Union Pacific No. 844

[Gpsman]

Thanks for the great photos.
My dad retired from UP after 45 years.
There's a little bit of train in my blood.

 

[crazyphil]

My Dad also worked for, and retired from, the UP after about 45 years.
He started as a section hand and ended a Roadmaster. I was able to
work on the railroad summers because I had a connection with the big
boss. Fresh air, sunshine and a picnic every day.

 

[SPEEDGUNNER]

Medic15, what you are referring to as "shields" along the side of the locomotive are actually smoke deflectors. They were designed to draw the smoke up and away from the body of the locomotive so the engineer wasn't constantly blinded by the smoke coming from the front.

 

[Salty RI]

A few years back PBS had a series called Great Scenic Railway Journey's they have a web site if you want to look it up.

 

[shouldazagged]

Steam locomotives were by far the rule when I was a kid. Diesel-electric units were barely beginning to be phased in and were rarely seen.

I rode behind many a steamer, and like most boys in the 1940's was utterly enthralled by them. I'm fascinated by trains to this day, though the romance is gone. I miss the roaring, hissing, clanking steam locomotives, and the way an engineer who knew his stuff could make the whistle sing the blues. I knew all the whistle and semaphore board signals in those days before radio communication on trains, but there was nothing more lonesome or thrilling than a train blowing the crossing signal, two longs, a short and a long, in the distance at night.

I remember the hypnotic clicking rhythm of steel wheels on the rails, which in those days were not welded.

Lord, Faulkner, you and your wife have triggered a ton of memories. Thanks.

 

[Iggy]

I am reminded of my childhood every time old 844 fires up and leaves or returns to Cheyenne.. Use to love to sit at my Grand Dad's house in town, and listen to that chuff... chuff...chuff-chuff, whoo whoo as those old timers headed west over the summit.
up 844 steam - - Yahoo Video Search Results
On a clear day out at the ranch, with no wind or a south wind, we could hear those old timers moving westward on the railroad tracks 18 miles away.

Old 844 brings back lots of memories that's for sure.

 

[retiredbadge8091]

I saw the U.P.'s Number 844 at the Ogden Station, also home to a railroad museum, as well as the Browning Arms and Automobile Museums in Ogden, Utah.

Just northwest of there is Promotory Point where the Union Pacific met up with the Central Pacific and completed the Transcontinental railroad with the driving of the Golden Spike.

I enjoy steam locomotives and have vacationed so as to collect these behemoths and their lines. Railroads made America and are a big part of our history. Roll on 844, roll on.

 

[rwsmith]

I love this myself......

..but I have friend who would turn cartwheels if he saw this.

Smell and taste the coal, see the driving rods, hear the roar, feel the heat and the steam and the breeze and turbulence from a mechanical powerhouse. There ain't nothing like it.

 

[nodpete]

Beautiful train ! I grew up in the UP of Michigan in logging country and when the train ( all steam engines in the 40's &50's) would be switching logging cars in town, the engineers would let us kids ride in the cab. Never forgot what a thrill it was.

 

[les.b]

Can you imagine how many Federal, State and Local entities would swoop down on a poor engineer who would dare let a youngster climb aboard a working Steam Engine today!! Breathing the dreaded, toxic, global warming creating, noxious, evil, Coal Fumes? Pardon me, but I was raised in Coal country, and the havoc that has been wreaked on our way of life and livelihood in recent years has left a taste in our mouths that is much worse than coal fumes.

By the way, crazyphil, this is for you:

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Gr4I25j3o[/ame]

Enjoy... You were right on!!


Best Regards, Les

 

[LostintheOzone]

844 is a regular attendee at the Sacramento Rail Museum. It's an awesome sight and sound!

I saw one like it in Sacramento a few years ago at that museum. My dad worked for the Southern Pacific when I was in grade school. I used to go down to the depot with him in El Paso TX. His friend used to talk about the steam locomotives the SP had when he started working there. He had lots of pictures and reminisced about a bygone era. This was in the late 50's.

Great pics. Wish I could have seen it rolling thru.

 

[model70hunter]

Beautiful shots of history steaming by.

And for the gun guys the mail car guard has a Win M-12 not an Italian OU.....

 

[crazyphil]

Thanks for that Les. Johnny had a little bit different "interpretation" than
I did. Those cars still on the tracks look like passenger cars? I never saw
the photo before. I always somehow thought it was freight train. Was
it a passenger train. How many killed?

P. S. Another great train song WABASH CANNONBALL

 

[swsig]

Great photos, Faulkner! Old 844 came to my town in 2010, and got a huge turnout of spectators. It was difficult to get a good shot with so many people in the way, but the attached photo does give you a sense of its massive size. And "Trains and Locomotives" on the RFD Channel is one of my favorite TV programs. I've got the episodes all recorded on dvd, so I can watch them any time.

 

[Muley Gil]

Speaking of steam engines, do you remember this?

They gave him his orders at Monroe Virginia
saying Steve your way behind time
This is not 38 it's old 97 and you must put her into Spencer on time.

He looked around and said to his black, greasy fireman,
just shovel on a little more coal
and when we reach that White Oak Mountain
we can watch old 97 roll.

It's a mighty long road from Lynchburg to Danville
on a line of a three mile grade
it was on that grade that they lost their average
so you can see what a jump they made.

They were going down grade making 90 miles an hour
when the whistle broke into a scream.

He was found in the wreck with his hand on the throttle
and was scalded to death by the steam.

Now ladies, you must take warning
from this time on and learn

never speak harsh words to your true love or husband
he may leave you and never return.

Sorry if not exactly right, it's from another memory.

This was sung by Henry Whitter of Fries, Virginia in 1923 and released in January 1924. It is considered one of the first successful country songs. Henry worked at the Washington cotton mill in Fries (just down the road from me) and took off several times to go to NYC to record songs for Okeh Records.

 

[twodog max]

There are a few real steam train excursion rides still left for those interested. This past summer we went to Durango and rode the Durango and Silverton. It was OK but IMO the Cumbres and Toltec out of Chama New Mexico beats it like a rented mule. Better scenery and ride and a little less costly. There are others but I have not ridden them.
The UP steamers all burn oil and were converted from coal. Less logistical problems as well as others with oil as compared to coal.

 

[Faulkner]

Up close and personal view of the No. 844.

 

[federali]

UP 8444

When this thread started, I wanted to say that the engine number was missing a digit. I was half wrong and half right. I believe this locomotive is formerly #8444 and was renumbered, a common practice in railroading.

 

[federali]

Caution

Admiring, and riding behind nostalgic steam locomotives is known to cause unspecified illnesses in the State of California.

 

[Faulkner]

When this thread started, I wanted to say that the engine number was missing a digit. I was half wrong and half right. I believe this locomotive is formerly #8444 and was renumbered, a common practice in railroading.

According to the Union Pacific website it's original number was 844. An extra '4' was added to its number in 1962 to distinguish it from a diesel engine numbered in the 800 series. The steam engine regained its rightful number in June 1989, after the diesel was retired.