# 4449 in Freight Service



## colin anderson (Sep 3, 2008)

Can I use the 4449 in freight service.


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## catfordken (Feb 23, 2009)

hi what is a 4449 im interested ken


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

NO. That particular engine ONLY pulled the Southern Pacific Daylight passenger trains-train numbers 98 and 99. The black S.P. northerns did pull some freight. But it is YOUR railroad and you can do whatever you want.


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## catfordken (Feb 23, 2009)

beaten to the post sp 4449 most definatly never pulled freight,whilst on roster anyway ken


he did sing though


 www.sp4449.com


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

See:

http://wasteam.railfan.net/4449.html

Read the second paragraph.

See:

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Southern-Pacific-4449


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By colin anderson on 02/24/2009 12:50 PM


Can I use the 4449 in freight service.

Would that be considered sacrilegious or something like that.... 


Horrors....


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Hay it's your RR and your supt of motive power can run the engine on what ever train he chooses. Later RJD


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## steam5 (Jun 22, 2008)

I’m 90% sure Union Pacific use their restored FEF and Challenger today for normal revenue (freight) service if it needs to get from A to B. Can anyone clarify this? 

Do they do the same with 4449 today?


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By steam5 on 02/24/2009 2:17 PM
I’m 90% sure Union Pacific use their restored FEF and Challenger today for normal revenue (freight) service if it needs to get from A to B. Can anyone clarify this? 

Do they do the same with 4449 today? 



Way back in 199x something U.P. 844 pulled a passenger train to Chicago (a National Railroad Hysterical Society meet of some sort) and came through Cedar Rapids. It was fun watching go through pulling the passenger cars. The track-side crowds were huge and unruly and it was a general fiasco as far as I am concerned. But I could not help but wonder what it would look like putting a freight consist. 

I have to say that I missed what I think would have been an "award winning" photo as it went by... I take photos of steam engines only as I don't much care about what it pulls and even less if it is passenger equipment... so I shot off almost the whole 36 pic roll of film as the engine went by at about 40 MPH (I have been accused of having an auto-wind on my Pentax K1000 SLR, but I don't, I am just very fast at flipping that lever!). I was stepping down from my perch (a short concrete foundation of a grain bin) as the last car passed. The last car had one huge flat picture window on the back end of it, and there, standing in the center of that window, was a small girl of about 5 or 6 in a pretty pink dress holding a Teddy bear, watching the track come from under the car! Perfectly lit with the mid afternoon sun shining directly in the window as the train headed east. Several people complained that they were out of film at that point. I had just two frames left and as I was raising the camera to get the shot of a lifetime, some FOOL stepped right in front of me and I got a photo of his arm, two feet in front of my lens, raised to wave at the little girl! ARGGGGHHHH!.







By the time I got past him the little girl was running from the window back deeper into the car and all I got was the back of the car with a vague shadow of a figure in it. ARGGGGGHHHHH!









The return trip for the engine was not well advertised, but I happened to learn the schedule and found it was coming back through here and I decided to take a day of vacation and go wait for it. I was very pleasantly surprised when it came through to see it had a couple dozen odd assortment of boxcars and hoppers in tow. There was no caboose (that I remember... I was too excited to see the steamer in the first place and quite shocked to see the freight cars). I yelled, "Hi Steve!" and the engineer turned and waved, then blew the whistle a couple of times. I have no idea whether it was Steve Lee or Bob Krieger at the throttle, but he waved anyway!

I don't know what happened to the passenger cars it took to Chicago (and I don't care!) and I have no idea what kind of merchandise was in the consist it was pulling west, but it sure was pretty!

But, yes, I have seen U.P. 844 pull freight! Glorious!


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## cabforward (Feb 18, 2008)

Not sure on the 844 or challenger 
But the sp4449 is based in the brooklyn roundhouse but are going to have to move the 4449 and the 700 to another location. And sence it is owned by a private party (city of portland) there is no place to use it for revenue service. 
I did here somewere that the 844 was sent as a pusher over sherman hill and the diesal engener didn't know it was the steamer till it blew its whistle. 
Not sure if thats true 
Matt


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By cabforward on 02/24/2009 2:58 PM
Not sure on the 844 or challenger 
But the sp4449 is based in the brooklyn roundhouse but are going to have to move the 4449 and the 700 to another location. And sence it is owned by a private party (city of portland) there is no place to use it for revenue service. 
I did here somewere that the 844 was sent as a pusher over sherman hill and the diesal engener didn't know it was the steamer till it blew its whistle. 
Not sure if thats true 
Matt


I know the story is true as I read it on U.P.'s web site at one time. (Sorry, I cannot find it now, I'll keep looking though!)


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## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Both 844 and 3985 have pulled freights...if they're not moving a passenger train somewhere, UP will hook a few freight cars on...alot of that has to do with aid in braking efforts. In 1990 the UP connected the APL Double Stack train (143 cars) to 3985 and hauled it from Cheyenne to North Platte...with NO DIESEL HELP! 

watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhgHrDbN4EU


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## work4fil (Jan 4, 2008)

I have an SP book "Rails in the Shadow of Mt. Shasta," depicting a photo of 4449 in Dunsmuir, painted black, but hauling heavyweights. I had a color postcard showing 4449 hauling freight, but I may have lost it, when I lost my mind.


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## rbednarik (Jan 2, 2008)

Clearing some things up here, for the betterment of those who are Southern Pacific aficinados. 

The GS-4's (which is what 4449 is) pulled not only the signature Daylight train sets (98/99 for the morning daylight, or 96/97, for the Noon Daylight), but were the motive power of choice for the; Lark, an streamlined overnight Pullman train, the Owl, The San Joaquin Daylight, The Coaster and . The GS's were also used on the Sad Sam Mail trains and were used for Commute serivce in the San Fransisco Bay area during their last days of service. The annual beet trains were also powered by 4-8-4's when then 


The GS's were common place on the "Overnight" trains such as the Coast Merchandise West/East (#373-374), as well as time or extra freights. Reefer blocks and other manifest frieghts were often pulled by a GS series when doing a break-in or shakedown run from a shopping. 

The GS (General Service) locos preformed these duties in all of their various paint configurations, from Full daylight, to plain black (with and without skirting), and in the 50/50 scheme. 

The Overnights and other time freights were of the uptmost importance on the SP, and as a result, were usually given a clear board. It was not uncommon for these trains to have a rider coach instead of a caboose. If a caboose was to be used, it had to have steel wheels and not cast iron wheels, due to the high speeds of the trains. 


Most all of this imformation is taken from the Robert Church book: "SP Daylight Locomotives". There is a lot more information where that came from so if there are any other questions, feel free to ask. 

Hope this allows you to play trains the way you want!


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## fildowns (May 17, 2008)

I'm sorry Colin but if you're thinking of running freight cars behind 4449......then your 4449 will have to be confiscated.

I'll be around next Tuesday with a suitcase.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

I did here somewere that the 844 was sent as a pusher over sherman hill and the diesal engener didn't know it was the steamer till it blew its whistle. 
Not sure if thats true 


Matt, 

There was an incident a few years ago when 8444 was 'light engine' on its way home to Cheyenne from Chicago. It got held by a freight that stalled on a hill (not Sherman) as it had lost a power unit (see what happens when you use diesels?) They finally realised that 8444 was perfectly capable of acting as pusher, so it shoved the freight up the hill and continued until they got it off the main. 

It was written up in Railfan & Railroad, with a photo of the only UP steam engine to work in revenue service for 50 years!


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## catfordken (Feb 23, 2009)

4449 sounds a bit like the flying scotsman over here,pete waterman owned flying scotsman in the early years and painted it in br green,then got death threats,until he re painted it in lner green,point  isits  seen to be something dont spoil the image i have of it,its what it is leave it alone ken


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## cabforward (Feb 18, 2008)

Pete 
Thanks for the info 
Not quite freight but the 4449 pulled the american frredom train that involved freight cars and display cars 
matt


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## jebouck (Jan 2, 2008)

The 4449 was re-named the Willamette Railroad and pulled freight a few years ago. I have a video of it.
Yes it was still painted in Daylight colors.


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## Sourdoh (Jan 6, 2008)

Did someone mention sacrilege? Running a beautiful, high-stepping girl like the 4449 in freight service is sacrilege to me. I rode her back and forth from San Jose to San Francisco in the Freedom Train days, and since then, with good old Doyle McCormack at the throttle! I think hauling a bunch of freight behind her is beneath her dignity!


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Are there really Garden Train Police, nit pickers div.???? 

Hmmm Where did I put that black powder?..... 

I'se the brass hat and water boy, plus all inbetween and if circumstances warrant, I'll even use the ol' 0-5-0 to pull a frieght!!! 

The only rule I adhere to is; Have Fun. 

If you are really worried/wanting prototypical operations Do Not, I repeat; Do Not look at your track curvature! Back when I was in HO, my branch lines were 30"r or 5' dia... hmmm that's near 20' G ... so my broad curve 10' diam. track = 15r" HO? OH my!!!! 

Run what you want to run, take pictures and show them off! Sounds like a plan! 

I thought my Jupiter looked grand in her red and silver livery as she pulled the new string of delton freight cars... guess I'll have to upgrade so I'se can upload. 

John


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Some folk are model railroaders and others are railroad modelers... both have a lot more fun that the other, but the source of the fun for one is the heart and for the other it is the heart. For some it is seeing something roll around on rails and for the other it is understanding why.


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## catfordken (Feb 23, 2009)

i replied to the question as it was asked did 4449 pull freight,if it was meant as purely can i ,then its your garden railway,you are the boss,you can have pink flying scotsman wearing a skirt,or if you are running it as a minature version of kings cross station then its br green,simple,its how you want it to be,not me ken


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## jebouck (Jan 2, 2008)

Just finished watching a video of the 4449 completely re-painted all black and lettered (are you ready for this) BNSF.
It was pulling a BNSF employees recognition train throughout Wa, Id. and Or.


It's your railroad. Pull what you want. Somewhere, sometime there's a prototype for everything.


And yes, I have some old SP videos showing Gs-4's in daylight colors pulling freight. (Engine only, tenders are black).


jb


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