In the 1960s, the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad wanted to
donate a steam engine to the Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX, but discovered that all its steamers had already been scrapped. #4994 was therefore acquired from the FW&D's parent company, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in 1964 and repainted as FW&D #401. It is on display at the National Ranching Heritage Center on the Texas Tech University Campus.
The engine on display is one of sixty O-1A Class Mikado type
(2-8-2) locomotives built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone, PA, in 1923 for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (#4940-#4999), the last order for 2-8-2s made by the CB&Q.
The original #401 was one of ten FW&D Class E4A1 locomotives (#401-#410) built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1915. They were copies of the CB&Q O1 also built by Baldwin in 1910-11, although the O1s were coal burners and the E41As were oil burners. #401 was sold for scrap in 1955.
Dedicated on 2nd July 1976, the 27½ acre
National Ranching Heritage Center was
established to preserve the history of ranching, pioneer life and the development of the livestock industry in North America. It features almost fifty authentic ranch buildings and other ranching related artefacts dating from the late 18th to the mid-20th century. Structures include a railroad depot, homesteads, windmills, a barn, schoolhouse and spudder.
Visitors view the exhibits through a self-guided walking tour. Entrance is free to the public.
#4994 was one of five CB&Q Mikados leased to the Colorado & Southern Railroad in the Fall of 1958 to replace diesels destroyed in two head-on collisions, one at Chugwater, WY, the other at Broomfield, CO. The locomotives helped get through the annual sugar beet campaign and worked into early 1959 (you can see another of these leased Mikados on the QBQ #4978 page of this website).
#4994 was kept at the C&S 7th St. roundhouse in Denver, CO, until it was repainted and moved to Lubbock.
#4994 has a Hodges trailing truck with the front swing links coupled directly to the equalising bars and the rear links coupled to castings bolted to the rear engine frame.
The engine weighs a total of 316,780 lbs, 232,650 lbs on its 64" drivers.
The locomotive has Walschaert valve gear, an Elesco feedwater heater, an engine wheelbase of 33' 9½" and driver wheelbase of 16' 9". With a 58.8 sq ft grate and 325 sq ft firebox, including 33 sq ft of arch tubes and a 59 sq ft combustion chamber, the total heating surface was 4,178 sq ft, including 769 sq ft superheating. Operating at a boiler pressure of 200 psi, it delivered 58,092 lbs tractive effort.
Below, the tender weighs 195,200 lbs light and has a capacity of 10,000 gallons of water and 19 tons of coal.
#4994 is on display with, top far left, ATSF Cattle Truck #50847, lower left two photos, #68907 and, above, FWD AAR type M930 Wooden Caboose #72.
Right, Ropes depot was built in 1918. The Rail Car House was used to store track repair equipment.
