1981 To The Present
In 1981, SP 4449 was returned to its original "Daylight" colors for the first Railfair at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California. In 1984, 4449 pulled an all Daylight-painted train from Portland to New Orleans, Louisiana and back, to publicize the World's Fair. The 7,477-mile (12,033 km) round trip was the longest steam train excursion in US history. In 1986, 4449 went to Hollywood to appear in Tough Guys, and pulled business trains for the Southern Pacific. No. 4449 had another famous moment in 1989 when 4449 and Union Pacific 844 (another famous 4-8-4 steam engine) made a side-by-side entrance into the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal in 1989 for the station's 50th anniversary celebrations. The two locomotives then raced each other on Santa Fe's and Southern Pacific's parallel main lines through Cajon Pass, with 4449 eventually taking the lead. No. 4449 returned to Railfair in Sacramento in 1991 and again in 1999. In 2000, 4449 was repainted black and silver for a Burlington Northern Santa Fe employee appreciation special, it was painted black and silver to mark that BNSF is a freight railroad and to commemorate the days of the 4449's and other GS locomotives assigned to freight,helper, or local passenger trains. Then it was repainted into the American Freedom Train colors again in early 2002 after the events of the September 11th terrorist attacks. In 2004, the locomotive was returned to Daylight colors again, this time in its "as delivered" appearance.
On May 18, and May 19, 2007, the 4449 made another rare appearance with the Union Pacific 844 in the Pacific Northwest for the "Puget Sound Excursion", on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks from Tacoma to Everett, round-trip. This excursion was a tandem run with both steam locomotives pulling a Union Pacific passenger train consisting of three to four dome cars and several coaches.
On March 24, 2009, it was announced that the 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 runby planned for each trip. The 4449 was then placed on display for the rest of the event, giving people the chance to visit and to meet the crew, explore the cab, and photograph the engine. 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 lent some of their first class passenger cars, including former Milwaukee Road Super Dome #53 and Cedar Rapids Skytop Lounge for the 4449 and for the other excursion trains at the festival. This trip marked the first time that the 4449 visited the state of Michigan since pulling the American Freedom Train in 1976. The train left Portland on July 3 and returned on October 20. Future excursions are being planned with the 15-year rebuild scheduled for 2013.
Read more about this topic: Southern Pacific 4449
Famous quotes containing the words the present and/or present:
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—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
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Sweet present of the present,
Cool of night,
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—Jacques Prévert (1900–1977)