A month has been set for when the train inside Fresno’s Roeding Park will leave a location it has been in for almost 70 years.

According to Kingsburg’s Mayor Brandon Pursell, Southern Pacific 1238 will be moved in May from Fresno to Kingsburg, where they hope to have the train on a permanent display in Kingsburg’s downtown area. Plans to move the train from Roeding Park have been in the works since 2019.


“Most people know the big, steam engine that’s at Roeding Park,” Pursell said. “So we’re fortunate enough to get that moved down, through our historic train depot society.”

A social media post by Kingsburg Depot also confirms May is the month the train will be moved to Kingsburg. An update on Facebook on April 11 states that the 1238 Steam Engine Project will see the train moved from Roeding Park in Fresno to the historic Kingsburg Depot in May, adding “a specific date will be announced soon.”

“That big black steam engine that’s been in Roeding Park, it’s going to be in our downtown area to really accent our historic train depot,” Pursell said.

Pursell says there are a number of people involved in the project to move the train, including several city and railroad officials.

“You can’t exactly throw it on the bed of a truck,” Pursell said. “We’ve had to create train tracks and stuff just to get it down there. It’ll be on a permanent display down there, and we’re super excited to have that in our downtown.”

The Southern Pacific engine was originally donated to the City of Fresno in 1956. According to the Kingsburg Depot, Southern Pacific 1238 was built in 1918 at the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia.