Steam & Excursion > UP train upstaged at College World Series

After the Union Pacific E units were towed to Omaha the other day I have been watching for any media mention of the passenger train and Es being spotted across the street from the baseball stadium.  The CWS opened with fan day and fireworks yesterday and the first game starts this afternoon.  So far no mention of the train (which as far as I know isn't open to the public) or pictures in the local media or here on TO since the units were towed.

it appears it has been upstaged by a Ferris wheel (new this year) and beer sales inside the stadium (first time for the CWS).  I would drive by to see if the train is actually there but I made a prudent decision years ago not to go anywhere near the stadium during the madhouse.

JB - Omaha



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/16 10:45 by Copy19.

The CWS is all about Col ledge baseball. How can the actual game the E unit are there to visit upstage them? I'm a certified Ed Dickens despiser but people really need to get off the UP bashing. They did what they always do. They showed up. No steam but the E's are very special all by themselves.

jethat Wrote: > ... How can the actual game the E unit are there to visit upstage them?
I love baseball! Probably a close 2nd passion next to railfanning. But as Steve Martin would say: E-X-C-U-S-E ME!!! I mistakenly thought TO.com was a railfan website, and not a website about baseball. So I take it we're not allowed to comment on RR related subjects that are attached to ANY OTHER event on the planet, including E-units that have to step up to the plate and pinch-hit for another empty promise? What a BALK...

Who is bashing whom, here?

Lance Garrels
Manhattan, KS

The last time 844 was there, the whistle was blown after
each home run.

THAT got everyone's attention!

As handsom and historic as the E's are, I suspect to the typical member of the public they just look like another locomotive.  A steam engine by contrast is kind of hard to miss as being something old, historic, mechanically more interesting, and just more likely to attract some attention.  Hopefully we will see the 844 again, maybe even the 3985. I doubt I will be alive long enough to see the Big Boy.

JBWX

Did get a glimpse of Kenefick.Park with the 6900 and Big Boy during a quick break on ESPN during this afternoon's game between UCSB Gauchos and OKS Cowboys...
JB  GO GAUCHOS!

99% of the people there could give two #$#$# whether a train was there or not.

daylightfan Wrote:
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> 99% of the people there could give two #$#$#
> whether a train was there or not.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Fan, you may well be correct in your assertion.  Even if that IS true, why not let the 1% ( no, not THAT "1%") who wish to discuss such things do so in peace without all this sniping?  I am at one with those who root for UCSB, in what is likely their first visit to the CWS.  Thanks to Mr Bromley for the post.  AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

You might remember when the ribbon was cut to open the Harriman Dispatching Center in Omaha, the whistle was blown on the 844 sitting nearby at the former Omaha Union station.
JB - Omaha

Realist Wrote:
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> The last time 844 was there, the whistle was blown
> after
> each home run.
>
> THAT got everyone's attention!

Well, Uncle Pete used to have this really good PR guy who would pimp their train's presence to anyone who would listen, and probably even to some of those who wouldn't. ;-)

I didn't see any Es on Tuesday and they left Cheyenne before me.....

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Why would they need to go to Heritage Park at all?

For the rest of us who do not live in Omaha, could you explain the relationship between UP and the CWS? Not looking for a fight, just curious. Was there always a steam/historical train there? Can the public go inside?

Posted from iPhone

The College World Series was held in Rosenblatt Stadium in South Omaha from 1950 through 2010.  There was no connection to UP and no special trains to celebrate the games..  After the Union Pacific shops near downtown Omaha were closed and torn down, space was opened for a new baseball stadium.  The city was desperate to keep the series in Omaha which led to the new baseball stadium, Ameritrade Park to host the series.  A nearby spur in North Omaha was extended to provide a display track across from the north side of the stadium.

Steam engine 844 was parked with some passenger cars during the subsequent years as nod to the history of UP at the new stadium site.   The engine was on public display.  The passenger cars were not open to the general public but were used to host and entertain guests of Union Pacfic during the series.

JB - Omaha

I should add that UP previously bought a half interest in the Omaha Royals, a farm team for the Kansas City Royals along with an Omaha business man buying the other half to keep the Royals from being sold to outsiders and moving out of Rosenblatt.   It was felt that if the Royals left Rosenblatt leaving only the once a year CWS, the city would lose both.   Ironically the new Ameritrade Park is little used outside the annual CWS.   The farm team, now called the Storm Chasers and yet again new ownership, decided not to use the new downtown stadium and built its own ballpark on the southwest outskirts of Omaha, complete with free parking!



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/16 10:00 by Copy19.

"Desperate" is certainly the right term.  Too expensive for even the Storm Chasers to play there.  What do they use the stadium for the other 50 weeks of the year?

JBWX

Now John, don't be petty, it's a very nice looking stadium, offering pretty much unfettered looks for the other 50
weeks. It does get used for other baseball events though none of them would justify such a structure. As the other
John says, it was built for the CWS and the several million $$$ it brings in every year to the consumer economy.
The thing sells out for every game, every hotel for miles is sold out, it does have local benefit.

Out

I can understand why the UP wants publicity for this area. When I first started flying into Epply Airfield years ago, I was facinated by seeing the Big Boy parked right along the road into downtwon Omaha. I thought it was wise publicity then as well as now to "fly the flag". When you watch a ballgame from Coors Field in Denver, you can here no. 6 departing on TV and they sometimes show it from the roof top cam. You can also here trains from the Seattle Mariner's stadium if the roof is open. There are probably others as well so baseball, the Amercian past time and trains, our past time. go well together

Bill

bmarti7 Wrote:
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> I can understand why the UP wants publicity for
> this area. When I first started flying into Epply
> Airfield years ago, I was facinated by seeing the
> Big Boy parked right along the road into downtwon
> Omaha. I thought it was wise publicity then as
> well as now to "fly the flag". When you watch a
> ballgame from Coors Field in Denver, you can here
> no. 6 departing on TV and they sometimes show it
> from the roof top cam. You can also here trains
> from the Seattle Mariner's stadium if the roof is
> open. There are probably others as well so
> baseball, the Amercian past time and trains, our
> past time. go well together
>
> Bill

LIKE!!!!

It's fortunate that 844 can't be there to sound the whistle for each home run becsuse of the orientation of the ballpark to show off the city skyline, homers into the wind are tough.  And the change from aluminum bats to wood. It's all about pitching now.
JB-Omaha

Thanks for the information John.

Posted from iPhone