Southern Pacific GS-2 class

Six streamlined 4-8-4 Northern type steam locomotives built by the Lima Locomotive Works for the Southern Pacific Railroad and numbered 4410 through 4415. GS stands for Golden State or General Service. Designed by the Southern Pacific for high-speed passenger service, they had 73.5 inch drivers and could develop 4500 horsepower at 55 mph, with a maximum speed of 90 mph, and carried a silver smokebox, skyline casing and side skirting. They were the first locomotives to wear the silver, black, red and orange Daylight paint scheme and were used for the debut of the Coast Daylight in 1937, before the improved GS-3 replaced them on that train. In wartime they hauled troop trains, and in the 1950s they lost their skirting and moved to general service, including San Jose to San Francisco commuter runs, mail trains and freight. They served from 1937 to 1958.