SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California State Railroad Museum and its support group, the California State Railroad Museum Foundation, have launched an effort to restore Santa Fe steam locomotive No. 1010, a 2-6-2 built by Baldwin in 1901, for use on the museum’s Sacramento Southern excursion railroad.
The project — the largest steam restoration project undertaken by the museum since its opening in 1981 — is described in the current edition of the Museum Foundation’s “On Track” magazine.
No. 1010, which was donated to the museum by Santa Fe in 1984, is most notable for its role in the “Death Valley Scotty” excursion, in which prospector and performer Walter E. Scott contracted with the Santa Fe in 1905 to break the speed record for a cross-country train trip. No. 1010 was one of the 19 locomotives used in the 44-hour, 54-minute trip from Los Angeles to Chicago — which broke the old record by about eight hours. The locomotive powered the three-car train between Needles, Calif., and Seligman, Ariz.
Funding for the project has begun with an initial matching grant of $300,000 provided by three families — Jeff and Marsha Gibeling; Art and Linda Grix; and Craig Hoefer of the Hofer Family Foundation. That is approximately half the money needed for the restoration project.
The locomotive was part of the pageant that opened the museum in 1981, powered by compressed air, and is still capable of moving short distances in that fashion. It is occasionally displayed in the museum’s roundhouse.
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