#237 was built by Baldwin in 1906, one of three hundred and fifty-eight of what became known as "Harriman Common Standard" Consolidation (2-8-0) type locomotives built for the Union Pacific by Baldwin, Brooks and Schenectady from 1904 to 1910. It is one of several early 20th Century UP Consolidations dotted across the Great Plains. You can see others on the UP #407, UP #437, UP #480, UP #481 and UP #485 pages of this website.
E. H. Harriman, Chairman of UP's Executive Committee from 1898 until he died in 1909, saw the benefit in building everything from locomotives, dining cars, passenger coaches to cabooses using common standards. From an initial interest in the Lake Ontario Southern, which he renamed the Sodus Bay & Southern, reorganised and sold to the Pennsy, he became a major railroad tycoon: when he died, he was also President of the Southern Pacific and controlled the Saint Joseph & Grand Island, Illinois Central, Central of Georgia, Pacific Mail Steamship Company and Wells Fargo Express. As a result, "Harriman Common Standards" were found on many US railroads during the first half of the twentieth century!
As built, #237 weighed 187,000 lbs. Superheated in 1918, the engine has 57" drivers, Stephenson valve gear and 22" x 30" cylinders. With a 49.5 sq ft grate, 190.7 sq ft firebox and total heating surface of 3,273 sq ft including 530 sq ft superheating, it operated at a boiler pressure of 200 psi delivering 43,305 lbs tractive effort. The Vanderbilt tender weighs 135,050 lbs light and has a capacity of 7,000 gallons of water and 14 tons of coal.
When superheaters were fitted to all in-service C-2s, one hundred and seventy-two boiler tubes were replaced by thirty-two flues. The engine weight rose by about 3,000 lbs, but little else changed.
#237 was one of three C-2s renumbered to clear the #200 series for new EMD GP9s in 1953, when it became #6237.
#237 retired in 1956, when it was donated to the Hastings Museum. It is on display in Highland Park at the corner of W 14th St and Lincoln Ave with UP Caboose #25441 built in 1959 and donated to the museum in 1989.