Iowa’s Sioux City Railroad Museum announced in January that it had won a $1.9 million grant from the National Park Service’s Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Fund to support it following a 2024 flood. What doesn’t go towards the flood recovery is expected to support the ongoing restoration of Great Northern Railway H-5s 4-6-2 1355. 

Locomotive 1355 began life as a 4-6-0 in 1909 and was assigned to passenger service out of Spokane, Wash. In 1924, the locomotive was sent east to St. Paul, Minn., where the railroad rebuilt it as a 4-6-2, with a larger boiler, cylinders and firebox. The locomotive was designated an H-5s at that time. A year later it was converted from being a coal burner to an oil burner. The locomotive was assigned to the Butte Division in Montana, where it led some of the GN’s finest passenger trains, including the Empire Builder and Oriental Limited. In 1950, the locomotive was sent to Minnesota to work in freight service before being retired in 1955. At about the same time, the community of Sioux City, Iowa, requested a locomotive from the GN for display. Locomotive 1355 was selected and sent south to Iowa, where it has been ever since. About 15 years ago, an attempt was made to restore the engine to operation, but it was never completed. However, members of the American Heartland Railroad Society — the group spearheading the restoration — say the effort has given them a strong foundation to build on.