UP 844 and train are in town for the first passenger special run on the Joint Line in 10 years! The summer of 1997 was the last run, with UP 844 in fact! In that year, the special turned west at Pueblo to head over Tennessee Pass. This run will turn around in Pueblo (for the Colorado State Fair) and return to Denver on the Joint Line.
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Who knows if this shot will ever be possible again! First of all, passenger trains seldom pull power-first into Union Station. Second, the Union Station redevelopment project is going to allegedly bury the station tracks, making it hard to get trains and Union Station in the same shot!
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Just minutes before sunset, the low sun casts a nice shadow across the front of UP 844. The steam engine was built in the 1940's for Union Pacific and was in fact the last steam engine delivered to UP. A fitting tribute to an era many decades gone now.
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There are railfans in the world that could tell you what ever single lever, rod and hose in this shot are used for. I am not one of those railfans (I'm more of a diesel-era railfan), but I find the complexity of the machinery fascinating nonetheless!
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Sometimes you have to get "down and dirty". In the last few seconds (literally) of sunlight, I grabbed this rail-level shot of UP 844 and the Colorado State Fair special. Yes, that is the Rio Grande Heritage Unit (UP 1989) as the diesel helper.
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Getting close to 9 o'clock at night and UP 844 rests quietly awaiting its busy day tomorrow. In the meantime, we enjoy something of a flash-back to yesteryear when steam-powered trains frequented Union Station on a daily basis.
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A waxing gibbous moon rise over Union Station while UP 1989 sits on Track 3 behind UP 844. Tomorrow, the units along with the UP passenger cars behind them will make the 240-mile round-trip from Denver to Pueblo and back for the 2007 Colorado State Fair.
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