What is really special for me is that I worked here in Council Bluffs in the UP yards a couple of summers while I was going to college.....$1.80 an hour as a tinners helper
There were several of the FEF3s in the yard all the time as they were being used to haul fresh produce from the west coast.
In 1986, while I was living in Hays, Kansas the 844 came to vist on the way to Topeka to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Kansas statehood. I was one of the coordinators of the visit and the PR people from the UP would call me a couple of times a week asking if I really thought people would come out to see it. I kept assuring them that folks would come out, but I think right up to the day of the visit they didn't believe it.
Hays is a city of about 17,000 and it was estimated that there were more than 40,000 people lining the tracks when she pulled into town
The UP folks were dumbfounded. Little towns as far as 50 miles away had let out school and brought the kids to Hays. It was a great celebration and no one, especially train nut me wanted to see her leave. :cry: :cry: :cry:
I can hardly wait until they finish the newest UPRR display just north and west of the I-80 bridge across the Missouri where they are putting in a Big Boy and a Centennial. One of the best kept secrets for train nuts from around here is that just before the CNW was merged into the UPRR they had built a big new shop on the south edge of their yards. Now the UP stores their excursion fleet there and uses the shop for restoration projects. I make a point to drive by every couple of weeks to see what might be going on
Bob