Union Pacific 844 visits Ennis, TX

I mentioned playing with model trains in my last post. That was about a project for Ambrado, on display as part of Ambrado’s MPEG-2 media encoder product introduction this coming week at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas.

Today (Saturday) I was fortunate enough to be in Ennis, Texas as a real steam train, Union Pacific’s engine #844 and several support cars, rolled into town on its Valley Eagle heritage tour. The full story on the Union Pacific web site can be found here.

I didn’t think I’d get to attend–I have been down sick for a couple of days and not feeling any better late Friday night. By Saturday morning  things were looking better, so Janet and I loaded up and drove to Ennis. The train had been on display Friday in Ft Worth, scheduled to depart to the southeast about 8:00 AM Saturday morning, reaching Ennis about 10:30. We left Murphy at 8:30 and figured we’d arrive about the same time 844 did. Ended up being pretty close.

Janet standing near one of 844's huge drivers.

I’ve always been a railfan and particularly like seeing relics of the steam era. Steam was already long overtaken by Diesel power  when I was growing up in the mid-50’s but a  few local lines still owned some small switchers and they would appear on the Santa Fe tracks near our house from time to time.  I did get to ride one or two Frisco steamers in Cub Scout field trips, and I remember Dad taking me down to watch an old steamer warming up at Union Station in downtown Oklahoma City in what was likely one of its last runs.

Later I rode Santa Fe’s Texas Chief several times  from Oklahoma City to Newton, Kansas to visit my grandparents. Folks didn’t think anything of putting a 10-year-old kid on a train by himself in those days.  The Chief was powered by a General Motors F3 diesel, famous in its own right. Even then passenger service was dying off rapidly, now diesel engines of that era are relegated mostly to static displays in museums.

UP is one of the few Class 1 railroads that operates any steam equipment. I have seen both UP #844 (today), and UP’s Challenger #3985 (about 20 years ago). Haven’t seen much operating steam in between except at a select few excursion sites.

The crowd today was an interesting mix of young and old. Wandering around  I heard snippets of conversation, many were from old-timers remembering Ennis’ heyday as a significant maintenance center for the Southern Pacific railroad before it’s merger with UP. Many of those in attendance had never seen an operating steam engine before. And, of course, the kids were in awe. Even in this super-tech era we live in a 1940’s live steam engine can be pretty awesome.

844 getting ready to roll out of Ennis TX. April 10, 2010

It costs a bloody fortune to keep these things running and there are very few reasons to do so. I hope UP can continue to fund this program.

//Mark