The engine was due between noon and 1 p.m. on January 12. It got to the Historic Kingsburg Depot a little after 3 p.m., Mid Valley Times reported. By then word had spread around town, and people were leaning over the caution tape to watch a crane lift Southern Pacific #1238 onto the depot's rails. When the crew set it down, the crowd applauded.
This is the engine's first holiday season in Kingsburg, and it arrives unfinished. The plan for #1238 calls for refurbishing it, replacing missing parts, adding new fencing and lighting, and holding a ribbon cutting. After that, the engine is supposed to open for closer viewing during city events. So when Julgransfest and the Santa Lucia parade bring the town downtown this year, the engine is near the beginning of that plan, and that's a good reason to go see it now.
Seven Decades at Roeding Park
Baldwin built #1238 in 1918 as an S-10 0-6-0 steam switcher. It worked the San Joaquin Valley until 1956. That year a donation agreement with the Southern Pacific Company brought it to Fresno's Roeding Park. GV Wire reported that it spent years there behind a short fence, where vandals damaged it, and that Fresno City Council members had long worried about what it cost to maintain and protect.
The engine also has ties to Kingsburg. GV Wire noted that its last conductor was from Kingsburg and that several people from town worked on it. Kingsburg itself started as a stop on the Central Pacific's Valley Line in the 1870s, so the depot was a natural home for a valley switcher.
The move started as an idea from Michelle Roman, President-CEO of Friends of the Historic Kingsburg Depot. She also chairs the Fresno County Zoo Authority board, and according to Mid Valley Times, she didn't like seeing the engine tucked behind a fence at the zoo. She brought the idea to fellow board member and Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias, and the Fresno City Council voted in 2022 to donate the engine to the depot. The city gave the locomotive away and left the nonprofit to work out how to move it.
How a 1918 Engine Got Down Highway 99
The move took two tries.
- 2022: Fresno donates the engine to Friends of the Historic Kingsburg Depot.
- October 2024: Mid Valley Times puts the project estimate at $190,000, with about $150,000 donated so far.
- May 2025: The first attempt is called off after the movers say unloading would run well past dark. The job needed a nine-axle truck and a crew from Bakersfield T&T Truck and Crane Service.
- January 12, 2026: The engine and its tender reach the depot and are lifted onto 350 feet of new display track.
The canceled first try made the second one easier. "It was kind of like a practice run, so to speak," Roman told GV Wire. "We knew what we were getting ourselves into this time and what equipment we needed."
The fundraising also caught up. By the move, the nonprofit had raised the full $190,000, up from about $150,000 fifteen months earlier. Roman told Mid Valley Times the money came from donors, the Kingsburg Lions Club, the Leon S. Peters Foundation and others, and that $35,000 came in from Fresno County within 24 hours. That money paid for the trucking, the crane and the track.
What the Engine Looks Like This Season
Right now #1238 sits on its own track at a depot already set up as a living history site. Friends of the Historic Kingsburg Depot runs the 1875 Southern Pacific depot. Its restoration was finished in 2016 with 1,600 private donations and a federal grant. The depot's Leon S. Peters Learning Center hosts an average of 3,500 students a year, with costumed actors playing real people from 1923.
For the engine itself, the depot's website says "Restoration efforts commencing soon." Roman described the goal to GV Wire this way:
"We're going to completely refurbish it as well. All the pieces that have been missing are going to be on it, so we're gonna try to completely bring it back to its glory."
GV Wire also reported plans for a new coat of paint and for a train car and caboose behind the engine. Mid Valley Times listed decorative fencing, better lighting and better accessibility around the depot. If you see the engine this December, you're seeing it before most of that work.
You can see it two ways before the holidays:
- In person: The depot is at 1465 California St., and its posted public hours are Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon.
- On camera: The depot's homepage links to a live camera on the engine, so you can check on it from home.
Fitting the Depot Into Kingsburg's Two Holiday Nights
Kingsburg's holiday season runs on two evenings eight days apart, and both are on Draper Street. The Kingsburg District Chamber of Commerce has both on its 2026 calendar.
| Date | Event | Listed details |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, November 27 | Julgransfest | Tree lighting, 5 to 7 p.m., Chamber listing |
| Saturday, December 5 | Santa Lucia Celebration | Noon to 8 p.m., Festival of Lights Parade at 5:30 p.m., Chamber listing |
Svensk Butik's events page gives slightly different times. It lists the tree lighting at 6 p.m. and the Santa Lucia Festival from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with the same 5:30 p.m. parade. The Chamber can be reached at (559) 897-1111 for its current schedule.
Julgransfest is the quieter night. Kingsburg Downtown describes a walk down Draper Street singing carols to the downtown tree, then Swedish ring dancing, live music and extended hours at downtown shops.
Santa Lucia lasts all day. Vendors set up along the sidewalks of the Swedish Village, the Gingerbread House Contest is held at City Hall, and at 5:30 p.m. Santa Lucia, wearing her crown of candles, leads the Rotary Festival of Lights Parade down Draper Street. City Hall is still at 1401 Draper Street. The move to the former office building at 1600 Draper is in the design phase.
The depot has been part of the Saturday before. The Hanford Sentinel's coverage of the 2025 festival described the depot open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. last year with a free model-train display. Several trains ran on different tracks, including one that circled a model of downtown Kingsburg, and the staff dressed in period clothes. "This is a free event, and this is our way of saying thank you to the community for always supporting the train depot," Roman told the Sentinel.
The same Sentinel story described the rest of last year's festival. Larson's Corner had a holiday scene with a sleigh, trees and a North Pole. A free trolley made several stops around town before the parade. Kady's Kitchen served Swedish breakfast and coffee. The parade had at least 30 floats from schools, businesses, churches and the Kingsburg Fire Department, and the Kingsburg Health Care District sponsored it.
A Ribbon Cutting Still Ahead
Last year's festival had model trains at the depot. This year there's also a full-size engine. On December 5 it will be on the depot's track, and the depot's website says restoration is "commencing soon." The ribbon cutting hasn't happened yet. Mid Valley Times reported that once the work is done, the engine will open for closer viewing during city events. Between now and then, the depot's homepage has a donation link for Project 1238 and the live camera, so you can follow the work as it happens.
At Iron Key Real Estate, we follow Kingsburg's Draper Street calendar and the depot's plans because they're part of daily life here. If you'd like to talk about what's happening around your corner of Kingsburg this season, Contact Us.
