#2703
Southern Pacific GS-4 class
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Lima Locomotive Works· from 1941· Class of 28 American 4-8-4 locomotives
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Coast Daylight 1954: Audio-Visual Designs, Earlton, NY· Public domain
what is it?
The Southern Pacific GS-4 is a class of semi-streamlined 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) from 1941 to 1958. A total of 28 locomotives were built by Lima Locomotive Works (LLW) in Lima, Ohio, with the first batch of 20 built between March and May 1941, and the second batch of eight built between March and April 1942. The initials GS stands for Golden State or General Service.
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 85 years ago, in 1941.
- Top speed is 1.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 12 minutes.
- Weighs about as much as 36 African elephants (~6 t each).
- Served for 17 years (1941–1958).
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1941–1942
- in service from
- 1941
- retired
- 1958
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 28
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Lima Locomotive Works
- operators
- Southern Pacific Transportation Company
- top speed
- 193 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 4-8-4
- weight
- 216 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q1478310, Wikipedia: Southern Pacific GS-4 class (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.