated even more and the rest of the event was cancelled for the safety of drivers, who were having difficulty on the road leading to Oaks Park, which was beginning to freeze. I braved the snow and rode the first of the two runs, and took pictures and video of the second run from the ground. This was a rare opportunity to see #4449 operating in the snow.

In addition to the steam train ride, speeder rides were also offered, but due the snow the speeders weren't running on the last day. Oregon Pacific's SamTrak caboose was also parked there for both weekends.

Here are pictures of some of the Holiday Express passenger cars in the snow at Oaks Park.

These pictures were taken from inside the James J. Gilmore round-end observation car as it led the train during the reverse move toward East Portland.

These photos were taken from the Gordon N. Zimmerman baggage car heading back to Oaks Park.

These pictures show #4449 departing Oaks Park on the second trip of the day.

The video below was filmed on December 14, 2008. All the footage aboard the train was from the first run and the footage on the ground was from the second run.

Related Links:

Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation

Friends of SP #4449

Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society

Northwest Rail Museum

Brian McCamish's Holiday Express 2008 Page

Also See:

2008 Portland Snow

Northwest Railroad Depots

Oregon Wig-Wags

Amtrak's Pinch Hitters

Lewis & Clark Explorer

Northwest Short Lines

PORTLAND PLACES - Historic Belmont Firehouse

PORTLAND PLACES - Ankeny Square & Skidmore Fountain

PORTLAND PLACES - Tom McCall Waterfront Park

PORTLAND PLACES - Pioneer Courthouse Square

PORTLAND PLACES - Willamette Shore Trolley

PORTLAND PLACES - Oregon Convention Center

PORTLAND PLACES - Willamette River Bridges

PORTLAND PLACES - Brooklyn Roundhouse

PORTLAND PLACES - Council Crest Park

PORTLAND PLACES - Golf Junction

PORTLAND PLACES - Hoyt Street Yard & Lovejoy Columns

PORTLAND PLACES - Oaks Amusement Park

PORTLAND PLACES - South Waterfront & Aerial Tram

PORTLAND PLACES - Union Station

PLACES - Milwaukie, Oregon

PLACES - Astoria, Oregon

PLACES - Oregon City, Oregon

PLACES - Lebanon, Oregon

PLACES - Antique Powerland, Brooks, Oregon

PLACES - Kelso-Longview, Washington

PLACES - Rainier, Oregon

PLACES - Salem, Oregon

All website content, including graphics and pictures are © Robert D. West unless otherwise noted.  Content is not to be used out of the context of this webpage without expressed permission.  Any opinions expressed herein are mine and are not necessarily shared by the Milwaukee School of Engineering, or anyone else.

Questions? Comments? Critiques? Corrections? Concerns? Email me at westr@msoe.edu.