The Great Northern S-2 was a class of 14 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotives built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1930 and operated by the Great Northern Railway until the late 1950s. The locomotives were built to haul passengers on the GN mainline, pulling the Empire Builder and the Oriental Limited and were assigned to the Montana division for service between Williston, North Dakota and Havre, Montana and the Spokane division for service between Spokane, Washington and Wenatchee, Washington, then assigned to the Divide between Havre and Whitefish, Montana, of which mostly runs through the famed Marias Pass, though they were also used on GN tracks outside of their assigned areas. Today, only one S-2 survives, No. 2584. It was retired in December 1957 and moved to the Havre depot in Havre, Montana in May 1964 where it still resides today. History Design Intended for fast passenger service, the S-2s were built lighter and with larger driving wheels than the earlier S-1 Class of "Northerns" of 1929. Like the P-2 Class of "Mountains" of 1923, the design of the S-2 Class 4-8-4 was somewhat different from the traditional steam locomotive design on the Great Northern. The GN normally preferred to equip its engines with a Belpaire type boiler, but in an effort to reduce weight, the S-2s were delivered with a radial stay boiler, nickel steel boiler plates and cast steel cylinders. The boiler was also fitted with a Sellers exhaust steam injector, which can process to gallons of water per hour. The S-2 came with a Vanderbilt type tender, which provided a capacity of 17,250 gallons of water and 5,800 gallons of oil. It was unique in being the only all-welded tender on the GN. This water-bottom tender had a Commonwealth cast-steel frame and rode on two 6-wheel cast steel trucks. The locomotives were fast but slippery when starting heavier trains. They were also the first class of 4-8-4 Northerns to be built with 80 inch driving wheels. They also proved to be reliable, as a single S-2 can haul up to 18 conventional steel passenger cars on westbound passenger runs, with helper service only necessary between Walton and Summit on eastbound runs should trains exceed 11 cars. It is a distance of 18 miles where the grade is 1.8%. In addition to being fast, they were also economical in fuel consumption and maintenance expenses and had an