(The following appeared on the Green River Star website on September 8, 2010.)
GREEN RIVER, Wyo. — Union Pacific Railroad’s historic steam locomotive No. 844 will travel more than 2,300 miles from its base in Cheyenne on a 15-day, three-state tour to the Pacific Northwest, and it will make stops in Rock Springs and Green River.
The historic train will arrive in Rock Springs at around 6 this evening.
After spending the night there, it will leave for Green River at about 8 tomorrow morning, arriving at the Green River yard at about 8:30 for a 15-minute “whistle stop.”
From Green River, it will continue into Idaho and on to its first ever appearance at the Pendleton Round-Up in Pendleton, Ore.
On the return trip, the train will again make a whistle stop in Green River the afternoon of Sept. 22 at about 12:30. It will go on to spend the night in Rock Springs and leave for Rawlins at 8 a.m. Sept. 23.
“Since 1862, Union Pacific Railroad has been working to build America while connecting the communities that define it,” said Scott Moore, vice president of public affairs for the U.P. Western Region.
The Portland Rose heritage tour was named after a passenger train that operated between Chicago and Portland beginning in 1930. Known for its elegance, The Portland Rose was heralded as “A Triumph in Train Comfort.”
The train had its own china pattern and specially decorated club observation car, the Portland Club.
This car featured a radio, soda fountain, maid service, hairdresser, barber, valet and bath.
Through the Columbia River Gorge, between The Dalles and Portland, an open- top observation car was added on the rear of the train.
In 1954, American Car and Foundry constructed a 44-seat coach car, No. 5473, named “The Portland Rose” which U.P. still owns.
Locomotive No. 844, also known as U.P.’s “Living Legend,” returned to service in 2005 after one of the most extensive steam locomotive overhauls in the United States since regular steam service ended.
The work, which started in 2000, included overhauling the locomotive’s running gear, pumps, piping, valves and springs, along with replacement of its firebox and extensive boiler work.
The cab interior also was refurbished.
No. 844 was the last steam locomotive built for the U.P. Railroad and was delivered in 1944. It pulled such widely known trains as the Overland Limited, Los Angeles Limited, Portland Rose and Challenger.
When diesel-electric locomotives took over all passenger train duties, No. 844 was placed in freight service in Nebraska from 1957 to 1959. It was saved from being scrapped in 1960 and held for special service.
No. 844 has run hundreds of thousands of miles for U.P.’s Heritage program. It 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 the Los Angeles Union Station in 1989.
During the 1990s, No. 844 pulled several of the Denver Post Cheyenne Frontier Days specials and visited several Oklahoma cities during the Oklahoma Centennial in 2007.
A GPS transmitter was installed on one of the rail cars that will travel with No. 844. The GPS system has been integrated with a map on U.P.’s Web site.
Enter the word “Steam” in the search box on the homepage for a shortcut to the map.
Visitors to the Web site will be able to access route maps with varying amounts of detail.
The GPS system will update the map every five minutes showing No. 844’s location.