Some great news-

http://www.uphs.org/

It'd be neat to see her "as built" w/o ears and the warning light, if only for a short while.

Joshua

Isn't it great that at least one American railroad has the wherewithall and guts to operate two locos of their steam heritage in this modern, litigenous society? What would they need to be induced to rebuild a "Big Blow" turbine?
Congrats, U.P.!

Given the fine safe and professional operation of the steam crew and the quality of work put into her by Hawaiian Steam Engineering, much less risky than transporting a tank car of acid. Nice work guys.

dave

YES. She is back!!!!!!! Now we just need N&W 611 and 1218. Hey we can dream cant we!

-Eric

I nver would have guessed that after I saw 844 'melt down' at Railfair '99 in Sacramento that it would be five years before she operated again. Kudos to UP for bringing her back!

What happened to her? I forgot or I never heard about it.

Several boiler flues collapsed while 844 was on display under steam at Railfair in Sacramento, CA. in 1999. I was on the adjacent track touring the private car Virginia City when I happened to look out the window to see steam pouring from 844's cab and people scrambling to move away from it. I don't believe anyone was seriously injured, but at least one railfair excursion had to be run with diesels rather than steam. If I recall, 3985, which was also there, was immediately taken out of service and towed home cold. It had to be fully inspected before being used again because it had flues from the same lot as 844's. Rather than just repairing the damage, the UP steam crew took the opportunity to do a much more extensive rebuild on 844. I thought the incident and the following action was curious at the time because a "full rebuild" had just been completed in 1996.

[quote="Richard Glueck"]What would they need to be induced to rebuild a "Big Blow" turbine?[/quote]

First, determine that a "Big Blow" would function in its corporate outreach as the steamers do. Second, purchase one back from one of the historic organizations that have preserved one [IRM, Ogden museum, not sure of others]. Third, scavenge as many parts/components from the other[s] to get the turbine running, OR at the outset get the C-B diesel prime mover in the control cab unit operating so the locomotive can move on its own.

If I recall, 3985, which was also there, was immediately taken out of service and towed home cold. 3985 was brought home under steam in train. It was having some running gear problems at the time & some time had been lost on the trip out dealing with it. Lynn Nystrom the #1 fireman was in the cab at the time & suffered some minor burns. You have to hand it to UP when the estimate was figured in 99 it came to 3.2 million & went from there.....................................................................Wooly

I doubt a 'Big Blow' would have the same PR effect as a steam locomotive does. The serious railfans would love it, but to the general public it looks like just another big yellow diesel. There would be no mistaking the sound though! A turbine-powered Big Blow makes a big noise, which might well be more of a drawback than a plus in the PR perspective. If it's only running on its diesel hostling engine, then it's just another big yellow diesel anyway.

The second week of November, 2004, will go down in history as a "Win-Win" in the world of railway preservation. First of all UP 844 is fired up just in time to celebrate her 60th birthday, and the B&O Museum reopens the same weekend.

Now all of you must understand that my humble opinion is colored by two facts.
1. 844 is the most beautiful 4-8-4 ever built.

2. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum is the premier railroad collection in North America.

Joshua, Ross Grenard and I used to debate the aesthetic worth of smoke deflectors on UP 800's. Ross disliked them. However, I think they set the UP 800's apart from all the other classes of large 4-8-4's s such as the ATSF 2900's, MILW 200's, and NP 2600's (of which SP&S 700 is the sole surviving example) and turned them into regal elegant and distinctive machines.

I was under the impression that the 3985 pulled the 844 home dead in tow and after they got back they did the check of the 3985. There is a picture on railpictures.net of the 3985 pulling a train with the 844 behind the extra water cars. I might be mistaken but I thought this is how they returned to the steam shops.
Greg U.

The URL to the picture is:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=55427

3985 was used to tow the 844 back home. Pentrex video covered these movements in the video Railfair 99. After removal from the Railfan grounds the fire on the 3985 was dropped and an inspection conducted.
At the same time the 844 had her pistons removed in prepration of being dead-in-tow. The excursion trip to Keddie that 3985 was scheduled for was diesel powered. The UP steam crew found no problems with the 3985 so the decision was made to fire her up.

As I remember the FEF3s of which 844 was the last of the group were the only 4-8-4s to have smoke deflectors. UP never called their 4-8-4s Northerns. Some of the Challengers at different times had smoke deflectors too. 3977 the only other Challenger preserved which is in Cody Park in North Platte Ne. has smoke deflectors.................................Wooly

You may be correct. I was there when they left to go to Sacremento & they hadn't even got to Dale Junction when they stopped & lubed the front engine on 3985 & they stopped again in Laramie & went through the process again. I asked Lynn Nystrom what was up & he said well you can see what's up. I didn't go all the way to Sacremento & back but was told 844 was brought home cold & 3985 was brought home under steam in train which is what I based my reply on...........................................Wooly