No. 2248 of the Grapevine Vintage Railroad has an interesting history. She began life as a member of the Southern Pacific's T-1 class of 4-6-0s, delivered in 1896-7 by Cooke Locomotive Works of Paterson, New Jersey. Eventually several members of this class of Ten-Wheelers were assigned to fire control service in northern California. They were equipped with pumps and a 1,000-foot hose and hauled water cars and equipment where needed to fight forest fires or fires in tunnels and wooden snow sheds. At the end of the steam era, No. 2248 was rebuilt and assigned to exhibition train service by the Southern Pacific. When her flue time expired in 1959, she was retired and purchased by a private collector.

In 1974, No. 2248 was acquired by the Texas State Railroad and restored to service, but was retired again after five years. In 1990, the Fort Worth and Western Railroad purchased the engine and again restored her to operation in 1992, hauling the "Tarantula Train," a Grapevine, Texas, tourist attraction. We see her in that role in a photo I took in Fort Worth in April, 1992. Today she is owned and operated by the Grapevine Vintage Railroad. No. 2248 retains her nineteenth-century features including slide valves and Stephenson valve gear.