Mogul Engine No. 1629 is a class M4 engine weighing 75 tons, with wheels 2-6-0 (two leading wheels on one axle, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, no trailing wheels). The steam locomotive was built in 1900 at Schenectady, N.Y., and purchased by the Southern Pacific Railroad for use on the line that ran from Yuma, Ariz., to Portland, Ore., passing through the Santa Clarita Valley.
In 1957 it was retired and sold to Western actor Gene Autry, who used it in films at his Melody Ranch in Placerita Canyon. It appeared in television series such as “Gunsmoke” and “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.”
Autry donated the locomotive in 1981 to the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, and it was moved April 22, 1982, to its present location next to the Saugus Depot using donated funds.
