About: Southern Pacific 786

Southern Pacific 786 is a preserved 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive that was constructed at the American Locomotive Company's Brooks Works in New York. It was used to pull mainline freight trains by the Texas and New Orleans Railroad, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad, until it was removed from service in 1955, and it was donated to the city of Austin, Texas the following year. Beginning in 1989, No. 786 was leased to the Austin Steam Train Association, who restored it to operating condition, and the locomotive was used to pull excursion trains on the Austin Western Railroad until 1999. Since 2000, crews have been performing an extensive rebuild on No. 786 to bring it back to service, and as of 2022, the rebuild continues to progress.