#1901
Southern Pacific class AC-3
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Baldwin Locomotive Works· from 1920· class of 20 American 2-8-8-2 cab forward locomotives rebuilt from SP MC-6 class
what is it?
Southern Pacific Railroad's AC-3 class of steam locomotive was the 3rd and last cab forward design based on the 2-8-8-2 wheel arrangement. All 20 locomotives in this class were rebuilds from MC-6 class locomotives originally built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1912 and 1913. The rebuilds all took place in the late 1920s at Southern Pacific's Sacramento shops.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 106 years ago, in 1920.
- Weighs about as much as 36 African elephants (~6 t each).
- Served for 29 years (1920–1949).
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1920
- in service from
- 1920
- retired
- 1949
- status
- retired
- number built
- 20
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Baldwin Locomotive Works
- operators
- Southern Pacific Transportation Company
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- weight
- 218 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7570296, Wikipedia: Southern Pacific class AC-3 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.