Steam & Excursion > "Headin' Home" with 8444 -- a series 10 of 10

After arriving in Kansas City in the middle of a sub zero blizzard the train was split into two cuts to fit on some side tracks. It was so cold the plumbing froze on the Mopac 8 business car. My wife abandoned the car and went looking for a working shower. She found one in VPO rep Lowell Turner's room in a sleeper in the other cut. She put a note on the door so Lowell wouldn't accidentally walk in on her. Everything went without incident and she returned, a happier woman.

We departed Kansas City early in the morning with the 8444 covered in ice and headed west on the double track main line. It was so cold the cab was filled with condensing steam vapor and blowing snow. The engine crew said they couldn't see each other. We had not made it very far when we stopped. I was told we were stopping to build up steam as there wasn't enough steam to keep the brakes from coming on. The delay wasn't long however, and soon were making track speed toward Topeka in a brilliant winter wonderland. We sat in the rear of the business car, fascinated by the clouds of snow flying up behind the train. Fine snow was even blowing inside the car under the door!

We made our stop in Topeka at the depot where 8444 would return in August, 1986 with a 125th anniversary of Kansas statehood celebration with a passenger special on a three-day Odyssey from Denver. That's another story.

We turned off the KP at Menoken Jct. and headed up to Marysville, KS where we were greeted by an enormous crowd despite the frigid weather. We were getting "heading for the barn" fever as we continued up through Beatrice, NE, and Lincoln to get on the Overland Route main line at Valley, not far outside Omaha.

When we finally came to a stop we were greeted by a "welcome home" committee led by my boss, Joe McCartney, general director of public relations and advertising, who piled inside the business car to get out of the weather. Joe asked, "How was the trip?"

We hope you enjoyed this series.

The Union Pacific Railroad People



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/18 06:10 by Copy19.

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Great photos John and describing the trip like you did. Thanks for this adventure. I may run across the picture I took as they prepared to depart Cheyenne for the trip. I am not sure if you knew but they selected the two oldest engineers on our 4th district roster to be the pilot crew as engineer and fireman. These were Kenny Swenson and Bill "Bucky" Weaver. I got a photo of them in the cab window. Now I just need to find them.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Thanks for the series and especially for the stories. Glad to see in this picture that the kitchen staff are all well fed. You know what they say.....never trust a skinny cook.

Ross Rowland

Great series and stories!
Love the part about steam and snow blowing around inside 8444's cab!

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA

Nice job JB, this was a great series and a wonderful period for the 8444
GM

Too bad we have reached 10 out of 10. This was a wonderful series.

Thanks very much!

Enjoyed every part of this series, John. Lots of effort and hard work, but good times and great memories, too. Thanks for sharing these remembrances with us.

MC
Muskegon, Michigan

Great series, John!! Thanks for sharing your memories.

Bob

Ah, the Beatrice branch. I REALLY wish I was more in tune with what was going on back then. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing the images and especially the stories
along with a bit of the flavor of railroad history ...
well done!

Cheers,

Odyssey
Evergreen, CO