Vandals have hit our history once again, stealing several brass fittings from the antique steam engine housed at Heritage Junction.

Sadly, it’s the second time in a year that a crime blotter had the notation “Grand Theft Steam Engine” in the message line.

According to Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Dubin, sometime between July 12 and 19, a worker at the park discovered parts missing from the engine box. Dubin said that the worker reported 17 missing iron lubricator windows, each two inches square, and their fittings had been taken, valued at more than $1,000.

The 75-ton Mogul locomotive No. 1629 was built in 1900 for Southern Pacific Railroad and donated to the SCV Historical Society in 1981 by Gene Autry, who bought the engine for his Melody Ranch Motion Picture studios and ran it in Placerita Canyon for television series such as “Gunsmoke.” It was put into place at Hart Park’s Heritage Junction in the summer of 1982 and has been in a continuous state of restoration and preservation ever since.

Often the centerpiece of Historical Society events, over the last 30 years, thousands of people have used the engine as a backdrop for photos that have appeared in personal scrapbooks, wedding albums and videos. A volunteer crew of engineers have spent countless hours and raised funds to replace parts on the train, making it a static display for train fans to visit, even building a stairway for visitors to climb into the cab and blow the whistle.

Unfortunately, the brass whistle was stolen in 2011.

Detectives from the Sheriff’s Department Parks Bureau are working on the case. Dubin added that a 4-foot by 2-foot hole had been cut in the chain-link fence next to the train tracks sometime in the last week. Anyone with information regarding the theft is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department at 661-255-1121