Static Display: Northern Pacific 2152

August 14, 1960, Auburn, Washington. Here we find a raving beauty, Northern Pacific 2152. She is a “Pacific” class locomotive, 4-6-2, Road Class Q-3. She was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in March 1909, and assigned boiler number 33277. The Northern Pacific Railroad donated her in 1958 to the City of Auburn.

Static displays are a wonderful way to preserve history. In some environments, such as the Willamette Shay on display at Railroad Park Resort in Dunsmuir, California, you can enjoy a hands-on experience, and climb up in the cab. The locomotive is out in the open in a "real life setting," posed with a water tank.

But she is in a protected environment, next to the manager's office inside the motel grounds.

On the other hand, displays in a public park like the NP 2152 is pictured in, are often the target of vandals. Look carefully at the number board on this engine, and you will see a glass segment has been hit, possibly with a rock.

Even more disturbing are the acts of ill-mannered so-called rail fans, who think they need to take home more than a photograph!

So up go the hideous chain link fences.

Static displays are expensive to maintain. Remember, when these engines were in service, they had constant daily maintenance. So, when budgets get tight, some static displays, like the Great Northern engine that had been on display at Woodland Park in Seattle, end up being scrapped.

Fortunately, the NP 2152 lives on! In 2006, when the City of Auburn announced they wanted to get rid of her, she was snapped up by the Northern Pacific Railway Museum in Toppenish, Washington.