Heads up! Today is the start of Union Pacific's 2007 steam runs. Happy chaseing. http://www.upsteam.com/schedule.html#schedule
Yupper, and you know she's on her way to Portland/Seattle to doublehead with SP 4449. I have a ticket to ride. Publications on another forum say that there is painting of the 4449 going on in the Brooklyn roundhouse. I wonder what surprise Doyle has in mind for us this time? Not Nickel Plate, I hope. :teeth:
I can almost bet some unnamed friends of mine in Cheyenne are chasing as we speak.... Lucky suckers! To whet some appetites, here's 2005's Portland-bound trip; miles upon miles from anything remotely resembling civilization, 3985 and crew thunder thru Creston Jct, WY:
Holy Cow!! Have not seen Creston Jct. since I did an archaeological survey there in 2002. Found nothing quite as interesting as what is in your photo though! John
Hemi, Nathan B has already posted photos and some were taken from the train. Is he a crew member? :confused2:
No, he works for the City... He may be riding to assist with sales in the Sherman Hill consessions car. I remember a guy from the club that did that in '05.
A GLIMPSE OF HISTORY Photo here: [www.laramieboomerang.com] Caption reads: Conductor Reed Jackson gives instructions to his workers while the steam engine is serviced in Rawlins. (Arron Ontiveroz/Boomerang photographer) LARAMIE, WY -- The women wore flats and jeans and the men brought backpacks and coolers. But if you squinted just a little, you could almost make out the 100-year-old ghosts of Laramie’s railroading past: The woman in stiff petticoats carrying her hatbox, a man in a military uniform waving goodbye to his family and a small boy in slacks and a newsboy cap running the strip of sidewalk alongside the depot. As travelers filled the Historic Laramie Railroad Depot platforms early Thursday morning, a sharp whistle sounded the train’s arrival. Passengers boarded and leaned from open windows, waving to the people lining First Street. “It is just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ride on a steam train again,” said Susan Simpson, Albany County Public Library director. “I can remember being a little girl and going down near the (train tracks) with my father. There was a steam train coming … ‘This is the last of the steam engines,’ my dad said.” Sponsored by the Albany County Commissioners, 120 Laramie community members, including 50 Laramie High School students, were able to make historic trek from Laramie to Rawlins by rail Thursday on the No. 844 Union Pacific steam locomotive. Photo here: [www.uprr.com] Known as the Union Pacific’s “living legend,” the No. 844 was the last steam locomotive built for the Union Pacific Railroad. It was delivered in 1944. A high-speed passenger engine, it pulled the Overland Limited, Los Angeles Limited, Portland Rose and the Challenger trains. Beginning in Cheyenne, steam engine No. 844 will travel to Tacoma, Washington, over the next month, picking up local enthusiasts along the way for the ride, dropping them off a few hours later at the next stop. The Union Pacific asked the Wyoming County Commissioners Association to invite community members to ride the train through Wyoming’s Laramie, Albany, Carbon, Sweetwater, Uinta and Lincoln counties. The Albany County Commissioners, Albany County Clerk Jackie Gonzales said, extended their invitation to local community members. Once in Rawlins, the passengers were bussed back to Laramie. The day was as steeped with memories and as the train itself was with history. “I lived in a boxcar the whole first 17 years of my life,” Laramie resident and Railroad Depot Board Member Dale St. John said. “Well, it was revamped, redone, but there was never any indoor plumbing.” St. John explained that, years ago, his father had worked on the Moffett Railroad line in Colorado. His father, he said, even worked in the longest rail tunnel in the country at 6.2 miles long. “The trains were our life,” St. John said. Preserving our railroading history, he added, is what motivated him to become active at the Laramie Railroad Depot. “We came within months of tearing this place down,” St. John said, adding that since the Depot has been saved, a lot of work has gone into making it a museum. “Once it’s gone, it can never be replaced.” Ken Brown of Laramie remembers boarding a train in Laramie years and years ago, riding all the way to Portland -- a 20 hour trip -- standing up. “I rode the whole way in the vestibule,” Brown said. And of the 50 students riding the train, he said, “This is something for the future generations to experience.” As the prairie drifted by, Gonzales said she distinctly remembers the waiters in the dining cars from train rides 40 years in her past. “They wore all black and had a white towel on their arm,” Gonzales said. And Janice Sexton, District Court clerk, said she remembers overnight family train trips in the 1960s. “The porters would always come in and turn down the beds,” Sexton said. According to the Union Pacific, the No. 844 was placed in freight service in Nebraska between 1957 and 1959 when diesels took over all of the passenger train duties. It was saved from being scrapped in 1960 and saved for special service. The engine has run hundreds of thousands of miles as Union Pacific’s ambassador of good will. It has made appearances at Expo ‘74 in Spokane, Washington, 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. The engine is known among railroad enthusiasts for its excursion runs, especially over Union Pacific’s fabled crossing of Sherman Hill between Cheyenne and Laramie. “We do a lot of looking back on where our country began and where it is now,” said Laramie High School teacher Reesa Florom, who brought her advanced American Studies students on the trip. The students, she said, are studying the industrial revolution and mass transit. “What better primary research is there than being on this train and being able to ask (Union Pacific employees) questions?” Florom asked. “I don’t think I’ve stopped smiling since I got on this train,” she added. - Carrie May, The Laramie Bommerang
It's good to read of the local community enthusiasm. I'm glad they appreciate the history. Boxcab E50
Well I just so happens that I am off on Friday the 18th and all the following week. I planned this before I even heard about the steam excursion. So yep you all guessed it I will be trackside in Tacoma to watch her take off and then race to the Ballard bridge for more photos there. And yes if I get any good photos I will post them here.
cwwrrman, I am not that familiar with the Tacoma/Seattle area. Can you tell me where the Ballard bridge is and how to reach it? I hope to arrive in Tacoma in time to photograph the private run returning to Tacoma on the 18th. :teeth:
I am not exactly sure how to get to the Ballard bridge but I will make a trial run this weekend so I know exactly where it is. If you are not familiar with the bridge I am referring to it is a Bascule drawbridge. I also might snake my way up to Edmonds and get some photos of it coming along the waterfront.
http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/excurs/trace.cfm If the link works, the steamer is equipped with a GPS device. Worked fine in Dec/Jan snowplow trips. Follow the train from your desktop!
Glenn, the link works fine and it's a neat thing that UP provides when their steamers are out on the line. It shows 844 in Hinkle, OR right now. She will go on to the Dalles, and then through the Gorge on Saturday. :teeth:
If anyone knows 'Nasty', tell him 'Jer-omy' from Montana says HI! Hey, ya'll, this thread is worthless without pics!
Get on your buddy Nathan. I won't have any pix until the doubleheader runs, but he is apparently chasing all the way. He had some on TO today from Oregon. Do you know if he is riding the DH? I'd like to meet him (and you). You guys have posted a lot of great UP steam photos. :teeth:
