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Kansas City, MO —
It looks as if the Union Pacific’s No. 844, the company’s last steam locomotive, is running on time on its way to Kansas City this afternoon. Visitors to Union Station can get a look at it from 3:30 p.m. today until it leaves at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
The railroad says the train left Des Moines this morning and at around 1:30 p.m. was in Polo, Mo., the last of three half-hour stops before arriving at Union Station at 3:30. (A baggage car that’s been transformed into a rolling museum is not on this leg of the trip.)
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, the train heads west, making more than a dozen stops in Kansas and Colorado before arriving Saturday in Cheyenne, Wyo., where it’s housed and maintained.
The railroad is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. No. 844 is one of two old steam engines that it sends out on goodwill excursions, and it’s been busy this year. It passed Independence, Buckner and Levasy on its way to St. Louis, then south into Arkansas, in March. The railroad took delivery of No. 844 in 1944 – its last steam locomotive – and used it until 1959, mostly for high-speed passenger service.
When the train is rolling, the railroad has been consistent about posting location updates on Twitter. Follow @UP_Steam. Or go to www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/steam/trace.cfm
It looks as if the Union Pacific’s No. 844, the company’s last steam locomotive, is running on time on its way to Kansas City this afternoon. Visitors to Union Station can get a look at it from 3:30 p.m. today until it leaves at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
The railroad says the train left Des Moines this morning and at around 1:30 p.m. was in Polo, Mo., the last of three half-hour stops before arriving at Union Station at 3:30. (A baggage car that’s been transformed into a rolling museum is not on this leg of the trip.)
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, the train heads west, making more than a dozen stops in Kansas and Colorado before arriving Saturday in Cheyenne, Wyo., where it’s housed and maintained.
The railroad is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. No. 844 is one of two old steam engines that it sends out on goodwill excursions, and it’s been busy this year. It passed Independence, Buckner and Levasy on its way to St. Louis, then south into Arkansas, in March. The railroad took delivery of No. 844 in 1944 – its last steam locomotive – and used it until 1959, mostly for high-speed passenger service.
When the train is rolling, the railroad has been consistent about posting location updates on Twitter. Follow @UP_Steam. Or go to www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/steam/trace.cfm
