Legend steams into town

Big crowd turns out to see last of Union Pacific's steam locomotives

Terry Martin smiles for his wife Michelle's photo, but his grandson, Liam Snyder, 2, is more interested in the Union Pacific's "Living Legend" No. 844 steam locomotive on Monday.
Terry Martin smiles for his wife Michelle's photo, but his grandson, Liam Snyder, 2, is more interested in the Union Pacific's "Living Legend" No. 844 steam locomotive on Monday.

 

Four years ago, crowds came out to welcome a Living Legend to Jefferson City.

Monday afternoon, they did so again.

The Union Pacific 844 "Living Legend" came to the Capital City after starting the day at Union Station in Kansas City.

No. 844 is the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific. It was delivered in 1944. A high-speed passenger engine, it pulled such widely known trains as the Overland Limited, Los Angeles Limited, Portland Rose and Challenger.

When diesels took over all of the passenger train duties, No. 844 was placed in freight service in Nebraska between 1957 and 1959. It was saved from being scrapped in 1960 and held for special service.

Many people know the engine as the No. 8444, since an extra '4' was added to its number in 1962 to distinguish it from a diesel numbered in the 800 series. The steam engine regained its rightful number in June 1989, after the diesel was retired.

The engine has run hundreds of thousands of miles as Union Pacific's ambassador of goodwill. It has made appearances at Expo '74 in Spokane, the 1981 opening of the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans and the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Los Angeles Union Station in 1989.

Hailed as Union Pacific's "Living Legend," the engine is widely known among railroad enthusiasts for its excursion runs, especially over Union Pacific's crossing of Sherman Hill between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming.

No. 844 returned to service in July to pull the Cheyenne Frontier Days special. 

The locomotive will celebrate the opening of Big River Crossing in Memphis on Friday. 

This Trek to Tennessee Tour is the first multi-state venture since the locomotive's three-year restoration was completed.

To keep the locomotive hot, the crew follows a very specific cycle every day.

"At the end of every operating day, we fill the boiler completely, and let it warm to the maximum heat to achieve maximum pressure," said Ed Dickens, senior manager of heritage operations for Union Pacific. 

"When we're ready to put it away for the night, we extinguish the fire and cap the smoke stack and all the other air vents around the fire box."

The team has fabricated special insulating covers to help the pressure vessel keep maximum heat all night. 

"The pressure will drop very, very slowly," he said. "In the morning, we come down usually about 4:30 a.m. or so and we light the fire again. We'll steam it back up to full pressure before we embark and operate it all day long."

Although Dickens has been traveling with locomotive No. 844 for years, he still gets excited about each new trip and added that this was the first trip for several of the crew members. 

"It's fun going to all the different places and seeing the people, especially the children," he said. 

"Seeing the smiles on their faces makes all the hard work we put into these locomotives worth it."

Once the train leaves the Capital City, around 8 a.m. today, it will make brief stops in Hermann, Washington, Pacific, Kirkwood and St. Louis.

Railroad officials said running times and scheduled stops are subject to change. 

A comprehensive schedule including locations and display times, as well as route map and a GPS monitor of No. 844's location, is available at up.com/aboutup/special_trains/steam/details. shtml.