Big Easy Steam Train

Southern Pacific No. 1744 is a preserved American M-6 class 2-6-0 "Mogul" type steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Southern Pacific Railroad in November 1901. Originally equipped with Vauclain compound cylinders, it was rebuilt with conventional cylinders in 1912. It operated for many years out of Oakland, California on the Southern Pacific's Western Division and in California's Central Valley where the locomotive and its classmates were fondly called “Valley Mallets” by their crews.

The locomotive was made famous in later years by pulling some of the last steam excursions on the SP alongside other steam locomotives, including 4-8-4 4460. In 1959, No. 1744 was donated to the Sons of Utah Pioneers in Corinne, Utah where it remained on static display, until 1980. That year, it was restored by New London Railroad and Village Incorporated to operate on the Heber Valley Railroad in Heber City for the rest of the decade.

In 1989, it was sold to Tarantula Corporation for a rebuild that never came to fruition, and it spent another decade in storage in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1999, it was sold again the Rio Grande Pacific Corporation, and it was rebuilt to operate in New Orleans, Louisiana until 2001. It was eventually sold once again to Iowa Pacific Holdings for use on the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad between Alamosa and La Veta, Colorado.

Its fourth return to service only lasted less than a year, as firebox repairs needed to be done for the locomotive. The boiler was sent to several out of state facilities for repairs, until the Rio Grande Scenic ceased operations. In March 2020, the Pacific Locomotive Association purchased No. 1744 with the hopes of bringing it back to service on the Niles Canyon Railway in Sunol, California.

Wikipedia

On May 21, 1999, No. 1744 was sold to the Rio Grande Pacific Corporation (RGP), who gave it a thorough overhaul beginning in January 2000 at a combined purchase and rebuild cost of $1.3 million. No. 1744 was test fired over FWWR trackage on September 9, 2000, and throughout the rest of the month, it was used for various test runs while pulling passenger cars, until it was approved to operate by the Federal Railroad Administration on September 30. It was subsequently moved via flatcar to New Orleans, Louisiana, in November of that year. The locomotive made its official inaugural run the following month for the Burlington Rock Island Historical Society, and subsequently, it started pulling regular weekend passenger trains between Belle Chasse and Gretna on one of the RGP's subsidiaries, the New Orleans and Gulf Coast Railway.

Wikipedia