Built in March of 1944 by Baldwin Locomotive Works, Southern Pacific #4294 earned its keep by pulling freight trains over Donner Pass. Locomotive #4294 was the last of 20 Southern Pacific class AC-12 4-8-8-2 cab-forward locomotives in a larger series of 256 Southern Pacific articulated cab forwards, starting with class AC-1. This engine is the only of its kind surviving. The cab-forward design improved visibility and kept the smoke out of the cab in the many tunnels and snowsheds on the route. It is also worth noting the locomotive burned Bunker C fuel oil rather than coal. This historic engine is now preserved at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.
