LAWS, Calif. – Another piece of narrow-gauge steam history may soon come to life in California. The Laws Railroad Museum and Historic Site will conduct a boiler test on Southern Pacific narrow-gauge 4-6-0 No. 9 to determine if it’s feasible to return it to service. The museum is currently renovating the locomotive including paint and smoke box repair.
No. 9 was built by Baldwin in November 1909 for the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway. It was sold to SP in the 1920s and worked the rest of its career on the SP narrow-gauge lines in Nevada and California. The locomotive also appeared in the 1948 film 3 Godfathers and the 1950s TV series Annie Oakley.
In 1954 SP purchased a diesel to replace steam on the remaining narrow-gauge lines. By then three steam locomotives remained, all 4-6-0s: Nos. 8, retired in 1954, is now on display in Nevada; No. 18 retired the same year and was sent to display in Independence, Calif.; and No. 9 was retained by SP as backup power.
No. 9 was the last SP narrow-gauge steam locomotive retired. It pulled the last revenue steam powered freight on the SP system on Aug. 25, 1959. After the remaining SP narrow-gauge lines were abandoned on April 29, 1960, the 4-6-0 went on display in Laws.
Between 2009 and July 2017, sister No. 18 was restored to operating condition in Independence. Since then it has traveled to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in Colorado and the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City. No. 18 has also been trucked to Laws to perform on-site photo shoots where visitors could photograph it posing with No. 9.
The Laws Museum includes the original SP narrow-gauge yard, turntable, water tower, oil facility, depot, and other structures that comprise a time capsule of small town narrow-gauge railroading.
The Museum has a fundraising goal of $50,000 toward the project. For more information and to donate go to the website.
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