Puffy

Engine 2248

Built in 1896 in New Jersey for the Southern Pacific Railroad, 2248 is a 10-wheel passenger locomotive. The engine is 63 feet long and weighs about 70 tons.

The engine originally burned coal to boil water for steam but was converted in the early 1900s to burn No. 4 fuel oil. Now it uses a mixture of heavy bunker oil, a little diesel fuel and recycled motor oil.

Until the 1920s, 2248 hauled passenger cars in California and then pulled water tank cars to forest fires in the mountains. In the 1950s, it was used for ceremonial retirements. In 1961, it was sold for scrap.

Instead, 2248 was bought for tourist train duty at an amusement park that didn't materialize. The engine sat unused until 1974, when it was sold to the Texas State Railroad in Rusk. It was rehabilitated and ran from 1976 until 1988.

Fort Worth & Western bought it in 1990 to pull the Tarantula. It was restored again and ran for tourists until 1999, when it required extensive boiler work.

It was rebuilt in 2001 and sold in 2004 to Grapevine, where it became known to kids as Puffy.

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