Steam & Excursion > 844 on King Hill, ID 4/24/17

Here's a shot of 844 climbing King Hill yesterday, near the spot recommended by RailRat. As they started up we heard Ed ask for Run 5 from the diesel, then a few seconds later, "Make it 8". Near the top they went back to Run 5. Can't help wondering if a few years ago the diesel would have just been along for the ride with most or all of the work being done by 844. Wouldn't have been as fast, but sure would have been spectacular.

Joel Slagg

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slagg Wrote:
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> Here's a shot of 844 climbing King Hill yesterday,
> near the spot recommended by RailRat. As they
> started up we heard Ed ask for Run 5 from the
> diesel, then a few seconds later, "Make it 8".
> Near the top they went back to Run 5. Can't help
> wondering if a few years ago the diesel would have
> just been along for the ride with most or all of
> the work being done by 844. Wouldn't have been as
> fast, but sure would have been spectacular.
>
> Joel Slagg

Is the fancy new MU control box in 844 not working so ol Ed could do that himself or does messing with it take away from precious "look at me" window time?

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/17 19:15 by Spoony81.

What were they pulling, about 7-8 cars? There's really no conceivable reason that they needed any diesel help at all, let alone run-8, unless they were pulling a 3% grade, which I'm pretty sure was not the case.

Don't know about the MU box, but we definitely heard Ed on the radio asking for power and DB settings from the diesel. Heard requests for dynamics coming down Medbury and coming into Glenns Ferry. 800 class engines certainly hauled much heavier consists than this one unassisted back in the days. It may be that Ed wanted to make up some time - they were going at least 50 mph when I took the picture.

Joel

This was the one place I thought they might need DB help, not that air wouldn't hold the train
but it's nice not to need to do brake jobs on passenger cars.

Out

flash34 Wrote:
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> What were they pulling, about 7-8 cars? There's
> really no conceivable reason that they needed any
> diesel help at all, let alone run-8, unless they
> were pulling a 3% grade, which I'm pretty sure was
> not the case.

6 cars total. Plus the water car.

I was watching the NP Railfest 2009 video on UP's YouTube channel and compared what they had and did then (my first time seeing 844) and now and it's very sad.

Caboose, express boxcar, souvenir operation, historical accuracy... Plus the folks who poured heart and soul into their work there. Class act.

Thanks for posting pic slagg!, really miss living up there, and the scanner/radio info is Very Interesting!..If the 844 was pulling on her own, with little help front diesel, I wonder if there would have been a much bigger and beautiful smoke "bouquet" from 844's stack??...He was probably hustling to keep the scedule or something, hope 844 isn't "sick" again!..However, I will each time I saw the 844 or 3995 working up King Hill or Medbury, in the 90's, any trailing diesels always sounded like they were in run 8 or close to that. But they were pulling much more weight than this trip.

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA

Spoony81 Wrote:
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> Is the fancy new MU control box in 844 not working
> so ol Ed could do that himself or does messing
> with it take away from precious "look at me"
> window time?
>
> Posted from iPhone

It wasn't working on the CFD trip last year, either.

Once bitten, twice shy.

Out

In other words Steve and the guys had no problem in that stretch of track without a diesel, but Ed with his arrogant attitude needed it "just in case" even though 844 wasn't pulling such a long train! 611 had no problem by herself on slight grades and pulled 20-25 passenger cars, I understood the loops excursion last year and from that video that was an awesome show with her and the Southern E and Heritage unit also screaming their tails off on that grade through "the loops," that shot and the report tells me the UP Steam program really really went downhill!

There was a bridge they were worried about west of Gooding. The 844 was cut off and went over by herself and the diesel brought the axillary tender and the cars over. There is video on YouTube of the event. Now I don't know if it was the crew that made the decision or if it was the B&B guys. MOW has a slow order on the bridge. They ran it without a diesel yesterday. And why run it with 20 cars when they couldn't turn it around?

Posted from Android



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/17 12:06 by badtanker1987.

badtanker1987 Wrote:
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> There was a bridge they were worried about west of
> Gooding. The 844 was cut off and went over by
> herself and the diesel brought the axillary tender
> and the cars over. There is video on YouTube of
> the event. Now I don't know if it was the crew
> that made the decision or if it was the B@B guys.
> MOW has a slow order on the bridge. They ran it
> without a diesel yesterday. And why run it with 20
> cars when they couldn't turn it around?
>
> Posted from Android

If they allow 286,000 pound cars to run over that bridge,
844 or it's water car would be no problem, as it's
axleloadings are far less than a loaded 286k freight car.

The diesel and the water car together have far higher
axleloadings than a 286k car.

Who said anything about needing or even wanting to pull
20 cars?

Methinks that poor #844 is now just a steam generator. Geez!

Realist Wrote:
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> badtanker1987 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > There was a bridge they were worried about west
> of
> > Gooding. The 844 was cut off and went over by
> > herself and the diesel brought the axillary
> tender
> > and the cars over. There is video on YouTube of
> > the event. Now I don't know if it was the crew
> > that made the decision or if it was the B@B
> guys.
> > MOW has a slow order on the bridge. They ran it
> > without a diesel yesterday. And why run it with
> 20
> > cars when they couldn't turn it around?
> >
> > Posted from Android
>
> If they allow 286,000 pound cars to run over that
> bridge,
> 844 or it's water car would be no problem, as
> it's
> axleloadings are far less than a loaded 286k
> freight car.
>
> The diesel and the water car together have far
> higher
> axleloadings than a 286k car.
>
> Who said anything about needing or even wanting to
> pull
> 20 cars?


ProAmtrak

badtanker1987 Wrote:
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> ProAmtrak


I see that now.

My apologies.


Point is, the days of long UP steam-powered trains
without diesels are over. They died quietly about
half a decade ago.

Realist Wrote:

>
> Point is, the days of long UP steam-powered
> trains
> without diesels are over. They died quietly about
>
> half a decade ago.

Yeah... And I am old enough to remember steam freight from the 90s without diesels. Probably won't see that again, even with the 4000.

Posted from Android



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/17 16:17 by badtanker1987.

.

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Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> badtanker1987 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > ProAmtrak
>
>
> I see that now.
>
> My apologies.
>
>
> Point is, the days of long UP steam-powered
> trains
> without diesels are over. They died quietly about
>
> half a decade ago.



And I was comparing this to what 611 is capable of doing!

ProAmtrak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In other words Steve and the guys had no problem
> in that stretch of track without a diesel, but Ed
> with his arrogant attitude needed it "just in
> case" even though 844 wasn't pulling such a long
> train! 611 had no problem by herself on slight
> grades and pulled 20-25 passenger cars, I
> understood the loops excursion last year and from
> that video that was an awesome show with her and
> the Southern E and Heritage unit also screaming
> their tails off on that grade through "the loops,"
> that shot and the report tells me the UP Steam
> program really really went downhill!


Of course you don't know if the diesel was needed, you only know that it was used. It's amazing how you few really dwell on the irrelevant to make others look bad. . .