Santa Fe 3751

Santa Fe 3751 is a preserved steam locomotive, the first 4-8-4 Northern type that the Baldwin Locomotive Works built for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. It was completed in May 1927 at Baldwin's Eddystone plant near Philadelphia and entered passenger service on a railroad that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. Tests showed it to be about 20 percent more efficient and powerful than the 3700 class Mountain type locomotives that preceded it, and the Santa Fe numbered it to continue that series. It was converted to burn oil in 1936 and rebuilt in 1941 with larger driving wheels, and that year it reached its highest recorded speed of 103 miles per hour. It pulled the last regular steam passenger train between Los Angeles and San Diego in August 1953 and was later put on display at San Bernardino. The San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society bought it and restored it to run again in 1991, and since then it has hauled excursion trains. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the oldest surviving locomotive of the 4-8-4 wheel arrangement in the world. An overhaul required by federal inspection rules kept it out of service from 2017 until September 2022.