Jupiter (locomotive)

The Jupiter (officially known as Central Pacific Railroad #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.

Golden Spike Ceremony

The Jupiter was not Leland Stanford's original choice for transporting his party to the Golden Spike site. Originally, Stanford's train was to be pulled by another Central Pacific locomotive, the Antelope. For some distance, this train followed closely behind a regularly scheduled train pulled by the Jupiter. However, at one point the two trains were to go through a cut where a logging camp resided atop the hill. There, the workers apparently did not notice the Jupiter's small flag which indicated another train is closely following. After the Jupiter passed, the workers rolled a large log down the mountain, which struck the Antelope. With the engine damaged, a message was sent to the upcoming station to hold the approaching train. There, Stanford's consist was added to the Jupiter's train.

Later career

The Jupiter continued in service for the Central Pacific R.R. In the 1870s, the railroad decided to end their practice of naming their engines, and thus, the Jupiter name was dropped and the engine was simply known as C.P. #60. The locomotive also received many new upgrades such as a new boiler, cowcatcher, domes, and smokestack. In 1891, the Southern Pacific, which acquired the Central Pacific in 1885, began renumbering its locomotives. As part of this renumbering, the former "Jupiter" engine #60 became S.P. #1195. In 1893 it was converted to burn coal, and later that year 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.

Later Reproductions

The Southern Pacific had not acknowledged the Jupiter's significance until well after the engine had been scrapped. The railroad later used a stand-in for the Jupiter, usually Virginia and Truckee Railroad's Genoa locomotive, to celebrate the road's legacy at various events, such as the Chicago Railroad Fair.

In 1969, another stand-in for the Jupiter was placed on display, this one at the Golden Spike National Historic Site to celebrate the centennial of the Golden Spike. In this instance, the engine was portrayed by Virginia and Truckee's Inyo and the engine remained on display until its sale to the state of Nevada in 1974.

Meanwhile, the National Park Service had approached O'Connor Engineering Laboratories of Costa Mesa, California to construct exact, full-size replicas of the Jupiter and Union Pacific 119. Original drawings of the engines have not been preserved, so the firm had to construct new drawings based on enlarged photographs of the engines and an 1870's vintage locomotive design handbook.

The replicas began operating May 10, 1979, and continue to make demonstration runs.

Sources

• Everlasting Steam: The Story of Jupiter and No. 119