Great Western Railroad No. 51

Great Western Railroad #51 is a 2-8-0 consolidation type steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1906 to haul sugar beets and freight on the Great Western Railroad Company of Colorado. The locomotive also had a twin, #52. #52 retired in April 1952 and scrapped while #51 lingered to be sold to Boulder Scientific in 1963. According to Wes Barris's Surviving Locomotives website, #51 wound up operating on the Fillmore & Western Railway in Fillmore, Calif, from which it was bought by Jim Birmingham and moved back to Hudson, Colo. More recently, the 1906 Baldwin was overhauled to participate at SteamExpo during Expo '86 in Vancouver. After that, it was shipped to Washington State were it operated for many years at the Yakima Valley Rail & Steam Museum (where it was converted to burn oil). No. 51 then moved to the Fillmore and Western Railway in the early 1990s, and operated there on special occasions and for movie work, but has been out of service for the past few years. She now resides at the Hudson Terminal Railroad, stored serviceable, running roughly once a year in the yard.

Trivia

• 51 starred in Cat Ballou (1965)
• 51 starred in Indiana Jones and the Winds of Change.
• 51 also starred in the 1992 film "Stay Tuned" as engine #666
• 51 starred in the music video "XXL" from French artist Mylène Farmer in 1995 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYRZxaC6psk

Gallery

#51 in Indiana Jones and the Winds of Change. Note that the shot has been reversed.

#51 in Stay Tuned.

#51 in costume on the set of Cat Ballou in Colorado, Sept/Oct 1964.

#51 in costume on the set of Cat Ballou in Colorado, Sept/Oct 1964.

51 on a flatbed