#4442, a Class S-5 0-6-0 switcher, was one of twenty built in 1918 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA, to Union Pacific plans and designed by the Lima Locomotive Works (#4431-#4450). It was one of six coal burners in the otherwise oil burning batch. The original contract for thirty was let to Lima but they were unable to complete the order and Baldwin was used.
#4442 was assigned as a depot switcher in Omaha, NE. It was one of three UP 0-6-0s with chrome-plated cylinder covers, nickel-plated drive rods, and its boiler jacket extended over its smokebox and painted grey. The rest of the engine was painted in high gloss black. The other two “spruced up” 0-6-0s were based in Denver, CO, and Los Angeles, CA. As they were used to assemble passenger trains, the engines were frequently in public view and the UP considered it made a better public impression to dress them in this way. You can see another, Southern Pacific 0-6-0 that was once dressed in a similar way for work at the railroad’s San Jose, CA, depot on the SP #1221 page of this website.
#4442 was moved to Las Vegas in the late 1930s and assigned to regular yard service.
The engine weighs 162,000 lbs and has Walschaert valve gear, 51” drivers and 21” x 26” cylinders. The wheelbase is 11’.
The firebox is 74.7 sq ft. The straight top 70” long boiler was fed by two Nathan Simplex Type R injectors. Inside was a Schmidt type superheater with twenty-eight
5 3/8” x 150” flues, and one hundred and seventy-two 11’ 6” long, 2” diameter tubes.
Operating at 180 psi, #4442 delivered 34,400 lbs tractive effort. The tender had a 6 ton coal and 4,500 gallon water capacity.
#4442 retired in 1960. Donated to the City of Las Vegas, NV, it was later moved to the Clark County Museum in Henderson, NV.
