NNG - U.P. #844 Fifty Years + Fifty Days Ago (pics)

Hi, All -

The recent announcement of Steve Lee's retirement, and Ed Gerlits' article in this month's
RMRRC Rail Report about U.P.'s celebrating #844's 50th Anniversary of Excursion Service,
prompted me to dig into my closet and get out some slides that haven't seen the Light of Day -
or a projector lamp - for a long, long time.  Please excuse their lack of sharpness, which is NOT
due to my Canoscan 9950F flatbed scanner but to the camera I was using in 1960 while a sopho-
more in college - my dad's East German Praktica 35mm - and my having only the suggested f-stops
printed on the film package as an exposure guide.   (These are FOR Dave Schaaf, in apology for a
photo OF Dave Schaaf posted briefly last week ... )

The excursion on Nov. 20, 1960, had been announced by the RMRRC as the Last Run of #844 - at the time she was scheduled to be retired afterward - so several of us made reservations and left Colorado Springs very early that morning for the long drive to Cheyenne. The engine yard was MUCH less secure in those days, so our first sight of the freshly painted and highly polished #844 was at the fuel & water facility; the coaling tower was still standing in those days, and made an interesting frame for my first shot:






My copy of the schedule is buried deep in a box of souvenirs - if I even still have it - but IIRC our first run-by was near the summit of Sherman Hill:




(To Be Continued.)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2011 06:55PM by Russo Loco.