For UP AND steam fans

[lanny]

Hi All,

UP #844 came through central Iowa yesterday. She was running about an hour late due to being held up by freight traffic. But, the wait was worth it for me, bringing back the sights and sounds of when I was a kid and everything (ICRR, Rock Island, CNW, M&STL, CGW, etc) was ALL steam.

What a thrill to watch and listen to this proud Iron Horse almost effortlessly working upgrade outside a small central Iowa farm town! There were huge crowds of people turned out to watch this gallant steed, so it was not easy to find good photo sites (specially when taking care of two active, young grand sons at the same time  )

Enjoy the photos ... even if you aren't a UP steam fan! 









lanny nicolet

[Bojangle]

Magnificent. Wish I could see the rollingstock a little better. Did you happen to catch the number on the caboose?  I'm doing a study on UP cabeeses.

Can you describe the loco?  Now that's what I call a tender, wow.
Bo

[lanny]

Hi Bo,

No caboose on this excursion train. All UP passenger and express freight cars. The car directly behind the tender I assume was an extra oil or water car (?). Here's a shot of the locomotive with it's number (a 4-8-4 Northern). I've added a description from another source that will give you a bit of info about this beauty.



"Northern class Union Pacific steam hauler â€" 1945 version. While not as big as the other UP steamers, this 100+ MPH locomotive nonetheless represents a solid  puller well suited for higher speed service than the Big Boy was capable of delivering (such as eastern bound reefer, RPO or Passenger service). Built by Alco during the height of WWII in 1944, the ALCO built FEF-3s were equipped with 80’’ drivers and weighed over 907,000 lbs with loaded tender.  Powered with 300 PSI super heated steam and measuring over 114 feet, these engines, the largest of UP’s FEF’s, produced a tractive effort of 63,750 lbs."

Here is one more photo of the excursion train cars. I am not sure how folks got a chance to ride. I assume that folks had opportunity to buy tickets for part or all of its excursion trip?



I'm not personally a UP fan/modeler ... but this beauty certainly brought some chills to my spine as it went by!

lanny nicolet

[Hoople]

Lanny, I know the fealing from the Portland Rose Excursion. 4449 and 844 pounding by. I have two videos of it on youtube for those who are interested.

[Bojangle]

With my stupid eyes, I saw a "cupola" and took it for a caboose lol

A writer must stay with subjects he has experience with, and as a new train modeler, I need to stay with regional railroads.  Unfortunately, most of the real history of UP doesn't apply here, as the main line is either to the north through Wyoming, or south through Grand junction.  The short line spurs  up  through Steamboat Springs, then deadends 26 miles south west of here. All I get to see are  diesels and miles of coal cars.   I can only look at the sites about Narrow Gauge and early steamers and dream.   The more Bachmann steamers I collect, the more I am getting addicted to steam.   I envy you modelers who get to see history in motion often.

In the few weeks I've been on this forum, I haven't met anyone from Colorado.  This gives me a bit of a lonely feeling in my modeling, but this remote ranch life was my choosing.  Thanks for the pix.
Bo

[lanny]

Glad to hear your getting 'hooked on steam' Bo!  That's great. We need all the 'steam' modelers we can get, no matter what RR they model! And in spite of their lack of 'Harriman' style steamers, Bachman is doing a great job with high quality, well detailed steam!

Hopple, can you post (or send me privately) the URL which will get me in to see your video of 844 and 4449 on 'youtube'?

Thanks!

lanny nicolet

[Bojangle]

I found a great pic of 844 and info at Wikipedia.  It was the last steamer delivered to UP, and the only  steam loco retained by a class 1 company.  All the rest were donated to various organizations.

It was renumbered 8444 for a bit, to avoid conflict with their GP30 844, later numbered back when the GP30 was retired.   They keep another  4-8-4 in Wyoming to scavenge parts from.  (to me that is a form of cannibalism)

She is now used only for publicity, attending major events all over the country, occasionally handling shortline freight. (I use the term "she" in respect for her beauty, can't see calling it "he" and "it" describes inanimate objects.)  Am I politically correct in that assessment?
Bo

[Guilford Guy]

I thought they changed her to 844 because an SD40 fell into the classification of the 8400's

[Bojangle]

The info only said the loco was numbered back to 844,  didn't elaborate, so you are probably right.  For whatever reason, she now proudly wears her birth number. The Union Pacific corporate web site also has a page on the 844.

I am amazed at the tremendous amount of respect given these ancient marvels, not just by modelers but also by the railroads.  I am a firm supporter of preserving history regardless of cost.  Bachmann is doing a great job keeping steam alive. 
Bo

[SteamGene]

Bo,
I wish you were right about respect given by the railroads to steam.  Maybe the workers, but management is something else.  Two examples.
NS had a great steam program with J class 611 and A class 1214 (?).  The guiding light to their steam program retired and the J was returned to the museum in Roanoke, Va, and the A retired. 
A guy in Staunton, Va has two Consolidations under cover.  He wants to run excursions on the CSX mainline and maybe on the Valley Railroad.  CSX wants 20 gazillion dollars of insurance before the pilot wheel hits the frog on the mainline.
Strasburg interchanges with a former PRR mainline.  Run on it?  Not hardly. 
Gene

[lanny]

I am amazed at the tremendous amount of respect given these ancient marvels, not just by modelers but also by the railroads.  I am a firm supporter of preserving history regardless of cost.  Bachmann is doing a great job keeping steam alive. 
Bo

Bo,

I agree with your thoughts. I was standing near the mainline track (probably too near) when #844 wailed for the crossing and when gliding by ... probably only about 40mph ... but a tremendous sense of raw power and elegance at the same time. Just beautiful to behold. But the best part was later when she left her stopover and began pulling her 7 car passenger/excursion train up that 2 mile grade. There is no way I can describe the feelings as I heard the 900,000 lb beauty pick up speed as she worked upgrade.

Those 3 minutes or so, were well worth the almost 2 hour wait and, except for our 2 little grandsons that had to get back home, my wife and I would have 'chased' her for awhile.

I've never seen crowds of people like that ... everywhere we went near the tracks there were crowds. The little town she stopped in for 15  minutes was packed ... I'd guess several hundred easily, if not a thousand or more. It was very hard to get around so we went outside of town where it was a little more quiet, to watch her go by.

lanny nicolet

[Bojangle]

I feel so many people are concerned about their future, and the future of this country, at times it is nice to view the past.  The present day to day life gets boring.
I have always believed in  living for the moment, for once that moment is gone, it can never be recovered.   But when you stood by the tracks,  your memories were revived.  I bet you had goosebumps.  I get them just looking at the picture of the real 618, imagine how I will feel when I get to meet her in September. Their insurance won't allow me to ride in the cab, but oh how I wish I could. I did buy a UP engineer's cap just in case they let me in the cab for a photo shoot.
Bo

[lanny]

Bo,

I hope you can get to at least climb up in the cab. I just go the DVD from the video I shot back. I had never used a cam corder and my footage is really poor ... except for that 2 minutes or so when 844 was climbing up grade past us. Our grandsons were sitting on the roof of our van and I told them to wave at the engineer. The guys in the 844 cab waved back, but we didn't get them to use the whistle. And yes, there were 'goosebumps' and for just a momet I had a bit of trouble seeing ... for some reason my eyes were a bit 'blurry' .

Here's a question for UP experts or any steam expert ... why did the train have three 'baggage style' cars that had only louvers rather than windows? The consist was a fuel/water (tender?) then a 60 foot express box car, then a baggage car, next came 3 baggage style cars, all with louvered windows, one coach ('Salina'), a dome car, and the observation car with the full window floor to roof ceiling in the back.

I'm curious about those baggage style cars ... why so many? and what purpose do they serve?

lanny nicolet

[Conrail Quality]

Electrics are my domain, not steam, but I'm willing to bet one of those cars had a generator to provide head-end power to the passenger cars. Steam heat is simply not considered reliable enough in this day and age.

[r0bert]

I will be in K.C. tomorrow morning awaiting the arrival of the 844.