(The following story by Chuck Lentz appeared on the Grand Island Independent website on June 16, 2009.)
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — For the first time in two years, a train pulled by one of Union Pacific’s two vintage steam locomotives will stop in Grand Island on Friday.
Locomotive No. 844, known as the “Living Legend” because it has never been retired from service, is scheduled to arrive at 10:45 a.m. for a half-hour service stop. It is expected to stop near the Oak Street crossing, and Union Pacific welcomes people to take a close look at the engine and its train during the stop.
In addition to oil and water tenders, eight passenger cars are slated to be part of the train, U.P. spokesman Mark Davis said.
No. 844, with four 6-foot-high drive wheels on each side, joined the Union Pacific fleet in 1944 as a high-speed passenger engine.
It was the last steam locomotive built for the railroad. When diesel locomotives took over passenger train duties in the late 1950s, No. 844 was briefly placed in freight service and then saved from the scrapper’s torch in 1960.
“We are proud to have No. 844 on display during the weekend,” said Steve Lee, U.P.’s manager of operating practices and the locomotive’s chief engineer. The engine and its train will be on display throughout the weekend, Monday and Tuesday as part of Railroad Days in Omaha and Council Bluffs, Iowa.
At 11 a.m. June 24, the locomotive is again scheduled to make a half-hour service stop in Grand Island as it returns to its home base in Cheyenne, Wyo.
No. 844 last stopped in Grand Island on June 23, 2007, for an overnight stop that coincided with Hall County and Grand Island’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
The locomotive will be on public display Saturday and Sunday at the Durham Museum in Omaha. It will then be moved and on display at Golden Spike Park in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Monday and Tuesday.
A global positioning system (GPS) transmitter has been installed on one of the rail cars travelling with the locomotive, according to a U.P. press release. On the railroad’s Web site, up.com, the GPS system will update the train’s location every five minutes. The information can be accessed by entering the word “steam” in the Web site’s search box.