No. 4449 was painted black and silver and its side skirting (a streamlining feature of the Daylight steam engines) was removed due to dieselization of the Coast Daylight in January of that year. No. 4449 was then assigned to Southern Pacific's San Joaquin Valley line, occasionally pulling passenger trains such as the San Joaquin Daylight between Oakland and Bakersfield as well as fast freight and helper service. No. 4449 was semi-retired from service on September 24, 1956, and was kept as an emergency back-up locomotive until it was officially retired on October 2, 1957, and was placed in storage along with several other GS-class engines near Southern Pacific's Bakersfield roundhouse. On display In 1958, when most of the GS class engines had already been scrapped, a then black-and-silver painted No. 4449 was removed from storage and donated on April 24, 1958, to the City of Portland, Oregon, where it was placed on outdoor public display in Oaks Park. Since the equipment was considered obsolete, No. 4449 was not actively chosen for static display. It was picked only because it was the first in the dead line and could be removed with the fewest switching moves. While on display, No. 4449 was repeatedly vandalized and had many of its external parts stolen, including its builder's plates and whistle. As a result, the locomotive quickly deteriorated. However, Jack Holst, a Southern Pacific employee, looked after SP No. 4449 along with two other steam locomotives, Spokane, Portland and Seattle 700 and Oregon Railroad and Navigation 197. Holst kept the engines' bearings and rods oiled in case they were ever to move again. Holst died in 1972 and did not get to see No. 4449 return to operation. American Freedom Train In 1974, No. 4449 was evaluated for restoration after becoming a candidate to pull the American Freedom Train, as its size, power and streamlining made it a good fit for that Bicentennial train. After the evaluators determined that 4449's bearings and rods remained in good condition, they selected the locomotive for that task. No. 4449 was removed from display on December 13, 1974 and restored at the Burlington Northern Railroad's Hoyt Street roundhouse in Portland. The locomotive returned to operation on April 21, 1975 wearing a special paint scheme of red, white and blue. Because the original whistle was stolen, two replacement whistles were fitted to the locomotive: a Hancock 3 chime from