SP 4449 was built in 1941 as a GS-4 "Northern" type locomotive. A 4-8-4 wheel
arrangement, she is 110' long, 10' wide and 16' tall. The locomotive and tender
weighs 433 tons, and it operates with a boiler pressure of 300 psi. Her eight
80" diameter drivers and unique booster truck can apply 5,500 horsepower to the
rails and exceed 100 mph. The only remaining operable "streamlined" steam
locomotive of the Art Deco era, this grand Lady of the High Iron pulled Southern
Pacific "Daylight" coaches from Los Angeles to San Francisco over the scenic
Coast Route and then on to Portland until 1955. Retired to static display at
Oaks Park in 1958, most thought SP 4449 would never run again.

In 1974, she was selected to pull the American Freedom Train throughout the
United States, and was subsequently rebuilt. SP 4449 ran for three years to
the delight of over 30 million people. She is arguably one of the most beautiful
locomotives ever built -- and kept that way by the all-volunteer Friends of SP 4449!