The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy No. 4994 is one of 60 Class O-1 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotives that was built in 1923 by the Bladwin Locomotive Works for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (Burlington Route or CB&Q). It lasted for a long time in service and is now preserved on static display disguising as Fort Worth and Denver No. 401 at the Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.
History[]
No. 4994 was one of five CB&Q Mikados that were leased to the Colorado & Southern Railroad in the fall of 1958 to replace several diesel locomotives that were destroyed in two head-on collisions, one at Chugwater, WY, the other at Broomfield, CO. These locomotives helped get through the annual sugar beet campaign and worked into early 1959.
In the 1960s, the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad wanted to donate a steam engine to the Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX, but discovered that all its steamers had already been scrapped. No. 4994 was therefore acquired from the FW&D's parent company, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in 1964 and repainted as FW&D No. 401. It is on display at the National Ranching Heritage Center on the Texas Tech University Campus.
Fort Worth & Denver Railroad No. 401[]
The original Fort Worth & Denver Railroad No. 401 was one of ten FW&D Class E4A1 locomotives (Nos. 401-410) built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1915. They were copies of the CB&Q O1 (also built by Baldwin) in 1910-11, although the O1s were coal burners and the E41As were oil burners. No. 401 was sold for scrap in 1955. Out of the ten FW&D Class E4A1 locomotives that were built only one, No. 410, currently survives in preservation as Texas and Pacific Railway No. 400. It is currently on static display at the Texas and Pacific Railway Museum in Marshall, Texas.
Surviving sister engines[]
While No. 4994 is still on static display at the Texas Tech University, No. 4960 is still operational and is currently owned by the Grand Canyon Railway
Nos 4963 and 5632 were sold to steam locomotive caretaker, Richard Jensen, who moved them to the Chicago and Western Indiana roundhouse for storage. In 1969, both locomotives were moved to a Chicago scrapyard, where No. 5632 was scrapped, after derailing on a switch. After Richard Jensen died in 1991, No. 4963, which was still in dead storage at a Chicago scrapyard, was acquired by the Illinois Railway Museum, who moved it to their property in Union, Illinois for static display. No. 4963 still resides there today.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy No. 4978 was retired from revenue service in 1960 and sat idle in Galesburg for five years, until it was donated to the South County Historical Society to be placed on static display at Ottawa, Illinois. In 1997, No. 4978 was relocated to Mendota Amtrak station in front of an Ex-CB&Q caboose No. 14451 in Mendota, Illinois, where it currently remains on static display.
Fort Worth and Denver No. 410 is the oldest survivor of the CB&Q 2-8-2, and it is the sole survivor of any E-4. It was within ten such locomotives built for the subsidiary in 1915, and it was used for freight service, until 1958. The locomotive was purchased by the Texas and Pacific Railway, while being renumbered to 400. It remained as a backup in flood protection service. When it was retired in 1963, it was donated to City Park in Marshall, Texas, where it remained on static display for decades. In 2007, the locomotive was moved inside a steel shed, as the park grew concerns over asbestos. In 2008, the locomotive was sold off and moved to a nearby station, where it received a cosmetic restoration and is now on static display just behind Union Pacific caboose No. 25687.