Built by Baldwin in 1927, Santa Fe 3751 was the first 4-8-4 steam locomotive built for the railroad and was referenced in documentation as type "Heavy Mountain", "New Mountain", or "Mountain 4-wheel trailer". It holds the distinction of being the oldest surviving 4-8-4 type steam locomotive in the world.
When built, tests showed that the new locomotive was twenty percent more efficient and powerful than the 3700 class 4-8-2 Mountain types, which at the time were Santa Fe's most advanced steam locomotives. In 1936, the locomotive was converted to burn oil and was given a larger tender that holds 20,000 US gallons of water and 7,107 US gallons of fuel oil two years later. No. 3751 was also present at the grand opening of Union Passenger Terminal in Los Angeles on May 7, 1939, pulling the Scout, one of Santa Fe's premier passenger trains as it arrived from Chicago. It was the first steam locomotive to bring a passenger train into Union Station.
In 1941, 3751, along with the other 13 locomotives in its class, received major upgrades that included replacing the original 73 inch spoked driving wheels with 80 inch boxpok wheels, a new frame, Timken roller bearings on all axles and more. That same year, it achieved its highest recorded speed at 103 miles per hour. It continued to be a very reliable working locomotive until August 23, 1953, when it pulled the last regularly scheduled steam-powered passenger train on the Santa Fe to run between Los Angeles and San Diego; this was its last run in revenue service before being put into stored at the Redondo Junction and retired from active service. On May 14, 1958, it was placed on display in San Bernardino.
In 1981, the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society was formed with intentions of restoring and operating 3751. Four years later, it achieved its goal when 3751 was sold to it for one cent with the condition that the SBRHS must restore and operate the locomotive. In 1986, 3751 was moved from its display to California Steel Industries, where it was restored at a cost of $1.50 million. On August 13, 1991, it moved under its own steam for the first time in thirty-eight years. It made its first excursion run on December 27, 1991, running with two Santa Fe EMD FP45s and 16 passenger cars on a four-day trip from Los Angeles via Barstow to Bakersfield. Since then, it has been utilized for a large number of excursions and special trips and for display at many events.
The locomotive is currently owned by the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society, the same organization that performed the initial 1986 restoration. In August 1992, the 3751 was found on its largest assignment so far, as the engine ran the entire route of Santa Fe's Transcon route between Los Angeles and Chicago with three (and later two) Santa Fe GE Dash 8-40CWs. The engine spent 18 days travelling over 2,300 miles in both directions. This run would include travelling to Topeka, Kansas to attend that year's Topeka Railroad days, where the locomotive was briefly displayed near Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 3985.
On April 22–23, 1995, 3751 was displayed in the Riverside Sunkist Orange Blossom Festival in Riverside. On December 31, 1996 when Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe merged with Burlington Northern Railroad to form Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the locomotive retained the same number. The excursion was operated again on April 20–21, 1996. In June 1999, the locomotive participated in Railfair '99. On the way to the fair, 3751, along with a BNSF Dash 9-44CW and mixed train of a tool car, ten BNSF boxcars and two passenger cars, from Los Angeles to Sacramento via San Bernardino, Barstow, Bakersfield, and Stockton. On the return trip to Los Angeles, the 3751 pulled another mixed train with several covered hoppers.
In October 2000, 3751 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It been displayed at Fullerton Railroad Days in Fullerton, California a number of times. In August 2002, 3751 operated an Amtrak excursion train from Los Angeles to Williams, Arizona to participate in the 2002 National Railway Historical Society convention and ran over Metrolink, BNSF and Arizona and California Railroad tracks. After arriving in Williams, the locomotive pulled some excursions and photo runbys on the Grand Canyon Railway between Williams and the Grand Canyon Village, including a doubleheader with GCR 2-8-2 4960 and a tripleheader with GCR 2-8-0 18. The steam engine also pulled some of GCR's Pullman passenger cars for a photo charter requested by Goodheart Productions.
In 2008, 3751 ran on the Surfline route for two excursions from Los Angeles to San Diego. The first on June 1 was a public excursion. The excursion made the locomotive the first steam locomotive to run on the Surf Line since the 1976 American Freedom Train, it was also the first steam powered passenger train to make the run between Los Angeles and San Diego since 3751 last travelled the line in 1953. The train was turned at Miramar Wye, 15 miles north of San Diego station. The second excursion was a private car special on September 21.
In May 2010, the locomotive returned to the Surf Line for a third excursion from Los Angeles to San Diego, pulling eight Amtrak cars and a few dome cars, attracting large crowds. In order to alleviate issues with turning the train, the excursion was split over two days: south to San Diego on May 1, and north to Los Angeles the following day. This proved successful, as 3751 was on time into San Diego the first day and sustained only normal delays northbound, thus proving the excursion to be the most successful yet The weekend after the trip to San Diego saw the engine in San Bernardino for National Train Day and the 2010 San Bernardino Railroad Days festival. It has made annual runs to San Bernardino for the Railroad Days Festival in April or May since the initial trip.
The ChaseFor the chase of Santa Fe 3751 on its way to Arizona to celebrate that state's centennial, I chose four good photo locations and by using the freeway, we would have no problems reaching all of them. The morning of the trip, Chris Parker met me at my house at 7:15 AM and I drove us to the Santa Ana station and parked in the parking structure. We crossed the bridge to Track 1, only to find the Metrolink ticket machine out of service. I went back to the station side and bought two Orange County Day Passes for $7 each then rejoined Chris. We waited for Metrolink 607 to arrive to take us to Fullerton.
Metrolink 607 arrived and Chris had his first ride in the Hyundai-Rotem cab bar. It was a quick trip to Fullerton and we detrained then found Carl Morrison, our driver for the day, before we departed and drove over to where Larry Boerio parked three blocks south of the station. From here we drove out to bridle trail out at the Horseshoe Bend in Santa Ana Canyon. We hiked up to my favorite spot and this was the first time Carl, Larry or Chris had taken photographs from this location. We did not have long for our first train of the day to arrive.
First a westbound train reversed into the holding track here to wait to go west.
BNSF 7203 West came below our photo location.
Metrolink 850 for Riverside came through next.
BNSF 7238 West came through next.
Metrolink 800 for San Bernardino came by us. That westbound BNSF freight in the holding track then left and a few minutes later, we spotted Santa Fe 3751 heading towards us.
Santa Fe 3751 and train took the Horseshoe Bend in Santa Ana Canyon.
Santa Fe 4-8-4 3751 built by Baldwin in 1927.
Amtrak P42DC 66 built by General Electric in 1997, in its 40th anniversary paint scheme.
Amtrak P40 809 built by General Electric in 1993.
St. Louis-San Francisco 14 roomette-4 double bedroom sleeping car 1490 "Caritas" built by Pullman in 1948. In the 1960s, the car was sold to Canadian National where it went from a stainless fluted side to a smooth side passenger car. In 1985, 1450 officially became "Caritas", starting a new life in private ownership.
"Caritas" was extensively renovated in 1985 to include a spacious lounge with room 18 day riders, enlarged windows on the rear for spectacular views, an open platform, a kitchen with modern amenities and update mechanicals as well.
Baggage car 5659 "Gordon N. Zimmerman", ex. Union Pacific maintenance-of-way 904227 1975, exx. Union Pacific 24427 1969, nee Union Pacific 5659 built by American Car and Foundry in 1954. The Friends of Southern Pacific 4449 purchased the car in July 1997 and it remained in gray colors and wore the name "Better Idea" until it was repainted in Daylight colors in August 2003 and re-named after a dedicated volunteer, Gordon N. Zimmerman.
Club-lounge with barber shop and shower "Overland Trail", ex. Amtrak 3500, nee Southern Pacific 2981, built by Pullman in 1949.
Amtrak Horizon cafe car 58106, nee Amtrak 53506 built by Bombardier in 1990.
California Rail Tours lunch-lounge car 1291 "Royal Gorge" PPCX 800380, ex. Amtrak 3361, exx. Penn Central 4448, exxx. Pennsylvania Railroad 1148, nee Denver and Rio Grande Western built by Pullman in 1950.
Mid-America Railcar coach "Tolani" PPCX 800721, ex. Amtrak 4705, exx. Amtrak 4816, nee Santa Fe 2484 built by Budd Company in 1953.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Vista-Dome 4735 "Silver Splendor" 800604, nee "Silver Buckle" built by the Budd Company in 1956. It was part of the last two complete conventional train sets to be ordered new in the pre-Amtrak era and traveled over 4.5 million miles on a daily basis between Chicago and Denver until 1980.
With standard coach seating for 50 and 24 seats up in the dome, "Silver Buckle" provided fast and comfortable service for budget-minded patrons until Amtrak's bi-level Superliners arrived. Officially retired in 1981, the car spent time in storage at Oakland, California and Beech Grove, Indiana before being auctioned off by Amtrak to a railcar shop owner in 1993. In 1997, the current owners, Heidi and John Caestecker, purchased the car in the Midwest and moved it to Fullerton with the intent of restoring it to operating condition as a luxurious dome-diner-lounge. Dining capacity will be 24 at tables upstairs and another 24 in the long end of the lower level. A cocktail lounge seating 10-12 will be featured in the short end, with kitchen and restrooms under the dome.
Iowa Pacific dome 551 "Sky View" PPCX 800966, ex. Westours 551 "Kobuk", exx. Curtis Potter, exxx. Auto Train 513, nee Santa Fe 551 built by Budd Company in 1954.
Santa Fe 10-6 sleeper 1604 "Palm Leaf" built by American Car and Foundry in 1951. In 1971, it became Amtrak 2753 and was retired ten years later and sold in 1982 to private ownership.
LA Rail 10-6 sleeper 1437 "Pacific Sands", ex. Amtrak 2881, exx. Amtrak 2630, nee Union Pacific 1437 "Pacific Sands", built by Budd Company in 1950. It lived through the purple and orange interior decor of 1970's and was redecorated to its current interior in the late 1980's. During the 25 years of Amtrak service, all of the Pacific cars were scattered through out the country in various Amtrak trains, but most, including "Pacific Sands", finished their service with Amtrak on the East coast routes, including Autotrain, as the West Coast routes were re-equipped with Superliners. A few Pacific cars served Amtrak as crew dorm cars until 2007 when the last one was taken out of service.
"Pacific Sands" was rescued into private ownership in 1996, after 46 years of railroad service. The exterior has been beautifully restored and polished to a partial Pullman/Union Pacific paint scheme by Pacific Sands' first private owner. It has also been mechanically upgraded to all current Amtrak and FRA safety standards. LA Rail acquired the car in 2003 and has restored the interior of the car to its glory days of the 1950’s while adding modern travel conveniences such as a shower.
Rail Journeys West sleeping car 8449 "Silver Rapids", ex. Amtrak 2649, exx. Penn Central 4378, nee Pennsylvania Railroad 8449 built by Budd Company in 1948. It was removed from the California Zephyr service in the 1960's when most transcontinental sleepers were discontinued and changed ownership from the Pennsylvania Railroad to Amtrak, which retired it in the early 1980's and sold the car to a private owner. After extensive restoration work that included interior and mechanical upgrades, "Silver Rapids" is now one of the most versatile sleeper cars in service. The car features eight roomettes that seat two comfortably, and six double bedrooms that open up to form three suites that seat four comfortably.
California Rail Tours dome-coach 503 "Plaza Santa Fe", ex. Amtrak 9353, nee Santa Fe 503 built by Pullman-Standard in 1950.
Rail Journeys West dome-coach "Silver Lariat" PPCX 800481, ex. Amtrak 9452 "Silver Lariat", exx. Burlington Northern 7418 "Silver Lariat", nee Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 4718 "Silver Lariat" built by Budd Company in 1948.
California Zephyr dome-sleeper-observation car "Silver Solarium", ex. Nav Fosee/Cedar Rail Enterprises/Silver Rail Company 377 1985, ex. Amtrak 9252 1971, nee Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 377 built by Budd Company in 1948. In 2002, the car was sold to Roy Wullich/Rail Journeys West where it entered into charter service after it received modern upgrades in 2003. It was then leased to California Zephyr Railcar Charters. Today, the Silver Solarium has been fully renovated and has been operating as a private car, delighting passengers with stunning views from its Vista Dome and observation lounge. The observation lounge seats 11 in classic railroad lounge chairs, and the Vista Dome car seats 24 in booth seating at tables.
Santa Fe 3751 and train left the Horseshoe Bend in Santa Ana Canyon. We hiked back down to the van then drove straight to Cajon Pass and after stopping at McDonald's, headed to our next photo location at the east end of Sullivan's Curve.
Union Pacific 4673 West came down the grade and went around Sullivan's Curve.
Larry sat down to wait for Santa Fe 3751 to arrive.
BNSF 5036 West was the next train.
Union Pacific 5362 East came down the Palmdale Cutoff and headed around Sullivan's Curve. We now would wait for Santa Fe 3751 to pass by overlooking Sullivan's curve.
