Jupiter

1868 · Central Pacific 4-4-0 · Work 12 of 1,871

Jupiter, 1868, Central Pacific 4-4-0

The Central Pacific locomotive Jupiter at Promontory Summit, balloon smokestack flaring above the boiler, ornate lamp and cowcatcher, bare Utah scrubland all around.

What it was used for
Building the Central Pacific over the Sierra Nevada.
What was new
On 10 May 1869 she stood facing No. 119 at Promontory Summit as the first through connection between the American coasts was closed. What matters is the place, not the machine — and the place did not keep its machines: No. 119 was scrapped in 1903 for a thousand dollars, *Jupiter* in 1909. What stands there today are replicas built in 1979.