About a year or so ago; the Trolley and Railroad Corporation of San Jose gave their Southern Pacific locomotive and other steam artifacts to the Niles Canyon Railway.

Does anyone know what happened to their other two steam locomotives? They are the Santa Fe Little Buttercup and the SP #1215. These were long owned but not displayed at the California State Railroad Museum.

Ted Miles retired but still likes steam locomotives

Southern Pacific S10 #1215 is cosmetically restored and on display at History San Jose along with a boxcar and a caboose (I think?). They are presently also restoring the Southern Pacific Coyote depot next to the rail equipment display. https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/05/21/155-year-old-coyote-train-depot-takes-a-road-trip-to-san-jose/

Unfortunately, the water tower at Coyote does not seem to have found a home. I am not sure what the timeline is for it, but it is very large and would be difficult to move.

I believe the AT&SF "Little Buttercup" 0-4-0 is on display in the trolley barn at History San Jose. It was amongst many pieces from the Santa Fe collection that the CA State Railroad Museum ultimately de-accessed to make their collection more manageable.

SP #1215 was never at the CA State Railroad Museum. According to wikipedia:

The County of Santa Clara donated Southern Pacific P10 #2479, the remains of the San Jose roundhouse, its water tower, and turntable. The locomotive has been relocated to the restoration yard at Brightside and has been partially reassembled. I believe the cab is still at the fairgrounds-adjacent site run by the California Trolley and Railroad Corporation. The San Jose turntable was relocated to a site adjacent to the Niles wye. The 65,000 gallon water tower, and San Jose roundhouse components are also still at the fairgrounds waiting to be moved to Niles. Moving the water tower will be quite an accomplishment. The Niles Canyon Railway/Pacific Locomotive Association is very thankful that the county of Santa Clara allocated funds for their relocation when they donated these artifacts.

There is a fairly lengthy update video about some of NCRy's current projects here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_OxF5an2FY

"Little Buttercup" was certainly in the car barn at the San Jose Heritage Park when I visited there in May 2016.......

As Randy outlined, both SP 1215 and Little Buttercup will remain cosmetic displays at History Park in San Jose. With the arrival of the Coyote Depot two weeks ago, we anticipate solidifying our partnership with History San Jose in their educational and public programming.

Ken Middlebrook
President
California Trolley and Railroad Corporation

Ken was very polite to not point out my mistakes. The "Little Buttercup" is not an 0-4-0t. It was built as one, but the tank was removed and a tender added when the engine was back-dated for the Chicago Railroad Fair. I also believe that CSRM has retained ownership, and the locomotive is merely on long-term loan to CTRC.

Please correct me if I am wrong about this or anything else I wrote above.

It is an odd bird. Currently, the "Little Buttercup" tells us more about post-war era railroad nostalgia and boosterism than its own history as a switcher from 1899. There is a brief Wikipedia article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe_5

LBC’s ownership was transferred to CTRC.

Ken