I remember reading somewhere that the UP had to use 844 in freight service in the late 1980s (or early 90s, I don’t remember) Is this true? What kind of train was it?
It could also have been the Challenger.
Couldn’t give you the date. However, my recollection is that the incident was to assist a train which had had an engine fail, not regular service. I also recall that they had a dickens of a time making steam at first, because of the low speed starting up reducing the draught. But that they (being Steve Lee and his magic crew) did it, with flying colours.
It was probably doing break in runs after major repair work. I have seen pictures with her pulling stack trains around Cheyanne before.
I also recall reading about that incedent Jamie mentioned too?
I’ve heard about the above incident, but I’ve also heard that they sometimes will tag on a few freight cars for better braking if they don’t have too much stuff behind the loco. Heard that from a railfan at one of the places 844 was on display last year (I think it was when I did the evening shot at Union Station), so you might take it with a grain of salt until someone more knowledgeable aound here can confrm or deny it.
Yes UP’s 4-8-4 and 4-6-6-4 sometimes will haul some freight cars along with their usual consist when going to or from a railfan event.
Heres what happened. The 844 was following a freight. The freight stalled on the hill. The mainline was going to be clogged if they didnt get that train out of there ASAP. Engineer of the 844 called dispatch and asked if they could help. The dispatch asked if a steam engine could really do it. Hogger replied about how it was done in the old days. D’Oh!
UP 844 pushed her up the hill, freight and passenger train and all. The passenger train was a deadhead, so it was empty. I have the story on hand, if anyone wantys more info.
One time in the early 80’s when it was deadheading back to Cheyenne from an appearance at the River City Round Up in Omaha, they had it pull a string of newly shopped and repainted box cars from the Omaha shops (RIP) to North Platte. Paced that one down US 30 at over 90mph. Stupid, but fun!
Some time back there was a photo spread of the 3985 as it pulled a stack train in regular service, naturally was recorded for publicity purposes.[ I want to say it was a Maersk stack train but I might be mistaken about that].
The “save” that is mentioned in this thread by 844 of a downed freight train. It was one of the hotte of UP’sr specialty pig trains, and 844 was on a break-in run after maintenance, and the engineer on the train wasn’t Steve Lee, but another man who is part of the steam team. They heard the call about the breakdown and were in a position to recover the train and got permission and brought the whole outfit back to Cheyenne.