Oregon Pacific No. 12

Oregon Pacific No. 12 is a 4-4-0 "American Standard" steam locomotive that was built in 1886 by the Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works as No. 12 for the Oregon Pacific Railroad, where it was employed in both passenger and freight service.
The Oregon Pacific subsequently became the Corvallis & Eastern Railroad and the locomotive was renumbered #4. In 1902, it was sold to the Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway, who employed it in lumber service for the next twenty-four years.
In 1926, the locomotive was renumbered #3 and played the title role in the silent comedy film "The General" starring Buster Keaton playing the role as The General.
After filming the movie the engine went back to work for the Oregon, Pacific and Eastern and reverted to its former number, hauling log trains out of the Oregon Forests just as before.
It operated for a few more years until it was retired and scrapped in 1941.
==Trivia==
*The locomotive was apparently chosen by Buster Keaton for the titular role of his film, as it had a certain elegant look to it that captured the lines of why his film's hero Johnnie Gray (whom he plays) regarded The General as his best engine.
*When the locomotive went back into service after filming, without time for a coat of paint it still bore its makeup on the tender which was lettered W&ARR (for the Western & Atlantic Railroad).
*In one scene of the film Buster Keaton was sitting on the side-rod of the locomotive as it drove into the engine shed. This was at great risk of his life, as had the engineer mistimed the locomotive propelling itself forward, the wheels would have spun rapidly and Keaton would have been injured fatally. This was however typical of Keaton's approach to conveying a telling moment in his films.
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:Built in 1886
Category:Four-coupled locomotives
Category:4-4-0 locomotives
Category:4-4-0 steam locomotives
Category:Locomotives featured in media
Category:U.S. Civil War locomotives
Category:Scrapped locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:American steam locomotives
Category:Cooke locomotives
Category:Passenger locomotives
Category:Freight locomotives
Category:Logging locomotives