Northern Pacific No. 684

Northern Pacific No. 684 is a preserved 4-4-0 "American" type steam locomotive. It was built by the New York Locomotive Works of Rome, New York in 1883 and was given the shop number of 39.
On 10th September 1883, two days after the Northern Pacific Railroad (NP) was completed, the locomotive arrived at St Paul, Minnesota where it was classified as C-1 and was renumbered to NP No. 684.
The engine worked mostly on the NP’s main line pulling passenger trains in Montana and Idaho. It remained in main line service for nearly twenty-five years before being assigned to the Billings-Bridger passenger run. It was then sent further east to work on less mountainous terrain where it occasionally served in tourist areas as a glamorous “old timer” of the early steam era. By the late 1920s, the NP had no need for the obsolete steam engine and had retired it from active duty.
No. 684 was originally slated to be scrapped in 1925, but it was instead overhauled and sold to the Nez Perce & Idaho Railroad (NP&I) in 1928 where it was renumbered to NP&I No. 4. The Nez Perce and Idaho Railroad was a small operation with only one locomotive and a total of thirteen miles of track between Craigmont and Nez Perce, Idaho. Apparently, the engine could often only handle about two freight cars at a time due to the steep grade. By 1945, the NP&I needed an engine that could pull heavier loads and engine No. 4 was pushed off a spur of the NP&I tracks and was left abandoned in a field near Nez Perce.
In 1948, an appeal was launched by the NP to collect historic relics of its past and found their former No. 684 in the field where the NP&I had left it. The Northern Pacific bought the engine back from the NP&I in 1951. The original track leading to the engine had been removed so the NP had to build temporary tracks out to where the engine was to recover it. It took the recovery crew over 16 hours to return the engine to its tracks before dragging it to the NP repair shop in Spokane, Washington for refurbishing.
Despite missing several parts, layers of rust, and peeling paint, only moderate restoration was needed. The locomotives original blueprints were used during the restoration process and after only one year of work, No. 684 was back to its former glory cosmetically. Even though the locomotive was never returned to steam, it did not stop the NP from towing it for display at various exhibitions along its railroad system throughout the 1950s and 1960s. After years of a traveling as an exhibit, the engine was stored in a NP roundhouse for many years. 
Eventually, due to various railroad mergers, the locomotive needed to be removed from the roundhouse and was donated to the Cass County Historical Society in 1974.
Nowadays No. 684 can be seen on static display at the Bonanzaville and the Cass County Historical Museum in West Fargo, North Dakota in the Pioneer Village portion of the museum.
== References ==
* http://www.rgusrail.com/ndnp684.html
* https://www.bonanzaville.org/copy-of-pioneer-village-1
* http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4472258
Category:Steam locomotives of the United States
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:American steam locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Preserved steam locomotives
Category:Preserved locomotives
Category:Northern Pacific locomotives
Category:4-4-0 locomotives
Category:4-4-0 steam locomotives
Category:Built in 1883
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives of the United States
Category:4 foot 8 1⁄2 inch gauge