(The following story appeared on the Trading Markets website on October 5, 2010.)
The celebration of Sedalia’s sesquicentennial is chugging along.
Union Pacific Railroad’s largest operating steam locomotive No. 3985 will roll into the Sedalia Amtrak Station at 3 p.m. Saturday on its “Missouri River Eagle — Sedalia, Missouri Sesquicentennial Tour,” celebrating local history and railroad heritage.
The locomotive will remain in Sedalia overnight for public viewing on the siding at Engineer Street before departing Sunday evening for Kansas City.
A public reception will be from 2 to 4 p.m. at the depot. Hamburgers and hot dogs will be available from Cub Scout Pack 500 and Boy Scout Troop 50, and the Sedalia 150 Committee will be selling souvenirs. Musicians will provide entertainment. Sedalia Mayor Elaine Horn and the 150 Committee will present a brief welcome ceremony after the train arrives.
According to Union Pacific Railroad, the Challenger 3985 was built in 1943 and is one of 107 built between 1936 and 1943. The 3985 operated in regular service on the railroad until 1957 until retirement in 1962, when it was stored in a roundhouse in Cheyenne, Wyo.
The Challengers were designed for fast freight service but occasionally pulled passenger trains. No. 3985 originally burned coal and pulled a tender with a 32-ton capacity. In 1990, it was converted to use No. 5 oil. Its top speed is about 70 mph.
In 1981, a group of Union Pacific employees volunteered to restore the locomotive in cooperation with the railroad. The 3985, along with its cousin, locomotive No. 844, are operated as part of the Union Pacific Steam Program, which provides a glimpse of the railroad’s past.
Ben Jones, Union Pacific director of public affairs for Missouri and Kansas, said the railroad is looking forward to celebrating with Sedalia on Saturday.
“Sedalia has such a rich railroad heritage that it is only fitting that the world’s largest operating steam locomotive helps in celebrating their sesquicentennial,” Jones said.
The Challenger is on a six-state tour that will take it 2,200 miles from Wyoming to Illinois.
According to a Union Pacific Railroad news release, a Global Positioning Satellite transmitter has been installed on one of the railcars of No. 3985.
The GPS system has been integrated with a map on Union Pacific’s website at up.com.
Website visitors can access route maps with varying amounts of detail, which are updated every five minutes, by entering “steam” in the search box on the homepage.