From a recent trip to Pensacola Florida.
The train-turned-statue that rests in the median of West Garden Street is Engine No. 1355, also called the Pride of Pensacola. It is an 84-foot long steam locomotive and tender (fuel carrying car).
The engine was built in 1912 by the American Locomotive Company. It stayed in service for the Saint Louis – San Francisco Railway Company (nicknamed The Frisco) until it was retired in 1956.
After more than 40 years of service, the mileage on the antique odometer reads 1,148,534 — the equivalent of traveling around the world 46 times.
In 1957, Frisco Lines donated the engine to the city of Pensacola to stand as a monument to local port and railway history.
