#794 is an MK-5 Class Mikado type (2-8-2) locomotive, one of twenty built for the Texas & New Orleans Railroad in 1916 at Alco's Brooks Locomotive Works in Patterson, NJ (#775-#749). Twenty-five of the class had already been built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA, for the T&NO in 1913 (#750-#774). Apparently, #794 was shipped to Texas where it was assembled in Houston. It hauled freight and passenger trains in and around San Antonio, routinely making trips to Houston, McAllen and Laredo.
With a 16' 6" driver wheelbase and engine wheelbase of 35' 2", #794 weighs 285,950 lbs, 213,380 lbs on its 63" drivers. It has Walschaert valve gear and 26" x 28" cylinders. The grate is 70.4 sq ft and the firebox 235 sq ft. An oil burner with a total heating surface of 4,839 sq ft, including 865 sq ft superheating, the locomotive operated at a boiler pressure of 210 psi delivering 53,629 lbs tractive effort.
The tender weighs 156,100 lbs light and has a capacity of 9,000 gallons of water and 2,940 gallons of oil.
#794 was retired in 1956 and donated to the City of San Antonio the following year.
The locomotive was on display in Maverick Park until it was relocated to the Sunset Station Depot
in downtown San Antonio in 1999. It is still on display there and looks in very good condition thanks to the efforts of the Friends of the
SP 794, a subsidiary of the San Antonio Railroad Heritage Museum. The museum has begun restoration work and hopes to have the locomotive steaming by 2018, in time to participate in the City
of San Antonio’s tricentennial celebration.
