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With the announcement by Union Pacific this week that its famous 4-8-4 steamer #844 will be making a rare visit east of the Mississippi River later this month, it is only natural that the #844 would be the star of this week’s Steamer Sunday edition of Railfan Video of the Day. In this video, captured and shared by Nicholas Valdez, we see the large Northern steamer and Denver and Rio Grande Western Heritage SD70ACe #1989 (also seen in this previous RVOTD) lead the Cheyenne Frontier Days train in July of 2016.

Nicholas Valdez writes:

In this video, we continue chasing the Union Pacific 844 and the 2016 Denver Cheyenne Frontier Days Train. We go from several miles south of Greeley, and onward to Cheyenne. We catch the train smoking into Greely for a brief break and service stop, but we aren’t there long. The train continues North, where we soon catch it pounding up the hill just shy of Speer, then easing eastbound into the mighty Cheyenne Depot.

#844 (ALCO 1944) was the last steam locomotive delivered to the Union Pacific and is unique in that it is the only steam locomotive to never have been retired by a Class I railroad. Saved from scrapping in 1960, #844 has been used by Union Pacific for various special and excursion trains over the past half-century. With 80″ drivers and the capacity for travel up to 120 miles per hour, #844 and her sister engines were originally designed for high-speed passenger service, but traffic demands of World War II and the encroachment of diesel-electrics in the 1950’s often pushed these locomotives into freight service as well.

Between 1962 and 1989, #844 was renumbered “8444” by the Union Pacific to create a roster spot for an EMD GP-30 locomotive. When the “Geep” was retired, the mighty steamer regained her original number. Interestingly, the number “8444” is used by a Union Pacific SD70ACe today.

For more footage of the Union Pacific special passenger train (without #844) see this former RVOTD selection.

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Enjoy!

Now, go watch some trains!

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