Engine No. 844

To help celebrate the Oklahoma Centennial, Union Pacific ran a special excursion train through the state this last week. It was pulled by Engine No. 844, the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific in 1944. It's also the only locomotive of its kind to have never been officially retired. In its time the 844 has pulled such trains as Overland Limited, Los Angeles Limited, Portand Rose, and Challenger. The engine and tender are 114ft long and weigh over 900,000 pounds. It has a water capacity of 23,500 gallons and can hold 6,500 gallons of oil. The modern diesel engines lack the art and romance of these old steam machines.
So Marley, Hunter and I drove to Enid this morning to see it pull into the depot. Marley cleared it with her teacher to take off school today. (She'll be giving a report to her class with photos) It was worth the three hour drive.
It finally arrives.

Marley, Hunter, and I get to pose with the conductor.

To give you an idea of the scale of this machine, look how tall the locomotive is compared to the railway worker.

Marley and Hunter look down from the rail car that serves as a souvenir store.

The white hose you see is providing water for the engine. The tanker truck is filling the engine's fuel tank with oil.