(The following story by Charles F. Trentelman appeared on the Standard-Examiner website on April 10, 2009.)
OGDEN, Utah — The Union Pacific’s steam engine No. 844, is scheduled to visit Ogden briefly Sunday and Monday, then spend three days on public display in May on the anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike.
Roberta Beverly, director of the Union Station Foundation, said that she still has few details about the engine’s visit. She cautioned that, because of the engine’s age and mechanical complexity, nothing is ever firm about its schedule.
“It will be here on the 12th and 13th and getting water from our water column,” she said. The Union Station’s water column is a special water tap designed to meet the unique needs of the two vintage steam engines that the Union Pacific operates.
The 844 is scheduled to leave Cheyenne, Wyo., on Saturday and go to Rock Springs, then Evanston. It is scheduled to leave Evanston at noon Sunday, arriving in Ogden about 2:30 p.m.
It will stay in Ogden overnight for servicing. As in the past, it will be trackside behind Union Station so the public can see it.
At 8 a.m. Monday, it will leave for California via Montello, Nev., and visit a number of cities in Nevada and California.
It returns to Ogden at 3 p.m. May 7 where it will be on display for three days as part of the 140th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike at the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory.
The engine leaves to return to Cheyenne at 8 a.m. May 11.
The UP’s Web site says “steam locomotive No. 844 is the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific Railroad.”
“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 trains.”
The engine was saved from the scrap heap in 1960 when diesel-powered engines took over. Engine 844 and the UP’s other vintage steam engine, Challenger 3985, both make occasional visits to Ogden on their annual tours around the country.