By Reporter Staff
Posted: 04/21/2009
With about 100 spectators from toddlers to the retired gathered near the railroad tracks, Union Pacific's steam locomotive No. 884 barrels through Dixon, Calif., Monday. (Rick Roach, The Reporter)
She may be more than 60 years old, but the "star" attraction that rolled through Solano County on her way to a media blitz in the Bay Area on Monday still managed to bring out plenty of local media and crowds of cheering fans with cameras in hand.
Known simply as No. 844, the Union Pacific steam locomotive left Roseville and was a little behind schedule as it rolled through the region on its way to Oakland as part of its Western Heritage Tour, which began April 11 in Cheyene, Wyo., and will end there on May 12.
A fairly large group of residents turned out in downtown Dixon to await the train's passage.
Joking and visiting as they waited, some 100 people, toddlers to senior citizens, were rewarded for their patience as the train rumbled through around 10 a.m. The crowd cheered and photographed the engine as it rumbled past.
Such was the case at towns and road crossings all along the route, with people lined up and waiting as early as 8 a.m. at various sites between West Sacramento and Elmira.
An equally large group cheered the engine as it rolled through the Fairfield-Suisun City area.
Farther down the tracks, residents lined up at 8:30 a.m. in Martinez, though the train didn't pass by until two hours later.
No. 844 was Union Pacific's last new steam engine, built in 1944. It hauled mostly passenger trains until 1957 and spent the last few years of its regular service life pulling freight trains in Nebraska.
Far more efficient diesels replaced virtually all U.S. steam engines by the late 1950s.
No. 844 is believed to be the only large steam locomotive in the United States that was never retired, having entered special Union Pacific service in 1962.
At Union Pacific's Oakland freight yard, about 100 photographers and fans were gathered -- one fan even came in a taxi.
"It's steam ... it's alive," said Jim Maurer as No. 844 steamed and hissed about 100 feet away. "I've gone as far as Inner Mongolia to see steam engines, so going to Oakland from San Jose wasn't that far."
Contra Costa Times Assistant Metro Editor Sam Richards contributed to this report.
