Nostalgia & History > A star is (re)born: UP 3985 shakedown run 1981

At Eaton* & LaSalle, CO on March 25, 1981, UP 3985 on shakedown run from Cheyenne. Our foursome that day was, other than myself, Howard and Pete Fogg, and Hank 'The Beard' Townsend. My fondest memory was actually a day or so later when Howard called to tell me that I screwed up his movie by yelling "holy ****" as the 3985 thundered by. He was actually not upset at all, just his usual highly developed humor, then proceeded to tell me that "I made his movie" .... so these have some great memories ...

1. Shaking the ground as it roared through Eaton* ... a corrected location from SP8595*

2. turning on the wye

3. on the last leg of the wye



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/11 15:59 by valmont.

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and one more ...

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Would love to see more pictures, if you have any. Somehow we heard about this run and I was allowed to skip school (7th grade) to go chase it.

pic 1 looks like greeley or eaton or something up north



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/11 10:17 by dan.

dan Wrote:
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> pic 1 looks like greeley or eaton or something up
> north



Sure don't remember going to Eaton as we knew they were going to be turning on the wye at LaSalle and didn't want to miss the shots. Best I can remember we were at LaSalle the whole time, even for lunch and margaritas after we got our pictures. Don't think we would've chanced getting to LaSalle from Eaton to catch it on the wye as it was a short train and they weren't uncoupling and taking time for those moves, they were just turning the whole train.

Picture #1 is definitely at Eaton headed Southbound. Great pictures on the wye at La Salle, you can see the articulation on the curve and Fantastic smoke!

Spectacular clouds of smoke!

It was still a coal burner at the time. Thanks for the post.

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

SP8595 Wrote:
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> Picture #1 is definitely at Eaton headed
> Southbound. Great pictures on the wye at La Salle,
> you can see the articulation on the curve and
> Fantastic smoke!


OK, since I got a 'definite' on the location I'll correct my memory ... thanks, I will also make a note and edit the original post ... maybe we had the margarita's first!

Sweet pictures!

I love the 'basic black' look before they painted the tires and trim white.

valmont Wrote:
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> At Eaton* & LaSalle, CO on March 25, 1981, UP 3985
> on shakedown run from Cheyenne. Our foursome that
> day was, other than myself, Howard and Pete Fogg,
> and Hank 'The Beard'.

Give credit where credit is due. Hank "The Beard" is never a name I heard him called. He was always known by his real name; Hank Townsend.

Super_C Wrote:
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> valmont Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > At Eaton* & LaSalle, CO on March 25, 1981, UP
> 3985
> > on shakedown run from Cheyenne. Our foursome
> that
> > day was, other than myself, Howard and Pete
> Fogg,
> > and Hank 'The Beard'.
>
> Give credit where credit is due. Hank "The Beard"
> is never a name I heard him called. He was always
> known by his real name; Hank Townsend.


His last name is in the post, I accidentally omitted it in the original post and only realized it much later, 'the beard' was a name used when he and I and Howard would have our laugh-a-minute lunches, it's not one I coined

Thanks for sharing the great photos. That trip was one of two we made that really had signifigance in my life. Everytrip had its memories but this break in run to LaSalle confirmed the work we did to get 3985 back in service. That was in March of 1981 and following that run a few repairs were made, and then I got to travel with both the locos to Railfair 81.

The second trip that really was signifigant to me was when they took 5 GE's off a double stack train and we put 3985 on at Cheyenne and pulled the train to North Platte. Hearing that locomotive roaring over Archer Hill east of Cheyenne proved to me the power that was developed with the superheated steam in 3985.

The mechanical department firemen used to fire rather heavy making the smoke you all loved but for us who had to dump the ashes, we fought with the clinkers they created. Lynn and I tried to fire a little more conscienciously in order to make it a better steaming locomotive. The last run in 1989 we made in coal purchased from Helper Utah was a night mare, as Steve ordered 4" screened lump coal and it came in mine run with all different sizes and included chunks of concrete and pieces of conveyor belt. After that Laramie trip we all agreed to convert to oil.

Gosh, I loved that locomotive and still do.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Bob3985 Wrote:
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> After that Laramie
> trip we all agreed to convert to oil.

All the passengers that have since ridden behind her, (or stood near her) thank you for it.

i like coal smoke and occaisional scorching of the prarie burn up some of that russian thistle

Concrete wouldn't burn too well, but you probably got a few BTU's out of the piece of conveyor belt. I have a vague recollection of seeing 3985 on display in Cheyenne in July 1977. I was on an overnight bus from Salt Lake City to Grand Island, Nebraska, and we had a rest stop in Cheyenne around 2AM. It was dark and I was sleepy, but I recall seeing a large steam engine in the shadows. Assuming this was 3985, who would have thought that it would some day visit Sacramento and Los Angeles under its own power?