Did you know that the Maine Central 4-6-2 "Pacific"-type locomotive #470 turned 100? The locomotive was built in May 1924 by the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, NY with serial #65555 and at a cost of $62,296.90. If built today, it would cost an estimated $1,130,546.65 to build! After pulling passenger trains for 30 years between Boston, MA and Bangor, ME, the #470 became the last steam locomotive operated by Maine Central Railroad on June 13th 1954. Retired to a plinth in Waterville, ME, the #470 soon became a poignant piece of history – with generation after generation climbing aboard and visiting. For perspective, since she was manufactured 100 years ago, the country has experienced prohibition, the Great Depression, the dust bowl, a man walking on the moon, and the invention of the internet!

From Maine Central's Employee Magazine, July, 1924 on 470's delivery: "Many peered from rear windows of the general office building quite a few mornings ago, when the Maine Central’s two new passenger locomotives — giants of the Pacific type — ran by in the center of a long freight, Rigby to Waterville. They looked stylish — for a locomotive can be stylish, you know; and modern efficiency was written all over them. They have already been placed in service, on the Portland and Bangor."

On another page: "No. 469, one of the Maine Central's two new passenger locomotives, is to haul Trains 11 and 8; Paul and George are the engineers. No. 470, the other new passenger giant, is to haul trains 153 and 156, the engineers being Staples and Hooper. The firemen's jobs, as this is written, have not been bid on."

Let’s throw a fabulous birthday celebration for Maine Central #470! Send birthday cards to the #470 by posting them to:

New England Steam Corp.

P.O. Box 302

Winterport, ME 04496

or by dropping them off during a visit! All the cards will be displayed during our Touch-a-Train birthday bash on Saturday, August 17th 2024. For all the details, visit www.touchatrain.org or email Hanna at hbrooks@newenglandsteam.org. Can’t wait to see all the birthday wishes!