RETIRED ENGINE 1629 MAY GO CLICKETYCLACK ONCE MORE.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Whether to take it easy or keep chugging along are the options facing a local 96-year-old retiree, whose future will be determined by money and the availability of volunteer know-how.

Engine 1629 was built in 1900 and spent decades hauling freight and passengers along Southern Pacific Railroad lines, primarily in California, before it was taken out of service nearly 40 years ago.

Now kept at Heritage Junction in William S. Hart Park, its home for the past 15 years, the 80-ton black locomotive is undergoing restoration work courtesy of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society.

But not everyone agrees how far the restoration should go.

In a recent society meeting, the board of directors decided Engine 1629 should be a stationary display because the organization could not afford to put the steam locomotive back into working condition.

The price tag for rebuilding the engine would run about $300,000, and annual insurance premiums on a running train would cost another $35,000, the board estimated. That sum far exceeds the historical society's budget.

But Norm Harris, an aerospace engineer and train buff, has donated countless weekends to refurbishing the vintage locomotive with help from a number of historical society members who have similar railroad expertise. He believes Engine 1629 can be fixed with free labor, thus slashing restoration expenses.

``We've already done a lot of the work with volunteers for a lot of years,'' Harris said. ``Hundreds of hours have gone into it already.''

The main job that would have to be contracted out are repairs to the train's boiler, Harris said.

An anonymous donor from the Santa Clarita Valley gave the society ``a substantial sum to restore the locomotive to running condition,'' Harris said. ``We still have $44,000 remaining in the fund, and we had quotes to repair the boiler for less than that,'' he said.

Harris said an expert with a Sacramento railroad museum examined the locomotive and concluded it could be put back into working order.

For years, singing cowboy Gene Autry owned Engine 1629 and kept it on Melody Ranch, his Placerita Canyon property.

``Ruth Newhall convinced Gene Autry in 1981 to donate it to the society,'' Harris said.

The historical society sought advice about Engine 1629 from Stan Garner, co-founder and co-owner of the Fillmore & Western Railway, which operates vintage trains on a 10-mile stretch of track between Fillmore and Santa Paula.

``It can be made to run again. It's just a matter of how much it would cost,'' Garner said. A licensed locomotive engineer, he said he is one of many people who know how to fix the train, whose boiler has some pitting and corrosion.

The 60-foot-long train was built in 1900 by Schenectady Locomotive Works in New York. When in service, the oil-burning, steam-powered locomotive drank about 25,000 gallons of water per day, Garner said.

It runs on standard gauge tracks - 56-1/2 inches between the rails - and spare parts for repairs can still be found, he said.

``Southern Pacific, at one time, had hundreds of that type of locomotive,'' Garner said. ``Of that class and kind of locomotive, there's only a handful in existence.''

Engine 1629 has been out of service for nearly 40 years, but during its lifetime it logged millions of miles, Garner estimated.

``They could pull a lot of cars. They were really rugged,'' he said. ``They're virtually indestructible. (Southern Pacific) got every ounce of use out of it.''

But even if it can be rebuilt, the locomotive may have come to the end of the line.

Without permission from Union Pacific, which took over Southern Pacific's route, to run the engine on the railroad's tracks, the historical society would have to build its own railway spur.

``It isn't feasible to get it up and running,'' said society treasurer Glen Rollins.

Tom Frew, a member of the society's board of directors, said the cost of getting the train rail-ready is prohibitive. Instead, he suggested Engine 1629 could be spruced up for park visitors to admire and ``the kiddies can crawl around on it.''

The society, he added, is ``thinking of possibly adding a dining car that could be used for murder mysteries and for kids' birthday parties.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) From left, Norm Harris, Leslie Bedding and Mi ke Vitale, members of the historical society, take a break from restoring Engine 1629.

(2) Society volunteers hoping to bring the vintage train back to life prepare a new section of tracks.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News