Southern Pacific No. 1273 is a 0-6-0 switcher that interestingly was built in the railroads own Sacrament Shops in 1921. It has 20 x 26 cylinders, 57" drivers, is 62' 2" long and weight 76.5 tons. In it's 35 years of service, in spite of being restricted to yard service, No. 1273 logged over 1,000.000 miles. (How do they figure that on a machine that does not have an odometer?) It was donated to Travel Town by Southern Pacific in 1957.
Travel Town is located in Griffith Park Los Angeles CA and is owed by the LA Department of Recreation and Parks. It was the brainchild of Parks employee Charley Atkins in 1952. He wanted it to be a haven for retired steam locomotives and be a "railroad petting zoo," allowing the children of Los Angeles to play at being engineers. Since that time, the collection and the museum's mission has evolved. Most fortunately, it has been greatly improved since the 1970's and while there is much to do, it now has a much clearer vision of it's future. http://traveltown.org
An attempt to put the best picture of engines that represent each of America's railroads. When a better picture of an engine/type is found, it will be added.
