Southern Pacific 4450

Infobox Locomotive
name=Southern Pacific 4450
powertype=Diesel
railroad=Southern Pacific Railroad
gauge=4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm)
number=5363, 4450
builder=General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
buildmodel=SD9
aarwheels=C-C
deliverydate=1954
retiredate=1998
currentowner=Feather River Rail Society
disposition=static display, Portola, California

Southern Pacific Railroad's (SP) locomotive number 4450, nicknamed "Huff", is an EMD SD9 diesel locomotive. 4450 was part of SP's first order of 32 SD9s, and delivered in 1954, with its original number, 5363. This order was assigned SP class DF-120 and numbered 5340-5371. As delivered, 4450 featured the "black widow" paint scheme, large Mars Signal lights at both ends (in fact, SP 5340-5371 were the only class of SP SD9s equipped with this large and distinctive light), and had a steam generator so that it could be used for passenger service. The whole class appears to have initially been assigned to the service district in Oregon.

In 1965, SP 4450 was painted into the grey and scarlet "bloody nose" paint scheme, and numbered into the 3800 series. During this time it was used as a snow-fighting locomotive for the fierce winters on Donner Pass. Sometime in the mid-1970s, it was rebuilt at the SP Sacramento General Shops as part of SP's GRIP program, and received the number 4450. SP 4450 & 4451 were the only two SD9s to retain their steam generators after being rebuilt. Being that they were now the only two passenger equipped SD9s, they were transferred to the San Francisco-San Jose, California, commute service until Caltrain equipment arrived in 1985.

After 1985, 4450 and its mate 4451 (nicknamed "Huff" and "Puff") were used all around the SP system for officers' specials and other passenger operations. They were favorites of railfans and usually worked together. After the Union Pacific Railroad took over SP operations in the mid-1990s, 4450 and 4451 were assigned to local freight service in the San Francisco Bay Area until 1998, when 4450 was purchased by the Golden Gate Railroad Museum at Hunters Point in San Francisco and arrived there on April 28 1998. SP 4451 was transferred to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad where it presently remains, in derelict condition in Schellville, California. In late 2005, the Golden Gate Railroad Museum was evicted from its home and Southern Pacific 4450 was sold to the Feather River Rail Society and will be transferred to the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, California. On December 30, 2006, SP 4450 left Hunters Point en route to Portola. It is now part of the WPRM collection.

References

* http://espee.railfan.net/
* http://www.ggrm.org/
* [http://www.WPLives.org/ Feather River Rail Society website]