I was looking at a list of surviving UP 2-8-0's and was struck by the quantity of them saved. From the UP website, there are 21 in existence today (below). From web research, I looks like the survivors are from two of four classes of 2-8-0's at the UP, the C-2 and C-57.

I personally think it's great to have so many of these UP 2-8-0's around, because the Consolidation type was a common workhorse engine out West on branch lines. The Milwaukee had many of them in Washington state, though none survive. The 2-8-0 is also a well-proportioned, aesthetically pleasing locomotive, and I never get tired of looking at them! The design is a classic.

I have to wonder, does this large quantity of UP 2-8-0's represent the most-preserved type of steam locomotive for a single railroad? Or is there another locomotive that wins the "most saved" title?

List of surviving UP 2-8-0's:

2-8-0 407 7/56 Sidney, NE
2-8-0 421 4/56 Fairbury, NE
2-8-0 423 7/55 Gering, NE
2-8-0 428 12/59 Union, IL Illinois Railway Museum
2-8-0 437 9/55 Grand Island, NE
2-8-0 440 5/55 Lincoln, NE Moved to North Freedom WI 6/75 Mid-Continent Ry.
2-8-0 460 4/56 Marysville, KS
2-8-0 477 7/55 Salina, KS
2-8-0 480 2/56 North Platte, NE
2-8-0 481 6/58 Kearney, NE Buffalo County Historical Society
2-8-0 485 6/56 Lexington, NE
2-8-0 529 Snoqualmie, WA Northwest Railway Museum
2-8-0 533 12/58 Rawlins, WY
2-8-0 561 11/55 Columbus, NE Pawnee Park
2-8-0 616 8/58 Nampa, Idaho
2-8-0 618 6/58 Heber, Utah Wasatch Co. Railway & Dev. Co.
2-8-0 6051 7/54 Riverside, CA Fairmont Park
2-8-0 6072 2/58 Ft. Riley, KS Ft. Riley Museum
2-8-0 6237 7/56 Hastings, NE
2-8-0 6264 4/59 Boulder City, NV Nevada Historical Society
2-8-0 6535 3/59 Laramie, WY LaBonte Park

Source: UP List of Donated Steam Locomotives

Really the only numerous class of preserved steam locomotives would be the Rio Grande K-36, with only one (#485) having been scrapped. That's a 90% survival rate (9/10) There's also the Canadian Pacific K1a, with an 100% survival rate, with both examples surviving.

If you consider the Soo's H-3, 21, 22, and 23 Pacifics as one class (they all share the same spec.s, although construction spanned the years 1911 - 1923) there are seven saved, including the one that runs on the North Shore Scenic out of Duluth, MN (2719).

Aren't the Espee 0-6-0 switchers pretty numerous?

Sounds like Nebraska is the place to be if you like UP consolidations.

Just a note, the UP #440 is now on display in Antigo, Wi. Cosmetically restored in C&NW costume. Historically all wrong, but looks so much better now and is under a roof. The group who did the work wanted to restore a C&NW locomotive in memory of the towns history as a one time division point with complete shop complex. Employed a lot of people at one time. No C&NW locomtives available so they used the #440.

Remember when we were in NB getting the #440 ready to move in 1975. We were missing one or two grates and started looking at possible donor locomotives in parks. Almost 35 years later I hauled those grates and a pile of other parts up to Antigo, Wi so the parts would stay with the locomotive. Never checked to see if they were installed or are sitting out behind a shop building in town where I dropped them off. It would of been a chore to put them back in place as the mounting brackets were also out and broken up. Real nice folks in Antigo. They made a silk purse out of a sows ear with that locomotive. Cheers, John.

When offered a locomotive most cities took a small locomotive instead of a larger one -- so there were a number of SP 0-6-0s that became park engines. Only two Southern Pacific "Daylight" 4-8-4s were saved, one 4-10-2, one cab-forward.

Well John, the 440 looks way better now than she did way back in the day. For those who were curious, here's the link to the 440's album on steamlocomotive.info:

http://steamlocomotive.info/valbum.cfm?display=1341

Pretty impressive list! When you add the 8 Big Boys, 2 challengers, 5 Northerns, 1 Union Pacific, 1 Sante Fe, 2 Pacifics, 6 0-6-0's, 4 2-8-2's, and the2 4-6-0's, plus others I must have missed, that was really a huge commitment to preservation of therir herritage. You have to tip your hat to UP then and today for their efforts. I have not heard of the current status of the 618 in Utah, but the 428 at the Illinois Railway Museum has been undergoing a long term restoration for the last 15 or so years and is really not too far from operation. The steam crew has been distracted with work on the Frisco 1630, but progress on the 428 has been slow and steady. I eagerly await her return!

Steve

Thanks Dylan for the picture, is quite dated and the #440 is more complete now. Never saw that picture before. They built a new cab as the other was damaged and thought not salvageable. Has some of the piping back on. I couldn't find all the air tanks so she might be missing two smaller ones. The locomotive had been disassembled in the mid/late 1970s for an unfunded restoration. After years of all the parts scattered about the property many were lost or scrapped by good intentioned non shop people. Between theft and good intentioned people sprucing up the property many irreplaceable parts are lost or scrapped. Of course if it were up to me nothing would ever be tossed out and the museum would look like "Sanfords & Sons" more than it does. Unfortunately the #440 went from being very complete, to a carcass and looked horrible. Hence my joy in seeing it now, even if not historically correct.

Was a real shame about this locomotive. We checked her out pretty good before dragging it to Wi from Lincoln, NB. Much of her running gear seemed to have been gone through not long before retirement. Some of the work wouldn't pass today's FRA standards maybe, but it had been worked on. Made the trip on it's own wheels! It had a lot going for it, but even though the boiler lagging had only been sitting wet for less than 20 years the corrosion to the "gazillion flexible staybolt caps and sleeves as well as the wrapper sheet itself rendered it very costly to even think about. Other repairs done previously may have been questionable as well, but almost the complete firebox would of needed replacing and a ton of flexible staybolts would of had to been replaced or salvaged. The cost of fixing this old girl was prohibitive for sure. We {MC} didn't know about the awful corrosion until I stripped the lagging off, about 3 days or so before she shipped out to WI. Have stripped a number of boilers that sat as long if not longer than the #440 and never saw such horrific corrosion. This was an excellent locomotive for stuffing and mounting unfortunately. Or God forbid to be used for parts for another locomotive.

The Soo Line was another railroad that gave almost every city and town a locomotive if they wanted one, as already stated.

Cheers, John.

Another good example, the Northern Pacific preserved four Pacifics (as well as a few 0-6-0's, a handful of 10-wheelers, and an 0-4-0), but no Northerns.

#618 is out of service (flue time expired) and on display outside at Heber. I think last winter was the last time she operated.

RE: UP 440


I like the design of the roof structure over #440. The style is similar to station platform roofs, so it goes well with the railroad theme and doesn't detract at all from the display.

Photo of display: http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive.cfm?Display=1341

I was the person who signed the papers transferring the 440 to Mid-Continent.
I also had the pleasure(?) of riding the cab on the first leg of the trip to Wisconsin. Of course, it was towed by the local freight and was right behind the diesel. I rode from Lincoln to Fremont, NE. There I said my good byes and I have never seen it since.
Ira Schreiber
Aorora, CO

This past Thursday (11/3) I made a road trip across Nebraska and Wyoming, and along the way made it a point to visit some of the UP 2-8-0 Consolidations that have been preserved. For reasons of time, I couldn't see all the ones I wanted to, so I settled on the four at these locations: Columbus, Lexington, North Platte, and Laramie. All of these still wear their boiler lagging and jacketing. However, I read that work is beginning at Laramie to remove all the asbestos lagging from that engine.

By the way, if someone here is knowledgeable on UP 2-8-0's, I have a few questions:
(1) What is the difference between the class C-2 and class C-57?
(2) It looks like these 2-8-0's do not all have the same diameter boilers. Am I seeing that correctly? And if that is the case, what was the reason for that?

Below is my photo survey. I had a great time hunting these locomotives down, and I can't wait to go back to Nebraska to see some of the other UP locos that I wasn't able to see on this trip. Hope you enjoy the photos.

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UP #561 / Class C-57 / Columbus, NE
Pawnee Park
3420 Pawnee Park Drive, Columbus, Nebraska 68601
Map








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UP #485 / Class C-57 / Lexington, NE
Dawson County Historical Society‎
805 Taft Street, Lexington, NE 68850-2029
Map








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UP #480 / Class C-57 / North Platte, NE
Memorial Park‎
1000 E 4th St, North Platte, NE 69101
Map














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UP #535 / Class C-57 / Laramie, Wy
Railroad Heritage Park
700 S 1st St, Laramie, WY 82070
Map

I read that this engine will have its asbestos lagging removed. You can visit the official website for the Railroad Heritage Park, here. I'm really excited about what these folks in Laramie are doing.

If you include the majority of the SP Consolidations, which were all built to Common Standard plans, should not all of them be considered members of the same class? If so, would they collectively be the largest preserved class of locomotive in the United States?