Santa Fe 3415 is a preserved class 3400

4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomo ...

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

" type steam locomotive built in 1919 by Baldwin for the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

. Retired in 1954, it sat in Eisenhower Park in Abilene, Kansas until 1996. At that point, it was put on display in the Abilene and Smoky Valley yard. Restoration began in 2005 and was completed in early 2009. As of 2022, No. 3415 is out of service at the Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad.

History

Service on the Santa Fe

No. 3415 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in June 1919 as the sixteenth member of the

's fifty 3400 class locomotives. This class of steam locomotives was designed by John Purcell, and this was also the last class of 4-6-2s bought by the Santa Fe. The 3400 class was similar to the

United States Railroad Administration The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) was the name of the nationalized railroad system of the United States between December 28, 1917, and March 1, 1920. It was the largest American experiment with nationalization, and was undertaken a ...

(USRA)'s Heavy Pacific in its tube and flue counts but fitted with a grate close in size to the USRA's Light Pacific and delivered with drivers close in size to the latter. The first forty locomotives initially burned coal, but were later converted to burn oil while being rebuilt between 1936 and 1947. No. 3415 was initially assigned to pull

passenger trains In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

throughout the midwest, particularly through the Kansas City-

La Junta La Junta is a home rule municipality in , the county seat of, and the most populous municipality of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,322 at the 2020 United States Census. La Junta is located on the Arkansas Ri ...

and Newton-

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Ga ...

divisions, until diesel locomotives began to replace steam on the Santa Fe. No. 3415 was subsequently reassigned to pull

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...

and

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sys ...

trains throughout

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, and Oklahoma, until it was retired in 1954. Instead of being sold for scrap, the Santa Fe donated No. 3415 to the city of Abilene on December 9, 1955 for static display in Eisenhower Park.

Preservation

In April 1996, the city of Abilene decided to redevelop the park, and they removed No. 3415 from its display location and donated it to the nearby

Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad The Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad is a heritage railway located in Abilene, Kansas, United States. It is a non-profit organization that offers public excursion train rides May through October. The depot is located in the Historic 1887 Rock ...

, who put it on display near their

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. In 2005, the A&SVR decided to restore No. 3415 to operating condition for use on their tourist excursions. The locomotive was moved inside the A&SVR's locomotive facility, and restoration work was started by Wasatch Railroad Contractors from

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

. After three years of work, No. 3415 was test fired on December 1, 2008, and was officially fully restored for excursion service by 2009. The locomotive subsequently spent the next twelve years pulling tourist trains over the A&SVR's ex-

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

trackage between Abilene and

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. However, it did not go faster than fifteen miles per hour, due to the rails being too light. After the end of the 2022 operating season, No. 3415 is planned to be taken out of service for its next 1472 rebuild and inspection.

Historical significance

No. 3415 was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on April 16, 2012.

References

External links

Steam Locomotive - ATSF 3415
{{US-train-stub 3415 Baldwin locomotives 4-6-2 locomotives Individual locomotives of the United States Buildings and structures in Dickinson County, Kansas Railway locomotives on the National Register of Historic Places Railway locomotives introduced in 1919 Tourist attractions in Dickinson County, Kansas Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Preserved steam locomotives of Kansas