The Southern Pacific Daylight GS-4

Initially the "GS" meant "Golden State"; during the war it was changed to "General Service". The first group, 14 engines, was built by Baldwin in 1930, and although unremarkable, they sold SP on the 4-8-4 wheel arrangement. The latter two classes, 6 GS-2's of 1936 and 14 GS-3's of 1937, all built by Lima, brought streamlining, disc driving wheels, and other improvements. The GS-3 in particular was a step forward, boosting boiler pressure from 250 lbs. psi (pounds per square inch) to 280 and driver diameter from 73.5 inches to 80.

If the first 28 Daylight engines first-class, the GS-4's were world-class. With higher boiler pressure of 300 pounds and slightly smaller cylinders, the Daylight engines could deliver as much as 5500 horsepower and 64,800 pounds of tractive effort. They handled anything the SP mainline threw at them, from the demanding grades and curves of Santa Margarita Hill out of San Louis Obispo, CA, to the flat-out high speed San Fernando Valley.

How distinctive were the GS-4's? Consider the commanding presence of a Daylight's front end, with it's silver smokebox and imperious dual-headlight casing. Or behold the vivid orange-and-red Daylight paint scheme, made famous four years earlier on the first Morning Daylight and Noon Daylight passenger trains. Check out the details -- the boxpok drivers, the "sport" cab with its slanted front, the teardrop classification lights, the air horn (they also had whistles), the Mars light. This was a machine that combined power and grace in the manner of a Formula 1 race car.

The SP got its money's worth out of the GS-4's. They were first assigned to SP's premier trains, including the Los Angeles-San Francisco Coast Daylight and overnight Lark, the L.A.-Oakland San Joaquin Daylight, and, east of L.A., the Sunset Limited. Their record for dependability was unassailable. In later years, diesels bumped the engines to freight trains and San Francisco commute service, and most of them lost their skirting and their orange and red paint. But they still looked impressive, whether on a coal train out of Martinez or a rush-hour commute at SP's Third and Townsend station in San Francisco.

The end for the GS-4's and their 4-8-4 sisters came in the late 1950's. Farewell excursions in late 1958 and early 1959 were a fitting sendoff, but nearly all went to the scrappers.

Fate kept two of the 4-8-4's from going the way of the New York Central's Hudson types. One engine, 4460, a member of the GS-6 class of 1943, was donated to the National Museum of Transport in St. Louis, Mo. The other, GS-4 4449, was donated to the city of Portland, Or. and took up residence in Oaks Park. There, skirtless and in black, she slept, her bearings oiled by Jack Holst, a fan who cared. This maintenance enabled 4449 to steam again, a star on the American Freedom Train, a coast-to coast exhibition organized by Ross Rowland which ran during the Bicentennial in 1975-1976. In 1974 the engine was brought out of Oaks Park and placed in SP's old Hoyt Street roundhouse in Portland. In early 1975 she operated again under her own power, and in the ensuing two years 4449 surprised and delighted millions of people as she hauled the Freedom Train over most of the U.S. except (for reasons of physical clearance) the Northeast.

The Freedom Train wasn't just a curtain call for 4449. The Daylight engine has continued on excursions for SP, Amtrak, and other sponsors. She's been back to New Orleans, the length of the traditional SP system. Her crew, led by engineer Doyle McCormack, Jack Wheelihan, Dick Yager, and a number of other regular volunteers, have kept 4449 in top condition.

In 1990 the engine helped celebrate the 50th anniversary of Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, along with Union Pacific 4-8-4 No 844; in 1991 the 4449 performed at the California State Railroad Museum's Railfair; and in 1992 she went to San Jose for the NRHS.