By Railfan & Railroad Staff

LOS ANGELES —  Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway 4-8-4 3751 will hit the main line for the first time since 2017 later this month when it visits Fullerton, Calif., to attend Amtrak’s Track Safety Community Event, taking place on Saturday, September 24th and Sunday, September 25th, at the Fullerton Transportation Center.

The locomotive’s caretakers, the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society, recently completed a federally-mandated overhaul of the Northern. 

The group said details of the move from Los Angeles to Fullerton are still being sorted out, but it will be on public display from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the 24th and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the 25th, during the community event. The event is being put on by Amtrak and Operation Lifesaver. Besides the steam locomotive, a number of other pieces of equipment will be on display that weekend. 

Locomotive 3751 was the first Northern built for Santa Fe when it was released by Baldwin in 1927. It is also the oldest surviving 4-8-4 locomotive in the world. After a long career on Santa Fe, the locomotive was put on display in San Bernardino. In the 1980s, it was taken out of a city park for restoration and returned to the main line in 1991.