The No. 119 Steam Locomotive - Golden Spike National Historic Site, Promontory, Utah
N 41° 37.076 W 112° 33.097
12T E 370731 N 4608519
This steam locomotive, designed and built by O'Connor Engineering Laboratories of Costa Mesa, California, was one of two locomotives delivered to the Golden Spike National Historic Site in 1979, and is now an actual coal-burning locomotive.
Waymark Code: WM4WB2
Location: Utah, United States
Date Posted: 10/05/2008
Views: 28
There is a lot of excellent material on the web about this locomotive. The link at the bottom of this web page connects to a Wikipedia article that describes the original locomotive. The Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum at www.cprr.org is a treasure trove of information and a must-see. In particular, their account of the story behind the replicas is fascinating - (
visit link)
The locomotives are accurate in many details, although there have been some compromises. The brakes share the original design to the extent that they were only installed on the last truck of the tender. No other wheels have brakes; I spoke with one of the locomotive engineers about this who told me that stopping the locomotive was like stopping a car on an icy road. A steam-driven air brake compressor was installed on the side of the locomotive, which the original did not have; nor did it have air brakes, although those had been invented at the time. Other compromises: there is a venturi-type steam-boiler feed-water injection system that was not on the original; the original had a mechanical pump. The train crew claimed that the replica is a coal burner, like the original, and when the engine rolled down the track, there was plenty of smoke and that beautiful coal-burning smell.
The National Park Service is to be commended for going to the trouble of preserving history to this extent. While I was there, a group of Boy Scouts were being given rides on the footplate. One can only imagine how much they learned from that experience.
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