No. 4449
Southern Pacific No. 4449 steams through Libby on Monday. Photo by Kootenai Valley Record.
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Steam train brings back memories
by Kootenai Valley Record
October 23, 2009
The return of Southern Pacific No. 4449 on Monday was something Ted Hardgrove of Libby wasn’t going to miss.
As a boy in the 1940s, Hardgrove rode in opulent style behind the streamlined steam locomotive as it traveled the route between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
"I remember the train being very impressive even then," Hardgrove said.
The summer when he was 13, in 1943, Hardgrove boarded the train at the Palo Alto station and rode south to Los Angeles to meet relatives who lived in Redondo Beach. He made the same trip again, on the same train, the following summer.
"I was quite impressed by the service," he said. "The white damask table cloths and the crystal and all the stuff in the dining car."
Hardgrove said he immediately recognized the train’s distinctive orange and black color scheme when he saw a photo in the paper, taken on July 4 as it passed through Lincoln County on its way to a train festival in Michigan. The train passed through the area again Monday morning on its return trip to Portland, Ore., where it and several other historic steam and diesel locomotives are maintained by volunteers at a Union Pacific roundhouse.
No. 4449 is the last remaining operable streamlined steam locomotive of the Art Deco era. Built in 1941, the engine was capable of applying 5,500 horsepower to the rails and exceeding 100 mph. During the 1940s it pulled Southern Pacific "Daylight" coaches from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
The locomotive was retired in1958 and put on static display until it was selected in 1974 to pull the American Freedom Train on a three-year run throughout the United States. It has made several other trips over the years, including a 1984 journey from Portland to New Orleans to publicize the World’s Fair, setting a record for the longest steam train excursion in U.S. history.
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Editor’s Note: See the October 20, 2009 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, on Tuesdays, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
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