1986 Automatic Switch Co. Print \"The Shaky Road to Promontory\" ASCO Collection For Sale

1986 Automatic Switch Co. Color Print of \"The Shaky Road To Promontory\" - Union Pacific\'s 4-4-0 \"American\" Steam Locomotive from The ASCO Collection of Historic Locomotives. This is a very good print on fine canvas paper suitable for framing if desired. Print has been stored in a clear plastic sleeve. Print is approximately 8.5 x 11 inches in size. The unique history of this locomotive can be found at the following website: Pacific No. 119 Saves the DayDuring November 1868, Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works of Paterson, New Jersey, built Union Pacific locomotives No. 116, No. 117, No. 118, No. 119, and No. 120. Seven months laster, No. 119 received the call to pull Union Pacific Vice-President Thomas Durant and his contingent of dignitaries to Promontory Summit. Like Stanford, Durant originally chose a different locomotive to take part in the Golden Spike Ceremony. En route to Promontory for the ceremony, which was scheduled for May 8, the Durant Special was forced onto a siding and stopped at the little town of Piedmont, Wyoming, not far from the Utah border. There to greet Durant were over 400 laid off tie cutters, who had been waiting three months to be paid. Durant’s coach was immediately chained to the siding, and after a delay of nearly two days, the men’s pay arrived. The delay caused Durant substantial embarrassment, cost his original locomotive her place in history and moved the Golden Spike Ceremony to May 10. From Rescuer to Scrap - While Durant was delayed, the rain-swollen Weber River continued to rise. When the Durant Special reached the river at the Devil’s Gate Bridge, the locomotive’s engineer saw the raging water had removed some of the bridge supports. This left the bridge unsafe for the heavy engine, and the engineer refused to cross. However, after assuring Durant that the bridge would support the lighter passenger coaches, the engineer gave each coach a push with his locomotive. The cars of nervous dignitaries then coasted across the unstable structure. Unfortunately, this action left Durant without a locomotive. A hastily wired message to Ogden requested rescue. Sitting in Ogden were the five Union Pacific locomotives No. 116 through No. 120. It was the No. 119 that was next to the main line and therefore, rescued Durant’s Special and landed its place in history at the Golden Spike Ceremony. After May 10, 1869, No. 119 continued service as a freight locomotive. In 1882, she was renumbered No. 343 and served out her days until scrapped in the early 1900’s. Like Jupiter, No 119’s sacrifice brought her railroad a scrapper’s fee of $1000. For the Love of Steam -In 1975, O’Connor Engineering Laboratories of Costa Mesa, California, accepted the challenge of reproducing Jupiter and No. 119 as they were during the Golden Spike Ceremony. With no plans or blueprints, engineers and technicians set out to build the historic American 4-4-0 locomotives. Using a locomotive design engineer’s handbook from 1870 and micrometer scalings of enlarged 1869 photographs of the two locomotives, work began on building the replicas. A four year labor of love ensued, including two years just to create over 700 drawings. When the locomotives were ready, every dimension was within 1/4 inch of the original. It took four trucks to bring the gleaming replicas 800 miles here to Promontory Summit, Utah. Here, they were christened with water from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and commissioned into service May 10, 1979, the 110th Anniversary of the Golden Spike Ceremony. Although the great pioneering, steam-driven days of the first transcontinental railroad are gone, the legacy of that time lives on at Golden Spike National Historical Park. Here, the reborn Jupiter and No. 119 are tangible representations of another era and serve as striking symbols for one of the most important events in our nation’s history.

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