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Actually,
WP 512 is not an real Western Pacific Locomotive. WP 512 was
built for the United States Army Lone Star Defense Depot, and was
made available after retirement through the Government Surplus
Program.
Early in
the museums history, the Feather River Rail Society desired an
operating ALCO "S" series switcher, and thus purchased the 512, and
then painted into the paint scheme representative of the first ALCO
S1s on the Western Pacific. WP's ALCO S-1's were numbered 501-511,
so the FRRS logically numbered their new locomotive "512" following
the WP's numbering scheme as that would have been the next available
number on WP's roster.
Western Pacific #512 is exx Lone Star Defense #100, ex U.S. Army
7372. |
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The
year 1941 also brought us:
January 6 - The keel of the USS
Missouri (BB-63) is laid at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn.
February 4 - World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is
created to entertain American troops.
February 23 - Glenn T. Seaborg isolates and discovers plutonium.
March 1 - W47NV begins operations in Nashville, Tennessee, becoming
the first FM radio station.
May 1 - The breakfast cereal "Cheerios" is introduced as "CheeriOats"
by General Mills.
May 1 - Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane premieres in New York City.
May 1 - The first Defense Bonds and Defense Savings Stamps go on
sale in the United States, to help fund the greatly increased
production of military equipment.
May 12 - Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working
programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.
August 1 - The first Jeep is produced.
September 27 - The first Liberty Ship, the SS Patrick Henry, is
launched at Baltimore, Maryland.
October 23 - Walt Disney's feature-length cartoon "Dumbo" is
released.
October 31 - After 14 years of work, drilling is completed on Mount
Rushmore.
November 26 - U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs a bill
establishing the 4th Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the
United States (this partly reverses a 1939 action by Roosevelt that
changed the celebration of Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of
November).
December 7, (December 8, Japan standard time) - The Japanese Navy
launches a surprise attack on the United States fleet at Pearl
Harbor, thus drawing the United States into World War II.
December 8 - World War II: The United States officially declares war
on Japan.
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