Steam locomotives hold a special place in people’s hearts, and for this year’s Cheyenne Frontier Days, Union Pacific Railroad is re-introducing the extensively restored after a nearly three-year absence.
“For the past three years, we’ve used E-9 locomotives to pull the Denver Special,” said Ed Dickens, manager of heritage operations, referring to Union Pacific’s Streamliner diesel-electrics. “The E-9 locomotives are a crowd pleaser, but I think we can all agree that there’s nothing quite like a steam locomotive.”
The locomotive is ready to pull The Denver Post Cheyenne Frontier Days train, whose 22 yellow, red and gray vintage passenger cars will depart at 7 a.m. Saturday on their way to the 120th annual Frontier Days rodeo in Wyoming. The 600-plus riders will return to Denver Saturday night. The train will also be on display Friday at East 44th and Brighton Boulevard.
No. 844 was the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific in 1944 and was never taken off its active roster. However, much of the exterior steam and air piping on No. 844 had deteriorated. The for almost the entire locomotive. The crew formed a massive assembly line to get the job done, according to a United Pacific news release.
This year that was revived in 1992 for the paper’s 100th anniversary after a 22-year hiatus.
