OR&N 197

History

OR&N 197 was built in 1905 for pulling passenger trains on E.H. Harriman's Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, a subsidiary to the Union Pacific Railroad in Oregon. It arrived from the builders just in time to celebrate the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. It continued to serve for Portland, Oregon, when in 1923, it was given heavy modifications, a new vanderbilt-type tender, and renumbered 3203; at that time it was owned by Union Pacific. The Union Pacific used the locomotive until its retirement sometime in the 1950's, when UP donated the locomotive to the City of Portland, Oregon. It was placed on display near Oaks Amusement Park, where it was soon joined by the larger and more powerful 4-8-4 type locomotives Southern Pacific 4449 and Spokane, Portland and Seattle 700.

Restoration

In 1975, the SP 4449 was pulled out of the park to be restored to pull the American Freedom Train which would travel across the country during the United States Bicentennial. In 1990, SP&S 700 left the park to begin a restoration of its own, leaving the 197 the last engine in the park. Due to a parking lot expansion, the 197 was moved a short distance from its original 1950's resting place at Oaks Park. Otherwise, it sat almost forgotten until late 1995, when a small group of individuals banded together to consider returning the locomotive to operation.

It took several months of negotiations and several more months of mechanical work to prepare the engine for movement, but by early February 1996 the 197 was almost ready to move for the first time in nearly 40 years. On February 10, 1996, it was finally removed from Oaks Park. It was then moved to the Brooklyn Roundhouse, where it once again joined SP 4449 and SP&S 700 to begin restoration. That day just happened to coincide with the height of severe flooding in the Portland area after a series of winter storms. The Willamette River was lapping at the embankment where the engine sat. The East Portland Traction Co. (now Oregon Pacific Railroad), owner of the nearby railroad right-of-way, had to clear several mudslides the preceding day, but the engine was moved without incident. The 197 was taken to the Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific) Brooklyn Roundhouse in southeast Portland, where it once again sat alongside the SP 4449 and SP&S 700.

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