Saturday, November 12, 2011

AJ, AZ - The Last Steam Locomotive

How in the world can we top the Veterans Day parade in Mesa? Well, today the last steam locomotive in the Union Pacific line rolled into Gilbert, another Phoenix suburb (among the very many.) What a chance to see this historic engine and train. Who hasn’t thrilled to the lonesome whistle of a faraway train? How many of you have ever ridden a train for any distance? I actually traveled from Iowa to Rhode Island by train in 1967 for a job. I don’t remember much about the ride except for the sleeping accommodations (which we did not have) and the dining car which was quite elegant. We didn’t have the money for a sleeping car so we just tried to sleep in our seat - along with loads of others that night. It was mighty uncomfortable and I didn’t sleep much. Kind of like trying to sleep in a plane on a long flight. Too much noise, too much light and too little space.

Engine 844 was originally built for the Union Pacific RR in 1944. It was a high-speed passenger train and was pretty famous in its time. I read in a brochure that it pulled such renown trains as the Overland Limited, Los Angeles Limited and the Portland Rose. Unfortunately, it began operation right before diesels took over the passenger train duties and was retired to freight service in Nebraska between 1957 and 1959. It was saved from the scrapyard in 1960 and held for special service like this journey.
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Between then and now it has run hundreds of thousands of miles as the Union Pacific Ambassador of Goodwill. It has made appearances at Expo 1974, the 1961 opening of the CA Railroad Museum, the 1984 World’s Fair and now it’s here for the beginning of the Arizona 100th anniversary of statehood in 2012.

We got there early and had time to browse the Farmer’s Market near the tracks. Just as we were excited to witness this train, so were others and the crowds began to build. There were old duffers like we were, there were young families with kids and there were train buffs with engineer caps and t-shirts from train museums across the country. We were not the only ones with cameras ready to record this visit. I even saw one guy with an Kodak Instamatic and a roll of film clipped to his wrist. People moved further and further on down the track to get ahead of the crowds to get the best picture. Crowds lined the tracks on both sides waiting to hear the whistle signaling that it was coming in. Fathers lifted their kids up to see better, photographers got their tripods ready and there was the happy buzz of anticipation.

When it finally came into view, it was loud, it was huge and it was shiny. They had that trailn spit-polished to a fond fare-thee-well. When it stopped we all crowded around trying to get a good picture without anyone else in it. Fat chance. I got a picture with the conductor and doesn’t he look authentic?
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Look how big the wheels are next to the guys in back of Gary.
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It was only going to be in town for an hour and we were there when it rolled out. Two toots of that loud horn and the engineer had that old steam engine up to speed and rolling on by. Neat sight and we are glad we got to see it.
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