Union Pacific 844, April 2017: Pocatello to Ogden

UP 844 Rests on Track 1 at the Ogden Union Station on April 25, 2017; finishing a trip which had it trek across southern Idaho and northern Utah during the day.

When Union Pacific 844 was restored to operation in 2016 many of us in Utah were excited for the prospect that in the coming months the "Living Legend" would visit us in the Beehive State. Early 2017 brought rumors that the 844 would trek west again in a Wyoming-Idaho-Utah tour which would take it through some of the most scenic areas of the Great Basin, including the rare sight of seeing the steamer trekking down the Ogden Subdivision, a stretch of track which runs between McCammon, Idaho, and Ogden, Utah. 

Immediately we began talking about how the Desert Empire Project would cover this trip and I was excited for the chance to follow the 844 down from Idaho into Utah, returning to an area I hadn't been to in over a year. Monday, midday April 24th, my Dad and I left Salt Lake City in my Dad's truck and headed due north, bound for Pocatello. The chance for a road trip was very much an opportunity for me to relax a bit amidst the stresses of the final weeks of the school semester, and for my Dad to celebrate his coming birthday. After copious amounts of candy, soda, and even a quick stop at the quirky surplus store Smith and Edwards (where I found and bought a cool Western Pacific Railroad pin); we finally arrived in Pocatello where 844 was waiting.

April 24, 2017; having just arrived in Pocatello shortly before us the Union Pacific steam crew was hard at work preparing the 844 for another journey the following morning. The diesel helper which had been with the engine from Pocatello to Boise and back, had been cut out; and the steam crew brought in fuel and water to feed the voracious appetite of a large steam engine.

A Union Pacific steam crew member stands in the open doorway of the Art Lockman support car, staring at the gathered crowd in Pocatello.

UP 6961 which had served as the helper unit on 844's train from Pocatello to Boise the weekend prior, slowly slinks away from the steam special leaving the steam engine to take its coming trip into Ogden by itself. The aged and weathered diesel drew the ire of many Idaho based railfans who thought it seemed a poor working partner for the clean and shiny 844 and passenger cars.

Speaking of clean; UP 844 really was shining when we found it in Pocatello. The last time I saw 844 in 2011 was after it made a massive trek across the southwest through New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. By the time it had reached Utah dust and grime made it look worn and tired. In comparison the short jaunt across Idaho and Wyoming meant the 844 had little time to accumulate road grime and it was looking mighty fine! The rain showers probably also helped keep it clean too. The clean exterior also bore testament to the thorough restoration job the steam crew had performed on the engine in the years prior. 

The steam crew gathers at the drivers of UP 844 preparing to grease the running gear. Another crew is working the running gear on the opposite end of the engine.

I would like to comment on the sense of order Union Pacific was able to bring to the crowds surrounding 844 in both Pocatello and Ogden. Steam trains can sometimes lead to trackside stupidity as bystanders put themselves into risky situations. The display area chosen for 844 in Pocatello was isolated from the mainline on a relatively little used spur. Railroad police, private event security, M.O.W. workers and the steam crew all stood on standby. In Pocatello as soon as the blue flags went up and the blocks were placed under the rails; people were allowed to walk up to the engine, take photos of it from in front, and get close to the Living Legend. It was a jovial feeling with the added security of the railroad insuring things went well on their property. We felt like invited guests, and UP played the part of gracious host very well.

My Dad was excited to find the fuel truck used for the 844 had his name on it! ;)

A westbound manifest departs Pocatello on the mainline, while two railroad police officers stand guard to ensure the visiting steam engine crowds do not cross into the mainline tracks.

Itchy and Scratchy roll by on the manifest freight!

In-between the rainy downpours of the day, bright splotches of sun illuminated the passing trains, such as the two DPU units on the manifest freight engine.

"Work never stops on a steam engine" as crew members continue attending to the drive rods while the 844 is resting in Pocatello.

A modest crowd of onlookers gathered around the engine in admiration and awe. A steam engine feels like a living being in many ways, snorting and hissing even while at rest.

After checking into our hotel room my Dad and I stopped again at 844's Pocatello resting spot. The fires had been dropped for the night, but the engine sat like a Thermos; warm and hot to be ready for the coming day's work. With the maintenance work stopped, we used the opportunity to get closer to the engine and admire it at rest. We left shortly afterwords for a game of laser tag and a late dinner, then we went off to our hotel. I slept very restlessly that night, much like a kid waiting for Santa on Christmas eve, the following day would be the main attraction; getting to watch this beautiful engine roll across the Ogden Subdivision!

Man when will I get an opportunity like this again to take selfies in front of the pilot of a live mainline steam engine?

My Dad snapped this picture of me admiring the tender and cab of 844. It should be worth noting that due to safety photos like this on live rail equipment are rarely recommended. As previously mentioned, the watchful supervision of the UP Police and other private security allowing the crowds to do this is an exception to the rule; not the norm!

Custom Union Pacific shield shaped valve plates on the 844.

An early morning alarm at 6:30 am, and we started our Tuesday back where the previous day ended; on the lone spur in Pocatello where 844 was at rest. At 8:00 am with Steam Chief Ed Dickens at the helm, the shrill whistle blowed and the engine in reverse began to back out of the stub track and onto the mainline. The crowd was ecstatic, and a chain of cars began to follow the engine as it crawled out of the city and into the country side.

A cloud of white vapor envelops the 844 as it reverses out of the yard lead, and onto the mainline.

Trekking through the yard was slow, the 844 crawling along until it could highball on the mainline outside of the city. One of the highlights of this trip was seeing the large amount of older signals on the route from Pocatello to Ogden. Many of the other busy mainlines are being modified with LED signals and PTC control, but the Ogden Subdivision is still ruled by classic target signals and controlling not very different from the technology in place when UP 844 was new to the railroad.

UP 844 is already picking up speed as it runs out of the city.

To be honest, I was caught by surprise with the intensity of the chase to follow the 844. The engine made good speed, often faster than the cars that followed it like ants in a line. I did miss a few of the photo locations I wanted to catch the engine at; although for most of the journey we could usually see the engine up ahead of us in the distance. We found our next spots to photograph the engine in McCammon, Idaho; where we met a few other railfans such as Adam Pinales, and Dale and Karyn Angell. 

 Gray overcast met the engine in McCammon. Crowds of school children, many of whose classrooms were located near the track; had greeted the 844 only minutes earlier; before it arrived at the spot the railfans were waiting.

"The Chase" was an experience of both wonder and frustration, as seen here with 844 blowing through Red Rock Pass. Frustration in the feeling of never being able to quite catch up to the steaming engine. Wonder in the amazing sight of vintage passenger equipment rolling along a green countryside with plumes of steam ascending from the engine up front.

It wasn't long until UP 844 left Idaho and crossed the Utah state line (after passing a waiting manifest freight south of Swan Lake, Idaho). At Cornish, my Dad and I waited at the very first grade crossing south of the state line and watched the Living Legend cross the Emerald State and Beehive State boundaries. A massive mob had descended in anticipation at Cache Junction; where crowds of locals greeted the engine. Steam engines make many who are not a railfan come out and enjoy them, their allure attracting young and old alike.

Having just left Idaho a minute ago, UP 844 blasts past the first grade crossing in northern Utah on its route to Ogden.

Looking over my Dad's window to the distance or looking at the road ahead showed the same thing; the spectacular image of hundreds of cars descending on Cache Junction to meet the 844. This small hamlet of a few homes seemed extremely busy as people rushed to get a chance to see the living legend.

Our next stop was below Cutler Reservoir where the tracks rise above the river bed, passing through two bridges joined by a tunnel. The steam train crawled at slow speed into the canyon, and the whistles bounced off the rock walls mingling with the roaring of the river below the dam. Rhythmic chuffs permeated the air as the engine made a spectacular display crossing the high bridges. A few of the railfans present with us at Cutler were Ben Kuhns, Adam Pinales again, and Parker and Garrett Christensen. Kent Bankhead and Mitch Harv were also at points further west in Wheelon and Collintson. For us, it seemed we had the best seat in the house, as the engine made its spectacular crossing above our heads.

 Parker, Garrett and Adam; admire the scenery while preparing a drone to gain a higher vantage point of this awesome area.

Nothing short of spectacular could describe the stunning awe of seeing steam crawl through this scenic canyon!

As we followed along Highway 89, we watched 844 make its approach into Brigham City passing all the small farming towns nearby on the way. We set up our next opportunity to see the engine in Ogden, where it arrived 20 minutes after we did. Mitch Harv and Jacob Morgan were also there to great the engine; and indeed it had felt that during our jaunt across Utah we had ran into many of the active railfans in the state. 844 arrived to a massive crowd, and as it came to rest in the station platform it was as if the glory days of the station had returned; as the busy crowed bused in and around the train. It was a spectacular finale to a stunning day, one which I do not want to ever forget!

Then vs. now? The UTA Frontrunner flies past the station, almost as a reminder of how the modern age of railroading compares to the gilded age 844 comes from.

The masses gathered in full force to watch 844 make its entrance to the Union Station!

UP 844 chuffs along the Ogden Yard at steam as it approaches the station.

With the train in reverse, the steam crew stood guard watching the track ahead.

Like a wake behind a boat, the crowd follows after the 844 as it enters the grand station platforms. Alongside the 844 are its historic brethren of the past, such as UP 26 a Gas Turbine, and UP 833 a FEF-2 which predated the 844 by a few years.

Railfan Dale Angell takes a break from filming footage for his YouTube channel "Toy Man Television" by chatting with a passerby.

UP 833 stands at the far end of the Eccles Rail Center, while in the distance its sister 844 hisses amidst a large crowd.

The face of 844, at rest in Ogden where it will stay two nights until it departs April 27th along the famous Echo Canyon route (Evanston Subdivision)! Two American flags flank the ears of the engine.

This has been a spectacularly fun adventure. I had a blast chasing the 844 across the area, and I am sure my Dad enjoyed it too! It was a blast seeing so many fellow railfans, and I am excited to see what the coming days bring as UP 844 continues its trek through a slice of Utah! We got some ideas as part of the Desert Empire Project on how to cover the rest of the 844 trip in our state, so stay tuned! Until next time.

-Jacob Lyman

The Cache Valley Branch, a Window into Yesteryear

This photo from the Library of Congress's online web archives shows the starting point of the Cache Valley Branch as seen circa 1933. From here the Cache Valley Branch connected into the Oregon Shortline Railroad's mainline from Ogden to Pocatello Idaho (the modern day Union Pacific's Ogden Subdivision)

In the early days of railroading, branchlines and shortline railroads served a crucial role in connecting small towns and industries into the national rail network. In an era without Interstate Highways, Semi Trucks, and a gas station every couple hundred of miles, branchlines were often the only way to bring goods into a small city. In some cases branchlines served large industries on the edge of an urban sprawl. Famed branchlines in Utah included the Denver and Rio Grande Western's Bingham Branch (Midvale Tramp), the Tintic Branch, The Marysvale Branch, the Heber Branch; the Western Pacific's Warner Branch; and Union Pacific's branches to Little Mountain, Cedar City, Malad Idaho, and the Cache Valley Branch.

In many cases the post-war era changed the operation of branchlines and lead to many being abandoned or converted into other purposes. For example part of the DRGW's Heber branch became the modern day Heber Valley Railroad, while the remainder of the line was abandoned. The Bingham and Garfield Branches owned by the DRGW (affectionately known as "The Midvale Tramp") would be cut of from Copperton, and were partially converted into the right of way served by the UTA Trax Red Line (freight service continues, after the fall of night). Both the Warner Branch (WP) and the Little Mountain Branch (UP) fell after mergers made their purpose redundant, seeing that the railroad acquired in the merger owned a mainline to the location the branch had served. Some of the branchlines were destroyed by natural disaster, as was the case when the Thistle Landslide cut off the Marysvale branch from the rest of the DRGW system, leading to the DRGW to abandon the rest of the line. Other branchlines have become caught up in scandal and theft, as the fate which befell the Tintic Branch just this year when businessman Al Mckee hired a scrapping agency to 'remove' the line illegally for the purpose of selling off the scrap (a bizarre story that deserves to have it's own post on this blog someday...).

This view taken by the author on August 23, 2016 at Midvale Utah shows the transformation of the Denver and Rio Grande's branchline to Bingham and Garfield, into the modern day UTA Trax Redline. The line does remain in use by freight trains (as evidenced by the boxcar in the industry at the right, and the distant freight locomotives idling down line), but the freight trains are now forced to work it at night after UTA operations have been silenced for the day. The modern look of this location contrasts with that of historical photos of the line in operation, as seen in the link to 1994 photo of this location (linked photo by James Belmont): http://www.railpictures.net/photo/469938/

But while many branchlines have fallen, a few still remain in service, intact and still making a living. One of the most resilient branchlines in Utah is the Cache Valley Subdivision, a stretch of track from the far end of Cache Valley, down into Hyrum, and then back up into Preston Idaho. While the equipment might be modern, the modern day workings of the line are not far removed from the work done on it say 50, 60 or 70 years ago. During my time at Utah State University before I transferred schools, I had the ability to frequent the line and record it's operation and history.

This shot taken on September 8, 2015 by the author is at Cache Junction, the same location as the 1933 photo at the start of this article. UP 3687 (SD40-2) and UP 1977 (SD40N), are seen here after having exited the lead into the Cache Valley Branch, and taking a load of covered hoppers to the grain silo at Trenton.

On a normal operating week the Cache Valley local operates at a predictable and steady pattern. Departing the Union Pacific yard at Brigham City, the train travels north through Wheelon and then travels south into Cache Junction. The train crew ties up for the night at the junction, departing Tuesday morning for the JBS Swift slaughterhouse and meat processing facility. After switching at JBS, the crew ties up at Logan, Utah right besides the historic depots preserved there. Wednesday morning takes the train up from Logan and at least as far as Presto, a plastic products plant located in Lewiston, Utah. If needed, the train will run further up into Preston, Idaho at the terminus of the branch. Once all work upline is completed, the crew returns to tie up at Logan.

Thursday's schedule works as Tuesday's in reverse, the train leaves Logan to work at JBS Swift again, then it comes to Cache Junction. If necessary, the train will travel up the mainline to Trenton to switch out a grain silo. Friday morning is the return trip to Brigham City. 

This regular (almost clockwork) pattern of work, plus the scenery of northern Utah; has made the Cache Valley local run one of the favorite trains to chase for railfans in Utah. A yearly tradition is beginning to emerge called "Cache Valley Rails" were rail enthusiasts from as far south as Salt Lake City, will be gathered in Logan, Utah as early as 7:30am to catch the movement on the rail line. 

June 8th, 2016; evidence of the popularity of the Logan Rails event is shown here in this photo taken south of Smithfield Utah. A line of cars belonging to the attending railfans' is parked at the side of the road, with their occupants standing trackside, waiting for the perfect shot of a southbound photo of the Cache Valley local. Below is a photo of the local lead by UP 1736 (SD40N), once it arrived at the group's location.

Of course this clockwork regularity on the Cache Valley branch can be easily disrupted by the arrival of northern Utah's harsh winter storms and cold spells. A particularly harsh storm hindered the line's work in the first week of Febuary 2016. Since many portions of the line only see a train once or twice a week, snow removal is infrequent. As snow melted, water slipped into the joints of rail at road crossings, were it then froze in place. The passing cars above melted the ice again, and further compressed it in between the rails and the roads. When the train finally arrived to travel the line, the railroad discovered it was almost impassible due to the ice frozen in their path. Maintenance of Way crews worked at cleaning out the rails, while the train slowly crept through the line. Trips that would only have taken an hour or two on a clear line, became gruelingly slow 8 hour journeys. 

Febuary 4th, 2016; the storm crippled Cache Valley Branch show's evidence of slow progress cleaning the rails. The train is tied up at Presto in Lewiston, Utah; and not it's normal location in Logan, Utah. This is evidence suggesting the long trip to clear out the snow to this point of the line resulted in the crew reaching their legal work shift limits, and rather than return the train to Logan, the decision was made to leave it at Presto. The broom left hanging on the hood of the UP 1729 (SD40N),helps to covey the sense of struggle against the snow. UP 2327 (SD60M), is the trailing unit in the consist.

The second photo was taken on the same day near Franklin, Idaho; showing a portion of the line that had yet to have been cleared.

On Febuary 16, 2016; evidence of Utah's fast changing weather is seen on the Cache Valley local at Logan Utah. Only a few weeks after the disastrous snowstorm, the line is now clear, as snow begins to melt away from it. The blue sky stands in stark contrast to the whiteout that dominated only a few weeks earlier.

Of course one of the greatest assets of any branchline is it's sense of history. In some areas the Cache Valley Branch traverses, few has changed in a hundred years. Near the line is a large collection of abandoned rail spurs and industries, testimony of a once busier line that saw daily rail service. One of the railroad treasures of the line though is the amount of preserved stations. Next to the track's in Logan, the old station stands having been preserved as a Mexican restaurant, south from it is the former freight depot, itself having undergone a miraculous restoration. It is easy to imagine the era when these rails were not ruled by SD40's or SD60's; but traveled by 2-8-0's and GP7's. 

June 26, 2013; at Heber Utah. The Union Pacific 618, the famed 2-8-0 currently being restored on the Heber Valley Railroad; is recorded to having worked from 1945 to 1955 on the Cache Valley Branch. https://hebervalleyrr.org/ourtrain/help-get-the-no-618-back-into-service/ 

September 30, 2015; Logan, Utah. The Logan Utah train station has been restored, and now houses the restaurant Cafe Sabor. The tracks behind it still remain in use as part of the Cache Valley Branch. Nearby is the preserved freight depot, and a few blocks away is the current location of the former Smithfield depot. The valley also hosts a few stations left over from the Utah Idaho Central, an interurban electric railroad that ran from Ogden to Preston.

May 3, 2016; this building (currently a private home) north of Mendon bears witness to having once been a rail served industry. The windows are built into what was once the loading docks. Allegedly this building once served farmers who transferred equipment and goods to the railroad here.

May 28, 2016. An abandoned sugar factory in Preston Idaho, is yet another relic from an era were the branchline served many large agrarian based industries. South from here in Richmond Utah, is another large abandoned factory located near the rails.

 May 24, 2016. An abandoned spur leading towards grain silos in use by IFA in Logan. This spur once lead to a condensed milk factory and the silos pictured here.

Yet another abandoned spur as seen on Febuary 27, 2016 at Smithfield, Utah. The Morgan Pea Company (later part of the Del Monte brand), was one of the largest shippers on the Cache Valley branch, and one of the largest sources of rail traffic on the line. The tracks remain mostly intact leading into the facility, although it is unlikely that they will ever see use again.

The ability to feel like one has stepped back in time is ever present on a small town branchline. Simple and steady operations combined with eclectic bits of history help to convey the sense that something truly special exists with this rail line. Of the many branchlines that once existed or still serve Utah, the Cache Valley branch has a special character that is truly unique. 

June 8, 2016; a few of the rail movements captured at the Logan Rails event was the rare sight of a self powered rail crane, moving along the branchline. Another sight of the day was UP 1736 running long hood forward, and with only one hopper in tow, proof of the fluctuating nature of traffic on a branchline.

Until next time,

-Jacob Lyman