Jupiter (locomotive)
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 Jupiter replica at Golden Spike N.H.S. |
|
| Power type | Steam |
|---|---|
| Builder | Schenectady Locomotive Works |
| Build date | March 20, 1869 |
| Configuration | 4-4-0 |
| Gauge | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) |
| Career | Central Pacific Railroad |
| Number | 60 |
| Official name | Central Pacific #60 |
The Jupiter (officially known as Central Pacific #60) was a 4-4-0 steam locomotive which made history as one of the two locomotives (the other being the Union Pacific No. 119) to meet at Promontory Summit during the Golden Spike ceremony commemorating the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad.
The Jupiter was built in September, 1868 by the Schenectady Locomotive Works of New York, along with three other engines: the Storm, Leviathan and Whirlwind. These four engines were then dismantled and sailed to San Francisco, CA where they were loaded onto a river barge and sent to the Central Pacific headquarters in Sacramento, then reassembled and commissioned into service on March 20, 1869.
The Jupiter was a wood burning locomotive. The distinctive conical chimney, known as a 'balloon stack', contained a spark arrestor.
[edit] Promontory Summit
The honor of carrying Leland Stanford to Promontory Summit did not originally fall to Jupiter. Stanford chose the engine Antelope to pull the "Stanford Special". While rounding a corner into a mountain cut that was still being cleared of trees. The Antelope hit a log and the telegrapher on the Stanford Special wired the next station to hold the train that was just ahead of them, which would be the Jupiter. Once the Stanford Special limped into the station it was coupled onto the Jupiter and it continued on the way towards Promontory Summit.
In Andrew J. Russell's famous photograph of the Meeting of the Lines, the Jupiter is seen on the left with its engineer, George Booth, leaning off the pilot holding a bottle of champagne up to No. 119 engineer Sam Bradford. Booth and Bradford would later break a bottle of champagne over the other's locomotive in celebration.
[edit] Later Career
The Jupiter continued in service for the Central Pacific R.R. In the 1870's it was renamed No. 1195 and the Jupiter name was dropped. The locomotive also received many new upgrades such as a new boiler as well as eventually being converted into a coal burning engine. In 1893 it was sold to the Gila Valley, Globe and Northern R.R. and designated GVG & N #1. In 1909 the locomotive which no longer resembled the original Jupiter was sold to scrappers for $1,000.
