No. 844 Comes To Dalhart!

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Steam Locomotive No. 844 is the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific Railroad. It was delivered in 1944. A high-speed passenger engine, it pulled such widely known trains as the Overland Limited, Los Angeles Limited, Portland Rose and Challenger trains. Many people know the engine as the No. 8444, since an extra '4' was added to its number in 1962 to distinguish it from a diesel numbered in the 800 series. The steam engine regained its rightful number in June 1989, after the diesel was retired.

When diesels took over all of the passenger train duties, No. 844 was placed in freight service in Nebraska between 1957 and 1959. It was saved from being scrapped in 1960 and held for special service.

Hailed as Union Pacific's "Living Legend," Engine 844 is widely known among railroad enthusiasts for its excursion runs, especially over Union Pacific's fabled crossing of Sherman Hill between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming.

As you can see on the GPS tracking map below, No. 844 covered many miles of track. From Dalhart it went through Tucumcari, Santa Rosa, Vaughn, Carizzozo and Alamagordo, NM; coming back into Texas at El Paso.

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