Pawnee Park is located near the corner of Eighth Street and the Lincoln Highway/US 30 in Columbus, NE. There are a lot of important and interesting historical items to see here, as well as fun things to do and experience.
The UP 561 locomotive is located along the US 30/Pawnee Park Road, not far from the North Branch of the Oregon Trail Memorial.
A sign near the locomotive gives its history as follows:
"HISTORY OF UNION PACIFIC STEAM LOCOMOTIVE 561
With the driving of the golden spike in 1869, the Union Pacific gained access to the riches of California via its connection to the Central Pacific Railroad. In 1881 the Union Pacific, wanting its own route to the equally resource rich Pacific Northwest, created its subsidiary, the Oregon Short Line Railroad, from Granger, Wyoming to Huntington, Oregon. From there to Portland, it operated on tracks leased from the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, which later became a Union Pacific subsidiary. Both companies were eventually absorbed into the Union Pacific.
By the turn of the 20th century the Union Pacific was headed by E. H. Harriman, under whose leadership the Union Pacific became one of the foremost railroads. He inaugurated far-reaching policies and programs of development and efficiency, the “Harriman Standards.” In 1903 these standards were first applied to an order of locomotives. The 561 is one of the first group of “Harriman Standard” locomotives, and is the sole remaining example of that first group.
561 was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in January 1904 for the Oregon Short Line and was assigned number 1011. At that time it was one of the largest and most powerful locomotives. In 1915 the Union Pacific did a renumbering of the locomotives across all of its operating divisions and 1011 became 561. 561 worked in the Pacific Northwest until the 1950s when it was reassigned to duty in Nebraska until it was retired in 1955. Remarkably, it retains its original Stevenson valve gear even though many others of this class were rebuilt with Walschaerts valve motion.
The city of Columbus made a request to the Union Pacific for display locomotive on April 20, 1955. On November 11, 1955 the 561 arrived in Columbus. It was placed on this display site in Pawnee Park on November 16, 1955 and was dedicated on November 28, 1955.
The locomotive has been painted as if it were still in service with the number “79” on the train boards, that of the branch line mixed train that ran from Columbus to Spalding in the 1950s.
[Design diagram of the 1903 Harriman Standard locomotive order]"
From RGUSRAIL.COM: (
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"Built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1906 for the Union Pacific subsidiary, the Oregon Short Line, this Consolidation type (2-8-0) locomotive was originally numbered #1101. It is one of three hundred and fifty-eight of what became known as "Harriman Common Standard" Consolidations built for the UP and its subsidiaries by Baldwin, Brooks and Schenectady from 1904 to 1910. It was renumbered #561 in 1915 and was leased to the Union Pacific in 1936.
As built, #1101 weighed 208,000 lbs, 187,000 lbs on its 57” drivers. It has a 15’ 9” driver wheelbase and engine wheelbase of 24’ 4”. With Stephenson valve gear and 22” x 30” cylinders, it had a 49.5 sq ft grate, 177 sq ft firebox and total heating surface of 3,403 sq ft. Operating at a boiler pressure of 200 psi, it delivered 43,035 lbs tractive effort.
From 1936, superheaters were fitted to all in-service C-2s. The engine weight went up to 212,800 lbs, 191,110 on the drivers. The firebox grew to 191 sq ft and total heating surface to 3,471 sq ft including 574 sq ft superheating. Tractive effort remained unchanged.
#561 was donated to the City of Columbus, NE, in 1955. It is on display in Pawnee Park on Lincoln Highway.
A number of C-2 Class locomotives have survived. You can see more on the UP #237, UP #264, UP #616 and UP #6051 pages of this website."