OGDEN — The Utah State Railroad Museum is gearing up to receive a piece for its collection that will help to tell a fuller story of railroading in the state.

Earlier this month, the Union Station Facebook page announced that a recently acquired locomotive — Western Pacific No. 3002 — has finished restoration work and soon will make its way to be displayed at Union Station.

“Built in 1963, this is a four-axle GP35 diesel-electric locomotive and served Western Pacific for nearly 20 years before its freight service with several other railroads,” the post said. “It has just completed a major restoration collaboration by Ogden City, (Utah Transit Authority), the Union Station Foundation, and many individual volunteers.”

According to Hope Eggett, curator of the Museums at Union Station, the locomotive represents something that was missing from the museum’s collection.

“One of our volunteers — Derrick Klarr — helped us track down this locomotive because we don’t actually have the Western Pacific represented in our railroad collection here,” Eggett said. “Western Pacific was one of the major railroads in Utah during its heyday. In telling the state’s railroading history, we wanted to make sure that story was represented.”

According to the Union Pacific Railroad’s website, “the Western Pacific operated 1,719 route miles in California, Nevada and Utah. Its main line paralleled rival Southern Pacific between Oakland and Salt Lake City, and its ‘Inside Gateway’ connection in Northern California challenged SP’s north-south route.

“The company struggled financially through most of its existence due to the lack of feeder branch lines and competition from Southern Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway for transcontinental traffic. WP was acquired by Union Pacific on Dec. 22, 1982.”

Eggett said the No. 3002 was acquired in 2022 after it was retired from the Arkansas Midland Railroad.

“Since 2022, it’s been living down in Salt Lake at the UTA facility and they have graciously allowed us to use their space to prep the locomotive for painting,” she said.

She added that several volunteers spent 800 man hours sanding and repainting the locomotive the way it would’ve appeared just prior to Western Pacific’s merger with Union Pacific.

Eggett said the locomotive even received a rare upgrade during the restoration process.

“We were able to replace its horn with a rare Nathan M5 horn on top, which is really iconic for Western Pacific locomotives and very recognizable in the train community,” she said.

She added that, while the locomotive will be on static display when it arrives at Union Station, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will never move under its own power again.

“It was used in operation up until recently and it’s still operational,” she said. “We don’t have any immediate plans to be driving it around, but we would like to keep it operational.”

Eggett said plans are to deliver the No. 3002 to Union Station from Salt Lake City sometime in the next couple of weeks, but a solid date has yet to be announced.

She said the addition of the No. 3002 will help the museum better tell the story of the whole state’s railroading past.

“Our goal as the Utah State Railroad Museum is to be representing not just the history of Ogden, but the history of the whole of railroading in Utah,” she said. “Right now we have Union Pacific locomotives, we have Southern Pacific locomotives, we have steam, we have diesel, but we don’t have anything representing Western Pacific. Really, that’s what makes this locomotive cool for us — this is the first locomotive that is in preservation from Western Pacific in the entire state. We’re really lucky to be telling that story and to be able to represent Western Pacific’s history as well. It’s the last major railroad that came through Utah that is not represented in our collection at the moment.”

Eggett said plans are still pending on the restoration of other rolling stock within the museum’s collection.

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