Famous steam engine SP 4449 streaks through Rochelle

2 comments July 20th, 2009

Saturday was  an unusually cold day in northern Illinois, but rail fans saw a sight to warm their hearts: the reappearance of the famed steam engine SP 4449 in Rochelle. The engine, manufactured in 1941, was among the last mainline steam locomotives to be built. The 4449 and others like her used to haul  “Daylight” passenger trains between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the Southern Pacific.

In 1958, she was retired and put on display in a Portland, Oregon park. In 1976 she saw service again, pulling the American Freedom Train in our nation’s bicentennial year. She went through Rochelle that year and up to the Rockford airport, where the train was on display. The coaches featured exhibits about our nation’s founding.

For that tour, the 4449 wore red, white and blue colors.

Now back in the colors of her “Daylight” years, she made a rare appearance Saturday on the BNSF mainline in Illinois, pulling a special train that originated in Seattle, stopped in Minneapolis-St. Paul, then headed to Chicago and Michigan, returning via Milwaukee.

These pictures were taken by my friend Dave Lindberg, a transportation buff who works at Chicago Rockford International Airport. He and I scouted locations for good pictures, because we determined we did not want to be among the 500 or so people who had gathered in Rochelle’s railroad park to see the train, which went through shortly after 5 p.m.

So, we found a nearly deserted crossing on Elva Road, just outside Steward. In the background you see the ethanol plant on the south edge of Rochelle. Only four or five super-dedicated rail fans had discovered it. The train featured a full length dome car and “beaver-tail” observation car, both formerly of The Milwaukee Road.

Although a true steam engine, the 4449’s boiler has always been heated by burning fuel oil,  as were many of the late-model Western steam engines. That makes it easier to operate today than a coal burner, because getting a load of coal delivered to a railroad siding is well-nigh impossible. Enjoy the pictures, and thanks, Dave for taking them.

For more information on the nonprofit organization that operates the engine, go to: “Friends of the SP 4449″