Union Pacific's Steam Train Comes to Town

Occasionally the Union Pacific Railroad brings out its majestic steam locomotives for special runs. We had a visit from one of the trains here in Jefferson City over the last couple days.

The train was making a run east from Cheyenne Wyoming making stops along the way. I was at the millbottom near the tracks when it came into town. You could hear the whistle before you could see it coming along the river bluffs. There were a number of moms and dads with their little children standing along the rails....too close by my estimation and too close for the yard supervisor who was trying to get people to step away from the tracks. That was an impossible job for one man since there were people located at several places as the train came in. The drive wheels are about five feet in diameter.

I was surprised by the lack of smoke as it was coming in but it was slowing down so it wasn't putting out a lot of effort. I suspect it will be different as it starts up and pulls out of town. The locomotive has a coal car and a couple water cars plus some antique UP passenger and postal cars.

Today the train was parked at the millbottom, the site of the old roundhouse that was demolished in the late 1970s, and was available for visitors. They had the old postal car open as a gift shop selling railroad prints and memorabilia. The locomotive had stairways set up for people to climb up and look into the cab at the controls and an engineer was there to answer questions. The crew members were obviously excited and pleased to be part of the trip and were eager to have people see the train. There was a crowd of about 100 people coming and going and lots of conversations that often started with "My dad worked for the ______ railroad and...." Lots of stories about train trips.