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UP Excursion Pack Part 2/3 V2 | The Stars Of The Show

Hello Hello! Welcome back to another episode of The Huber SHow! I am your HOOOOOST Mark Huber and before we begin as always, Thank you so much to my generous Loyalists, my Iowa & Ramble Critics, and of course, my NT&V engineers, You are the reason why this content REMAIIINS! The star of the show! And today we're going to be talking about Union Pacific's Excursion Stars! Starting the program in 1960 with 844 and continues today once a year with multiple locomotives! Which locomotives are those exactly? Let's find out.

Union Pacific 844 is a class "FEF-3" 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad for its heritage fleet. Built in December 1944 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, New York, No. 844 is one of four surviving FEF series locomotives and the only one in operation.

The locomotive operated in revenue service until 1959. It was stored while awaiting scrapping, along with the rest of the UP steam locomotive fleet. In 1960, railroad leaders recognized the benefits of having a steam program and retained No. 844 for special activities, the kernel of what has become the Union Pacific's heritage fleet.[2] Today, it is one of UP's oldest serving locomotives[3] and the only steam locomotive never retired by a North American Class I railroad.


In 1944, Union Pacific and the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) collaborated on the FEF-3, a class of 10 locomotives designed to pull passenger trains at 90 mph. The FEF-3 could reach and regularly run at 120 mph; one locomotive reportedly pulled a 1,000-ton passenger train at 100 mph. Union Pacific considered all FEF classes to be capable of producing between 4,000 and 5,000 drawbar horsepower.


Since 1960, No. 844 has run hundreds of thousands of miles as Union Pacific's publicity locomotive. The locomotive often pulled the annual Denver Post-sponsored Cheyenne Frontier Days train that ran round-trip from Cheyenne to Denver every July before it was discontinued in early 2019.[7][8][9]

It appeared at Expo '74 in Spokane, Washington; the 1978 dedication of the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden, Utah;[10] the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans; and the 50th anniversary celebration of Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal in 1989, when it performed a side-by-side run with Southern Pacific 4449. On February 14, 1975, it pulled Amtrak's San Francisco Zephyr from Denver, Colorado to Cheyenne, Wyoming with a pair of EMD SDP40Fs.[11] In 1981, it traveled to the opening of the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, along with Union Pacific 3985, which had recently been restored to operational condition.

In 1989, 8444 was repainted into UP's Greyhound Scheme and was invited to an event to celebrate LAUPT's 50th anniversary along with Southern Pacific 4449, UP E9A No. 951, SP E9A No. 6051, and ATSF F7A No. 347c. 8444 raced 4449 down Cajon Pass on their respective trackage with 8444 winning by default.

Since January 2020, Nos. 844 and 4014 are the only two operational UP steam locomotives left on the active roster, following the retirement of No. 3985 from excursion service due to its poor mechanical condition.[21][22][a] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, UP cancelled all of its 2020 steam excursions and stated that Nos. 844 and 4014 would not operate for the 2020 operating season. UP eventually resumed excursion operations with No. 4014 beginning in August 2021. No future excursions have thus far been scheduled for No. 844 since 2019 and the locomotive hasn't been fired up since then, although it is confirmed the locomotive is maintained to keep it in operational condition.


Union Pacific 3985 is a four-cylinder simple articulated 4-6-6-4 "Challenger"-type steam locomotive built in July 1943 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, New York, for the Union Pacific Railroad. No. 3985 is one of only two Challengers still in existence and the only one to have operated in excursion service.

No. 3985 operated in revenue service until 1957. It was then stored in the roundhouse in Cheyenne, Wyoming, until 1975, when it was placed outdoors beside the Cheyenne depot. In March 1981, after a group of Union Pacific employees restored the locomotive to operating condition, it was placed into excursion service as part of the Union Pacific's heritage fleet and became the world's largest operational steam locomotive. Mechanical problems took it offline in 2010, after which it was stored at the Union Pacific's Steam Shops in Cheyenne.

In May 2019, the title of largest operational steam locomotive passed to the newly restored 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy" Union Pacific 4014. No. 3985, still in poor mechanical condition, was retired from excursion service in January 2020. In April 2022, UP officials announced that the company would donate the locomotive to the Railroading Heritage of Midwest America (RRHMA), which is now restoring the locomotive to operating condition.


Union Pacific 4014 is a steam locomotive owned and operated by the Union Pacific (UP) as part of its heritage fleet. It is a four-cylinder simple articulated 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy" type built in 1941 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) at its Schenectady Locomotive Works. It was assigned to haul heavy freight trains in the Wasatch mountain range. The locomotive was retired from revenue service in 1959 and was donated to the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society; thereafter, it was displayed in Fairplex at the RailGiants Train Museum in Pomona, California.

In 2013, UP re-acquired the locomotive and launched a restoration project at its Steam Shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In May 2019, No. 4014 moved under its own power after sitting dormant for almost six decades, becoming the world's largest operational steam locomotive and the only operating Big Boy locomotive of the eight that remain in existence.[3] It now operates in excursion service for the UP steam program. No. 4014 became the first mainline steam locomotive to be equipped with the positive train control (PTC) system in 2021.


Credits to CygnusOX for the Aux tenders, Big Chungus, Challenger, and The Living Legend.