Revenue service

No. 4449 was the last steam engine manufactured in Southern Pacific's first order of GS-4 (Golden State/General Service) locomotives. No. 4449 was placed into service on May 30, 1941, and spent its early career assigned to the Coast Daylight, Southern Pacific's premier passenger train between San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, but it also pulled many other of the SP's named passenger trains.

After the arrival of newer GS-4s and GS-5s, No. 4449 was assigned to Golden State Route and Sunset Route passenger trains. 4449 was reassigned to the Coast Division in the early 1950s.

One of 4449's career highlights occurred on October 17, 1954, when SP 4449 and sister Southern Pacific 4447 pulled a special 10-car train for the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society from Los Angeles to Owenyo, California, and return. In late 1955, after being one of the last few Daylight steam engines in Daylight livery, No. 4449 was painted black and silver and its side skirting (a streamlining feature of the Daylight steam engines) was removed, as no longer needed due to dieselization of the Coast Daylight in January of that year.

No. 4449 was then assigned to Southern Pacific's San Joaquin Valley line, occasionally pulling passenger trains such as the San Joaquin Daylight between Oakland and Bakersfield as well as fast freight and helper service.^[4] No. 4449 was semi-retired from service on September 24, 1956, and was kept as an emergency back-up locomotive until it was officially retired on October 2, 1957, and was stored along with several other GS-class engines at Southern Pacific's Bakersfield roundhouse.

On display

In 1958, when most of the GS class engines had already been scrapped, the then black-and-silver painted No. 4449 was removed from storage and donated on April 24, 1958, to the City of Portland, Oregon,^[3][5] where it was placed on outdoor public display near Oaks Park.^[6] No. 4449 was not specifically chosen for static display, rather, it was picked only because it was one of the desired 4000 series locomotives and the first in the dead line and could be removed with the fewest switching moves.^{[citation needed]}

While on display at City of Portland's Oaks Pioneer Park, No. 4449 was repeatedly vandalized and had many of its external parts stolen,^[7] including its builder's plates and whistle. As a result, the locomotive quickly deteriorated. However, Jack Holst, a Southern Pacific employee and member of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, looked after SP No. 4449 along with two other steam locomotives, Spokane, Portland and Seattle 700 and Oregon Railroad and Navigation 197. Holst kept the engines' bearings and rods oiled in case they were ever to move again. Holst passed away in 1972 and sadly did not get to see his efforts come to fruition with No. 4449 returning to operation three years later in the spring of 1975.^[8]

American Freedom Train

In 1974, No. 4449 was evaluated for restoration after becoming a candidate to pull the American Freedom Train, as its size, power and streamlining made it a good fit for that Bicentennial train. After the evaluators determined that 4449's bearings and rods remained in good condition, they selected the locomotive for that task.

No. 4449 was removed from display on December 13, 1974, and restored at the Burlington Northern Railroad's Hoyt Street roundhouse in Portland. The locomotive returned to operation on April 21, 1975, wearing a special paint scheme of red, white and blue.^[9]

Because the original whistle had been stolen, two replacement whistles were fitted to the locomotive: a Hancock 3 chime from a Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway Challenger on the driver's side, and a second Hancock 3 Chime off of another Daylight Locomotive, on the fireman's side.^[10] The latter would eventually be swapped out for a Southern Pacific 6 Chime. Both whistles used on the fireman's side came from private collectors.

As part of the 1975-1976 bicentennial American Freedom Train, No. 4449 pulled the display train through most of the contiguous United States.^[9][11] The 4449 only pulled the Freedom Train in the Western portions of the country, whereas in the Eastern portions of the train were pulled by Reading 2101, which had recently been restored by Ross Rowland, and in Texas the train was pulled by Texas and Pacific 610. The 4449 pulled the American Freedom train for a total of 82 of 138 stops for the bicentennial event.

After the Freedom Tour ended, No. 4449 pulled an Amtrak special, the Amtrak Transcontinental Steam Excursion during 1977. After nearly two years on the road, 4449 was returned to storage in Portland, this time under protective cover and not exposed to the elements.^[12]

1980s

In 1981, SP 4449 was returned to its original "Daylight" colors for Railfair '81 and the opening of the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California, along with UP 8444 and UP 3985.^[12] Prior to this trip, a Southern Pacific 6 chime whistle from a Cab forward type locomotive was mounted on the fireman's side and would remain on the locomotive throughout most trips in the 1980s. In 1984, 4449 pulled an all-Daylight-painted train from Portland via Los Angeles to New Orleans, Louisiana and back, to publicize the World's Fair, with UP 8444 there too. The 7,477-mile (12,033 km) round trip was the longest steam train excursion in the history of the United States.^[13] However, this trip was not flawless. On June 11, No. 4449 was approaching Del Rio, Texas, still on its way to New Orleans, when the retention plate that holds the draw-bar pin in place somehow disconnected and fell in between the ties, allowing the tender and the entire consist to uncouple, while the locomotive accelerated all by itself. Fortunately, Doyle noticed this after checking the rear-view mirror and quickly applied the brakes. The locomotive backed-up, the fallen parts were recovered, the connections were quickly repaired, and No. 4449 and its consist proceeded to run only slightly behind schedule.^[14]

In 1986, No. 4449 went to Hollywood to appear in Tough Guys and pulled business trains for the Southern Pacific.^[15] 4449 had a notable moment in 1989 when it and another famed locomotive, Union Pacific 844, made a side-by-side entrance into Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal in 1989 for the station's 50th-anniversary celebrations.^[16] The two locomotives then ran side by side on Santa Fe's and Southern Pacific's parallel main lines through Cajon Pass,^[16] although 4449 eventually had to stop due to an axle hot box.

Sometime between May and July 1989, the No. 4449's SP&S Hancock whistle was set aside for the SP&S 700 and a Northern Pacific Hancock 3 chime was fitted on the engineer's side. This whistle would remain on the locomotive for the next 21 years. Later that same year, 4449 would later appear in the 1990 drama film Come See the Paradise. In late 1990, the Cab Forward whistle was returned to its owner.^[17]

1990s

On April 26, 1991, No. 4449 returned to Railfair '91 in Sacramento, again with UP 844 and UP 3985 and the newly restored Southern Pacific 2472. It attended the next year's NRHS Convention in San Jose with No. 2472 and Union Pacific 3985.^[18] On this trip, 4449 carried a member's Star Brass 5 Chime whistle off a CB&Q M-4 class Locomotive on the fireman's side.

The locomotive would return to Railfair once again in 1999, co-starring with Santa Fe 3751 and Union Pacific's 844 and 3985. This was the last time she traversed the route of the Shasta Daylight, whose tracks are now owned by the Union Pacific.

2000s

In 2000, No. 4449 was repainted black and silver for a Burlington Northern Santa Fe employee appreciation special. It was traditional for Southern Pacific to paint freight locomotives in black, and 4449 and other GS locomotives received this treatment when the diesels took over their passenger assignments. In the case of BNSF, a Class 1 freight carrier, No. 4449 was given old historical treatment. BNSF C44-9W No.4449 was lashed in to provide dynamic brakes when descending down grades. Many railfans agree it was rather humorous for BNSF to choose C44-9W No. 4449 as the dynamic brake unit given its shared cab number with the 4-8-4. Following the BNSF special, the BNSF emblems were removed and "Southern Pacific Lines" was added to the tender, a reminder of when No. 4449 was repainted to black with SP lettering in late 1955. No. 4449 was originally planned to remain in the black scheme for a few years. However, plans changed following the 9/11 attacks.

No. 4449 was repainted into the American Freedom Train paint scheme again in early 2002, after the events of the September 11 attacks.^[19] In the fall of 2004, No. 4449 returned to the classic Daylight paint scheme, this time in its "as-delivered" appearance.^[20] It appeared in the autumn of 2004 with the then-extant Montana Rockies Rail Tours company, pulling (with a diesel helper behind it) two summer excursion trips between Sandpoint, Idaho and Billings, Montana, including stops at the Livingston Depot.

On May 18 and May 19, 2007, SP 4449 made another appearance with UP 844 in the Pacific Northwest for the "Puget Sound Excursion", on BNSF Railway tracks from Tacoma to Everett, Washington, round-trip.

On March 24, 2009, it was announced that No. 4449 would attend Trainfestival 2009 in Owosso, Michigan from July 23–26 with an all-day excursion planned on the 23rd and 24th and a photo run-by planned for each trip. The engine was then placed on display for the rest of the event.

The historic 2,500-mile move from Portland to Owosso was arranged by the Friends of the 4449, Amtrak, Steam Railroading Institute of Owosso and the Friends of the 261. The Milwaukee Road 261 organization loaned some of its first-class passenger cars, including the former Milwaukee Road Super Dome #53 and the Cedar Rapids Skytop Lounge to join the 4449 and for other excursion trains at the festival.

Following a two-year hiatus needed to accommodate the locomotive's mandatory 15-year inspection and overhaul, SP 4449 returned to service on November 25, 2015.^[21] From 2016 to 2019, SP 4449 pulled several excursion trains during each year.^[22] In late 2019, the locomotive was scheduled to haul the annual 40-minute round-trip Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation "Holiday Express" fundraiser trains through the Springwater Corridor and along Portland's Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, along the Willamette River, during November and December of that year.^[23]

Due to its long rigid wheelbase and heavy weight, which were determined to cause excessive wear to the Oregon Pacific Railroad tracks being used, No. 4449 and stablemate SP&S No. 700 no longer pull the annual Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation Holiday Express trains. Another locomotive was substituted in 2022, and the trains will be pulled by a smaller locomotive for the foreseeable future.^[24][25] As of 2024, 4449 is usually housed inside the Oregon Rail Heritage Center, only fired up on occasion.^[25]

Preservation and maintenance

Since 1991, the SP 4449 is maintained by the volunteer non-profit group "The Friends of SP 4449", including Doyle McCormack, a retired Union Pacific engineer and locomotive collector.^[26] From 1981 to 2012, No. 4449 resided at Union Pacific's (formerly Southern Pacific) Brooklyn roundhouse in Portland, along with several other historic steam and diesel locomotives.^[27] The Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, a partnership of non-profit organizations that owned or maintained historic rolling stock at the roundhouse, began a campaign in late 2009 to construct a permanent, publicly-accessible engine house for the City of Portland's steam locomotives.

Upon the closing of the Brooklyn Roundhouse in June 2012, in order to make the yard larger, the 4449 was moved with its stablemates SP&S 700 and OR&N 197 to the Oregon Rail Heritage Center (ORHC), a new restoration facility and public accessible center near the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in southeast Portland. The ORHC opened to the public on September 22, 2012.^[28][29]