Saw this on the G Scale Forum. 844 is getting there, according to Trains magazine.
Jerry Barnes said:
Saw this on the G Scale Forum. 844 is getting there, according to Trains magazine.
Jerry,
A funny thing…I heard about this upcoming move of 844 from a fellow 9th INF DIV veteran at our 50th Anniversary Reunion at Ft. Riley last week! Apparently he has “something” to do with the crews at UP working on this AND 4014. Small world. He told me UP is working toward the goal of having 4014 ready by 2019. I have his email now and hope to get more information. Good things happening at Union Pacific!
I am amazed, glad but amazed, that the UP management can get the steam program past the bean counters. Accountants go into seizures at large expenditures, especially ones that don’t reap an immediate profit.
UP is a very successful railroad, and can afford to expend the needed wherewithal to do this kind of restoration. I think the “Beanies” have put this over into the “public relations” column, which is where it belongs on every railroad that has any steam left to restore. Actually, most railroads see this as a challenge; to restore their historic equipment because the general public loves the “steamers”. Railroading in general is seeing a huge renaissance in terms of revenue and expansion. Both the big guys and the short lines are prospering.
Andrew, I agree with everything you are saying. But I have fought bean counters most of my working life.
At one job I had, they decided that fixing typewriters was no longer economical for the company, so they sent out letters basically telling their typewriter customers to go away. No 6 month warning, no grace period, just we are done with that business. I told the bean counter that was a huge mistake, the company should have given fair warning. I was told that I didn’t know what I was talking about. Before the year was up, Pittsburgh National Bank cancelled all their copier and fax machine contracts with the company I worked for. Why? Because they were basically told to take their scores of typewrites and go away. So they did, and they took their few hundred copiers and fax machines with them.
I applaud UP and NS for restoring and running mainline steam, even if I never do get to see it in person. I just hope they continue with these programs.
Gary, thanks for the info. I have a MTH 4014 on order, they keep pushing the delivery date back, hope it gets here before 2019!
Jerry, maybe they want to hold it back, so it hits the market at the same time the 4014 steams out of Cheyenne. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Andrew, not sure how to get the article moved from internet to here, but I drive past a line of 200+ UP locomotives parked on a siding southeast of Tucson, I think the article said almost 2 miles long, they are parked because of the economy and certian govmint offficials trying to kill the oil and coal industries. I have a cousin at BNSF he is refering to this time as a BLood Bath,and his wife in the engineer dispatching Dept was handed a pink slip at the end of her shift last month. To finish out her years before she retires She moved to Seattle to be a yard manager, while my cousin says in Ft Worth as a dispatcher until their planned retierment. So for the railroads to spend much on projects like this is really suprising considering the struggles they are having right now. BNSF and UP have seen large cuts in the number of unit coal trains, and oil revenues are down .
http://tucson.com/content/tncms/live/#1 lets see if this worked. The article says nationwide1400 have been parked until traffic picks up
here is an article about them locomotives.
I’m pretty sure the Big Boy is privately funded. #844 may have been added to the deal as long as those tools and craftsmen were assembled.
All roads that moved coal and oil have idle engines if they haven’t sold or traded them off.
I am actually surprised that the tools and know-how have survived. There aint much call for that anymore.
That private funding rumor did go around a lot, seems it was not, as I recall from some reading, but who knows?
David, I think they had some tools left there, since 844 rebuilds probably started before they got around to getting rid of all of the stuff. At that date there were also retirees still living in Cheyenne to help out some, I imagine.
I recall when the Navy pulled the Iowa class battleships out of mothballs in the early 80’s, they had to recall some retired Gunner’s Mates from the Viet Nam and Korea and WW II eras to teach how to use the 16 inch guns. Then, when they needed to drill a hole through the 11 1/2 inch nickle steel deck of New Jersey, the first in the class to be refitted in 1982, they found that the technology of the armor steel had been forgotten, and the Long beach Naval Ship Yard couldn’t do it. They had to go find some 80 year old guy in New York who had helped build New Jersey to teach them how to work with the armor steel. When I was 35, 80 seemed ancient. Now, not so much.
Pete Lassen said:
Andrew, not sure how to get the article moved from internet to here, but I drive past a line of 200+ UP locomotives parked on a siding southeast of Tucson, I think the article said almost 2 miles long, they are parked because of the economy and certian govmint offficials trying to kill the oil and coal industries. I have a cousin at BNSF he is refering to this time as a BLood Bath,and his wife in the engineer dispatching Dept was handed a pink slip at the end of her shift last month. To finish out her years before she retires She moved to Seattle to be a yard manager, while my cousin says in Ft Worth as a dispatcher until their planned retierment. So for the railroads to spend much on projects like this is really suprising considering the struggles they are having right now. BNSF and UP have seen large cuts in the number of unit coal trains, and oil revenues are down .
Pete, I hadn’t heard about this downturn lately. Last I heard UP was doing just fine. and so was BNSF. Of course, with the Government trying to kill the Fossil Fuel industry in this country, it was certain to adversely impact the railroads who rely on moving huge tonnage of these raw materials. Just another example of Washington trying to kill our great nation. Sad.
Tools can be scrapped, but, with enough funds, new ones can be fabricated. It’s the know how that, once lost, can be impossible to replace. As in any job, I am sure there were tricks and techniques that were passed down from senior craftsmen to journeymen. It’s that knowledge that is priceless.
Video of 844 in 2012 crossing New Mexico. Given how fast it is going I am pretty sure it drank the water! 
Thanks Jerry, great to see it up and running again! Hope they can get the 4014 running before I go to the great rail yards.
Don
You know, for a non-articulated loco, #844 is pretty darn big!
King of the 16 Wheelers. Of course, the 4449 is prettier, but old 844 is a brute that gets my heart rate up every time