UP 4466 spent most of its career in Cheyenne, Wyoming, as a shop switcher and was the UP Cheyenne Shop's last steam shop switcher. After its stint in Cheyenne, 4466 was transferred to Grand Island, Nebraska in 1960. The locomotive was retired from revenue service in July 1962.[1] It continued to remain in Grand Island in storage until 1973 when it was donated to the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society.[2]
In 1978, No. 4466 was donated to the California State Railroad Museum. In 1984, it was restored to operating service and pulled excursion trains for the museum. In 1986, 4466 ventured to Vancouver, British Columbia, to be part of Steam Expo '86. The engine and tender were loaded onto flatcars in Sacramento, and headed to Vancouver, via rail on a Union Pacific freight train. Once she had arrived in Vancouver, the locomotive and tender were unloaded, placed on the tracks and fired up in order to pass a safety test that would insure it was safe for the engine operate in Canada. At the conclusion of Expo '86, 4466 and her tender were again loaded onto flatcars and moved back to the CSRM, via Union Pacific freight train.[3] This was not the only time 4466 took part in such a celebration; it also went to Sacramento (its current home) to take part in Railfair's of 1991 and 1999.
In 1999, the 4466’s FRA boiler certificate expired. The CSRM decided not to pursue an overhaul, causing the 4466 to be retired and put on indefinite static display. In 2012 it was taken out to take part in the Union Pacific's 150th anniversary celebration. As of 2023, it is currently on static display at the California State Railroad Museum.