Added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 4, 2000

The annual Train Festival at Union Station is a straight-up delight. For two days, you’re treated to free exhibits, model railroad displays (including one made of Legos!), info booths from LA Metro, Amtrak and Metrolink, pop-up shops and more. It’s a lot to take in. But at Train Fest 2025 I was on a mission to see just one thing: the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Steam Locomotive No. 3751 (ATSF 3571), the only LA-based train on the National Register of Historic Places. 

To be fair, calling ATSF 3751 a Los Angeles landmark is kinda underselling it. Yes, the Redondo Junction roundhouse just southeast of downtown LA is where she rested during much of her original service, and where she’s housed today. But she’s also spent decades holed up in San Bernardino County, and over the years ATSF 3751 has hauled passengers and freight down to San Diego, across the Tehachapi Mountains between Barstow & Bakersfield, and as far away as Chicago. She’s a worldly train, that 3751! So let’s hear her story.

Built in 1927 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, the ATSF 3751 was the first of the 4-8-4 or “New Mountain” class of locomotives to be commissioned by the Santa Fe Railway, one of the major players in American rail travel. While the ATSF 3751 wasn’t the first 4-8-4 ever built – the Northern Pacific Railroad ordered a dozen in 1926 – all of the earlier specimens have been scrapped. Our girl 3751 is the oldest remaining 4-8-4 in America. 

The numbers “4-8-4” represent the wheel arrangements: four pilot wheels to support the front of the engine and guide the heavy locomotive through tricky switches and curves, eight large “driving” wheels for speed, and then four “trailing” wheels underneath the firebox, where the fuel is burned to boil water for steam pressure.

The previous decades had seen plenty of innovation in locomotive technology. New wheel arrangements improved the speed and stability of train travel, while larger boilers and cylinders helped to increase the steam power that locomotives could generate. The 4-8-4s were the successors to the 4-8-2 “Mountain” class, first made for the Santa Fe in 1918. Those ones had especially large boilers for extra power, to help conquer steep mountain grades while hauling a long retinue of passenger, baggage and mail cars.

The main innovation of the 4-8-4 was an extra four-wheel trailing truck, supporting a 108 square-foot grate below a big firebox. The upgrades provided just the right balance of speed, power and efficiency that Santa Fe’s engineers were looking for. Their new 4-8-4 model could pull 1/3-heavier loads with 20% less fuel than the 4-8-2s, and the large firebox meant it could run longer without having to stop to clean the fire and dump out ash. It was capable of starting a train with 26 passenger cars, and hauling nine of them at a time on steep grades without a helper locomotive. 

The 3751’s power and endurance were more than just engineering triumphs. As railroad history expert Walter P. Gray explained in the locomotive’s nomination form for the National Register, the Santa Fe Railway was beginning to compete with automobiles in the 1920s. There was a very real economic incentive to build a locomotive that could offer faster train rides with fewer stops – especially on the transcontinental routes from Chicago to Los Angeles, where you’d be staring at a whole lot of nothing for much of the ride. The success of 4-8-4s like the ATSF 3751 played a big role in shaping people’s conceptions of train travel.

Baldwin Locomotive Works delivered the ATSF 3751 to Santa Fe in June of 1927, after which it spent a short break-in period in the railway’s main backshop in Topeka. After nearly a year of testing the 3751 on runs between Albuquerque, NM and La Junta, CO through the mountainous Raton Pass, Santa Fe was convinced that it was well worth the $99,712.77 they had spent on it (around $1.87 million today). So they ordered another 13 of the 4-8-4s from Baldwin over the next two years. 

The Santa Fe put the 3751 and its 4-8-4 siblings in service on the La Junta-Winslow route, a distance of some 636 miles. In the ‘30s you could find a 4-8-4 at the head of many of the railway’s most popular passenger trains: the Chief, the California Limited, the Fast Mail Express, the Grand Canyon Limited and the Navajo.

When Santa Fe introduced its diesel-powered Super Chief train in 1936, they decided to soup up the ATSF 3751 and reserve it for relief steam power, if needed. She spent a few months in a shop in San Bernardino, converting from a coal burner to an oil burner, and soon got a larger tender (the fuel car behind the locomotive) that could hold 7,107 gallons of oil and 20,000 gallons of water. When the conversion was complete she was capable of pulling the Super Chief between La Junta and Los Angeles, a run of some 1,235 miles, one of the longest steam engine runs in the country back then. 

A major rebuild in 1941 embiggened the driving wheels from 73” to 80” and added new 30” x 30” cylinders, which contributed to improved speeds of over 100 mph and indicated horsepower of more than 3,900. The ATSF 3751 and its sister 4-8-4s had already been handling the 1500+ mile Grand Canyon Limited run from Los Angeles to Wellington, KS. The engine upgrade put them all in the pool for the record-setting 1,789 run from Los Angeles to Kansas City, hauling both the Grand Canyon Limited and Scout lines. 

In fact several sources claim that the ATSF 3751 was pulling the Santa Fe Scout when it became the first transcontinental train to roll into LA’s Union Station, at 7:00am on opening day, May 7, 1939. The Scout’s engineer Joseph P. Murray became the first engineer to be kissed by a woman at Union Station when Doris Burnside, the 18-year-old daughter of a train foreman, gave him a smooch as he swung down from his controls. 

The 4-8-4s were both the top of the line and, some say, the end of the line when it came to steam-powered locomotive design. They were developed just a couple years before the onset of the Great Depression, when not many locomotives of any kind were being built, and the fast pace of steam engine innovation stalled. By the end of WWII, most players in the railroad industry had begun to replace their steam-powered fleet with more efficient diesel-electric locomotives. The ATSF 3751 was one of just six steam-powered Santa Fe engines west of Albuquerque that survived the transition.

There were a few more upgrades to the ATSF 3751 in the 1940s. Its smokestack was extended up to improve visibility for the crew by lifting the smoke higher; by 1949 a new “deflector” stack was in place, to keep the smoke above the cab even when the train was rumbling through tunnels. An automatic train stop was added around 1947, after the Interstate Commerce Commission required them for locomotives traveling faster than 79 mph. In its final form, the 3751 tipped the scales at 478,100 lbs. for the engine, and another 396,246 lbs. for the tender.  

The 3751 remained active in the early 1950s, running special trains to Barstow, and pulling the Del Mar Race Track trains between LA and San Diego. But the writing was on the wall for steam locomotives. Santa Fe formally retired its entire steam-powered fleet by 1957, though not before one final trip from LA to Barstow in 1955, billed as the Santa Fe’s “farewell to steam” excursion. According to a Progress-Bulletin article from February 5, 1955, that train was powered by “a locomotive of Santa Fe’s famous 3751 class” – likely one of the other 4-8-4s that Baldwin had built in 1928, as the ATSF 3751 herself had completed her last run in the summer of 1953, and was resting in the Redondo Junction roundhouse in LA at the time. 

The Santa Fe Railroad donated the venerable 3751 to the city of San Bernardino in 1957. After some hemming and hawing about where to keep it, the city opted to lease Viaduct Park, a 1.8-acre patch of grass just south of the Santa Fe yards where the 3751 was converted from coal to oil-burning back in 1936. After some paint touchups, she was placed mid-park in the spring of 1958, with formal dedication ceremonies taking place on June 3. And there she sat for the next 28 years. Occasionally, she’d get a new sheet metal jacket or bulb replacement or paint job, but otherwise she just hung out behind a chain link fence, awaiting the next move. 

The next move came in the ‘80s, courtesy of the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society (SBRHS). Formed in 1981 for the express purpose of getting the ATSF 3751 back on the tracks, SBRHS spent a few years undoing the work of weather and vandals, and trying to convince the city of San Bernardino to sell it to them and help them move it somewhere indoors. The City Council was motivated to do something, as the owners of Viaduct Park were threatening to increase rent by nearly 250%.

SBRHS got its wish in 1986, when the city of San Bernardino sold the 3751 to them for $1 with the proviso that they restore it within three years. The Society moved it for the first time in nearly 30 years, on temporary track to a new backshop in Fontana owned by California Steel Industries. 

It wasn’t easy raising the $250,000 required for a proper restoration, and the process itself was painstaking. The SBRHS disassembled every part of the locomotive, taking detailed photos the whole way, and used original design specs from the Santa Fe Railway to guide the repair or replacement of every element that needed it.

The hope was to get the job done by May 1989, so they could celebrate the 50th anniversary of Union Station, which played such an important role in the 3751’s story. The SBRHS didn’t hit that target. They missed the 10th anniversary of Sacramento’s California State Railroad Museum on April 29, 1991 too. In August of that year, with the help of dozens of corporate sponsors and tens of thousands of volunteer hours, the ATSF 3751 finally moved on its own power for the first time in 36 years. 

The first official excursion of ATSF 3751’s second life began on December 27, 1991. She rode from Los Angeles to Barstow via the Cajon Pass, then across the Tehachapi Mountains to Bakersfield, on a California Limited run that pulled 16 cars full of passengers and drew thousands of spectators at every stop.

The ‘90s found her couch-surfing between various storage facilities. She was in the Santa Fe’s shuttered backshop in San Bernardino until that was demolished in 1995. Then she moved to an outdoor spot between the old San Bernardino train yards for a few years, at which point she was featured in an Annie Leibovitz photo shoot featuring Nicolas Cage for Vanity Fair. Finally in 1999, she moved back to the Redondo Junction roundhouse in LA (by then owned by Amtrak), where she had spent so much time in her early years.

Since the 3751’s return to the rails, she’s gone on irregular but not uncommon excursions, whenever the finances and logistics pencil out. There was a trip up to Sacramento in 1999, captured for a feature-length documentary, and two excursions to the Grand Canyon in 2002 and 2012. She rolled back to San Bernardino in 2004 to celebrate the restoration of the Santa Fe Depot, and took a trip from LA to San Diego in 2008, pulling 25 vintage rail cars at the behest of the American Association of Private Car Owners. Watch the video below for some spectacular footage of excursions out to San Bernardino for the San Bernardino Railroad Days event between 2010 and 2014.

In 2017 the SBRHS took her out of service while it completed an overhaul, mandated by the Federal Railroad Administration. Since returning in September of 2022 she’s been a regular fixture at railroad celebrations at the Fullerton Train Museum, and of course Train Fest at Union Station. 

A couple appearances a year may not sound like much. But given its historical significance, not to mention the insane amount of work and money that it takes to maintain a 478,100-pound, 99-year-old piece of equipment like this, it is a miracle that we get to see the ATSF 3751 at all. There are rumors that Amtrak is bumping up the rental fee at the former Redondo Junction roundhouse, such that the SBRHS may need to send the 3751 to Albuquerque, where they’re already storing some of the other historic rolling stock they own.

Bummed as I am at the prospect of losing the 3751 to another city, I’m trying to keep in mind that locomotives aren’t built to stay in one place for too long. The important thing is that the 3751 exists and is well cared for. It could have been scrapped at so many different points in its history. And it might have been, were it not for (at different times) the Santa Fe Railway, the City of San Bernardino, the SBRHS, and a community of private donors and railfans, all working to keep this glorious locomotive on the rails. 

Thanks to photographer Craig S. Walker and Lyn Killian of the San Bernardino History & Railroad Museum for granting me permission to use their photos of the ATSF 3751.

Resources & Recommended Reading

+ “2nd Street Shopping Center” (AD – The San Bernardino County Sun, August 11, 1960 – via newspapers.com)

+ “1960s – Viaduct Park” (sbdepotmuseum.com) 

+ “All Aboard” (Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1999 – via ProQuest)

+ “All Dressed Up” (The San Bernardino County Sun, July 24, 1960 – via newspapers.com)

+ Boerio, Larry with Gary Page & Dennis White: “SANTA FE No. 3751 AND FULLERTON: INTERESTING FACTS” (PDF – Fullerton Model Railroad Historical Society, via trainweb.com)

+ “City Council Has Locomotive by Tail But Doesn’t Know What to Do with It” (The San Bernardino County Sun, October 14, 1956 – via newspapers.com)

+ “City Welcomes It’s ‘Iron Horse’” (The San Bernardino County Sun, June 4, 1958 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Council Leases Site for Memorial Locomotive” (The San Bernardino County Sun, August 15, 1957 – via newspapers.com)

+ “First Trains Move Sunday” (Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1939 – via ProQuest)

+ “For the Last Time” (The San Bernardino County Sun,  June 3, 1958 – via newspapers.com)

+ Gold, Scott: “The ‘Cadillac of steam’ to ride the rails again” (Los Angeles Times, April 30, 2010 – via ProQuest)

+ Horyn, Cathy: “Caged Heat” (Vanity Fair, July 1996)

+ “Los Angeles Travelers Scramble for “First” Honors at New Union Station” (Los Angeles Times, May 8, 1939 – via ProQuest)

+ Lundahl, Mark: “City says no again to sale of locomotive” (The San Bernardino County Sun, May 14, 1985 – via newspapers.com)

+ Lundahl, Mark: “Historic locomotive may be sold to buffs” (The San Bernardino County Sun, March 13, 1985 – via newspapers.com)

+ “May 14, 1958 – ATSF 3751 Moves into Viaduct Park” (sbdepotmuseum.com)

+ Merkley, Philip C. assisted by William R. Plunkett, with additional material by Walter P. Gray: ATSF 3751’s NRHP nomination form

+ Monteagudo, Jr., Luis: “Santa Fe’s Engine 3751 rolls again” (The San Bernardino County Sun, August 14, 1991 – via newspapers.com)

+ Muckenfuss, Mark: “S.B. is picture-perfect for a star shoot” (The San Bernardino County Sun, July 24, 1996 – via newspapers.com)

+ Mueller, Chuck: “Historic rail depot will get facelift” (The San Bernardino County Sun, March 21, 1991 – via newspapers.com)

+ “New Station’s Life Normal” (Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, May 8, 1939 – via Newspapers.com)

+ Pleasure, Thomas: “Steamy railroad history revived” (The San Bernardino County Sun, January 5, 1992 – via newspapers.com)

+ Railfan & Railroad Staff: “San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society Overhauls Santa Fe 3751” (railfan.com, August 10, 2021)

+ Railfan & Railroad Staff: “Santa Fe 3751 Returns to the Main Line in September” (railfan.com, August 31, 2022)

+ “Railway Club to Bid Farewell to Steam” (Progress-Bulletin, February 5, 1955 – via newspapers.com)

+ Roig, Suzanne: “Engine 3751: Restored locomotive returns home” (The San Bernardino County Sun, January 1, 1993 – via newspapers.com)

+ Roig, Suzanne: “It thought it could but Engine 3751 couldn’t” (The San Bernardino County Sun, November 16, 1991 – via newspapers.com)

+ San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society on Facebook

+ “SPECIFICATIONS OF SANTA FE 3751” (sbrhs.org)

+ Stagner, Lloyd E.: “HISTORY OF SANTA FE 3751: A PIONEER 4-8-4” (sbrhs.org) 

+ Steam & Excursion > ATSF 3751 messageboard (trainorders.com, October 19-22, 2025)

+ Stein, Mark A.: “Santa Fe Engine Restoration Picks Up Steam in Fontana” (Los Angeles Times, March 17, 1991 – via ProQuest)

+ “TLC for old No. 3751” (The San Bernardino County Sun, July 23, 1977 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Union Station Service Starts: Trains Begin Running as Celebration Ends; Many ‘Firsts’ Reported” (Los Angeles Times, May 8, 1939– via ProQuest Historical)

+ VIDEO: “ATSF 3751: How did this Steam Engine become an ICON?” (Modern Line Studios on YouTube, June 5, 2024)

+ VIDEO: “Northern Steam – Santa Fe Locomotive 3751 at Viaduct Park, San Bernardino, CA – Firebox Vault 44” (Firebox Vault on YouTube, May 7, 2021)

+ VIDEO: “Santa Fe 3751 – Return to Steam (DVD)” (Pentrex Train Videos on YouTube, July 1, 2010)

+ VIDEO: “Santa Fe 3751 Steam Locomotive: San Bernardino Railroad Days 2010 – 2014” (CoasterFan2105 on YouTube, April 12, 2024)

+ VIDEO: “Santa Fe 3751 Steam Special to San Diego 2010” (CoasterFan2105 on YouTube, May 1, 2020)

+ VIDEO: “Santa Fe 3751 – Steam Train in the middle of the Freeway” (Wonder World on YouTube, March 20, 2018)

+ Whitehair, John: “Shop demolition could leave vintage engine homeless” (The San Bernardino County Sun, January 30, 1994 – via newspapers.com)

+ Yarger, Bob: “Big Plans at Fullerton – No Plans at Redondo” (rypn.org)

+ Yetzer, Carl: “Locomotive comes out of retirement for trip” (The San Bernardino County Sun, November 5, 1990 – via newspapers.com)

+ Yetzer, Carl: “‘Old 3751’ finds a new friend” (The San Bernardino County Sun, March 31, 1983 – via newspapers.com)

+ Yetzer, Carl: “Struggle on to restore locomotive” (The San Bernardino County Sun, June 8, 1987 – via newspapers.com)

+ Yingst, Cindy: “Depot plans chug along” (The San Bernardino County Sun, January 15, 1998 – via newspapers.com)