UP donate Challenger 3985 to RRHMA

[PaulRhB]

This email went out to Steam Club Members, I guess that means there is the possibility that we may one day see both in steam together which they’d said wouldn’t happen at UP. 
 

“We're pleased to announce that we have donated a small portion of our heritage fleet to the non-profit Railroading Heritage of Midwest America (RRHMA). The donation allows Union Pacific to focus on our remaining fleet, which includes the world's largest steam locomotive, the Big Boy UP 4014, and the fastest, the Living Legend UP 844.

 

The donation includes the following equipment from Union Pacific's Steam Shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming:

4-6-6-4 Challenger UP 3985

Class TTT 2-10-2 UP 5511

The Centennial UP 6936

E9B passenger locomotive shell

Four 1950s coach cars

Diner-Lounge car

Baggage car

Caboose

Two business cars: the Selma, previously Western Pacific's Feather River, and the Stanford, originally the 1928 Southern Pacific Sunset

 

"Union Pacific is proud to be the only Class I railroad with steam locomotives on its roster, part of the finest heritage fleet in the world," said Scott Moore, senior vice president – Corporate Relations and chief administrative officer. "We are pleased with RRHMA's plans to restore the donated equipment for the public to enjoy. Union Pacific remains dedicated to the maintenance and operation of our remaining heritage fleet, including hosting future tours and sharing UP 4014 and UP 844 with the rail community."

Union Pacific will move the equipment to RRHMA's shop in Silvis, Illinois, later this year. RRHMA plans a multi-year, multi-million-dollar restoration of the equipment, including restoring the steam locomotives to operating condition.

"The RRHMA is a wonderful home for this historic equipment," said Ed Dickens, steam locomotive engineer and Steam Program manager. "Railfans will look forward to seeing UP 3985 and UP 5511 return to the rails, as well as enjoy the opportunity to experience the various cars being donated."

More information about moving these locomotives from Cheyenne to Silvis, Illinois will come later.  As always, we'll keep Steam Club members updated.“

Edited April 28, 2022 by PaulRhB

[4630]

Interesting that the donation also includes UP 6936.

 

Hopefully that will also ensure its long term survival and perhaps occasional use out on a mainline.

[PaulRhB]

2 minutes ago, 4630 said:

Interesting that the donation also includes UP 6936.

 

Hopefully that will also ensure its long term survival and perhaps occasional use out on a mainline.

That’s a bit of a strange one isn’t it? You’d think being able to just display the biggest diesel and steam loco they had together would be a great publicity opportunity. There may be various agreements on availability for events if UP collect them I guess?

[mdvle]

Random thoughts.

 

6936 - reflection that a diesel doesn't attract the general public, while the 2 remaining steam locos will.

 

I think this is a bit of forward thinking by UP.  Sounds like the transferred steam needs major work, something that both can't be justified to stock holders and steam potentially becomes a liability (whether coal or oil fired) for anything but a preserved railway in about 10 years as the world (maybe) moves on to renewables - so hard to justify a 3 to 5 year rebuild project.

 

As for RRHMA, it sounds promising with their recently acquired (former Rock Island) shops at Silvas but it will be interesting to see if even with their track record they can raise the necessary funds to restore both steam locos (not that I'm negative about RRHMA, but just a reflection of the sad state and struggles of steam stuff in the US and Canada).

 

Edit:

 

RRHMA page about it - https://rrhma.com/up-donation/

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by mdvle

[pH]

6 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

The donation allows Union Pacific to focus on our remaining fleet, which includes the world's largest steam locomotive, the Big Boy UP 4014, and the fastest, the Living Legend UP 844. 

 

I wonder what they mean by that. Not the verified fastest (Mallard); not the fastest still in existence (Mallard again). Fastest in The US? - was it? Wikipedia gives a ‘maximum speed’ for 844 of 120mph without defining what that means - maximum ever attained or maximum ever allowed? There are stories (!) of Pennsy Duplexes at 120mph in regular service.  Surely 844 isn’t currently cleared for 120?

Edited April 29, 2022 by pH
Missing word

[298]

Running 4014 and 3985 at the same seems about as likely as seeing all six Deltics in action together- hasn't the Challenger lent alot of parts including it's firing system to it's big brother? On that basis, what about the 836? There can't be many parts left on that to donate but in a recent photo it looked complete enough for static display. 

 

Still, at least they're going to a proper museum and not being plonked on a hillside and left to rot..

[simon b]

7 hours ago, pH said:

I wonder what they mean by that. Not the verified fastest (Mallard); not the fastest still in existence (Mallard again). Fastest in The US? - was it? Wikipedia gives a ‘maximum speed’ for 844 of 120mph without defining what that means - maximum ever attained or maximum ever allowed? There are stories (!) of Pennsy Duplexes at 120mph in regular service.  Surely 844 isn’t currently cleared for 120?

Iirc 120mph was the design max but it did run at 100mph regularly when in service, I think it's limited to 80mph these days depending on location.

 

Alot of the larger 4-8-4 locos have seen around 115mph in test's, though I dont think many have been officially pushed to see how fast they could really go. The stories of  PRR T1's running at 120mph isnt hard to believe, and in the case of the S1 higher still.

[PaulRhB]

6 hours ago, pH said:

I wonder what they mean by that.

They probably hoped we wouldn’t notice but forgot the Pennsy fans 😆 With the T1 project on the go I suspect it’ll get some publicity on social media though 😉

 

3 hours ago, 298 said:

Running 4014 and 3985 at the same seems about as likely as seeing all six Deltics in action together- hasn't the Challenger lent alot of parts including it's firing system to it's big brother?

I think it’s mainly the tender so far as the videos showed a lot of the firing system being made from scratch. 
 

 

9 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

Ed Dickens, steam locomotive engineer and Steam Program manager. "Railfans will look forward to seeing UP 3985 and UP 5511 return to the rails,

However likely they think their chances are it seems they’ve obviously convinced someone 😉

[PaulRhB]

4 minutes ago, simon b said:

Alot of the larger 4-8-4 locos have seen around 115mph in test's, though I dont think many have been officially pushed to see how fast they could really go. The stories of  PRR T1's running at 120mph isnt hard to believe, and in the case of the S1 higher still.

Certainly probable although finding the track to do it these days to verify it would  be virtually impossible as how many track engineers would want that hammering their track at 120+! Let alone signing off the risk on the loco and track. 
I do find it slightly odd that the Pennsy wouldn’t officially claim the record if they could though. They were very media savvy, like the LNER etc and they had the equipment to do it. That’s the only thing that makes me wonder about the claims for the T1 and others. 

[simon b]

1 hour ago, PaulRhB said:

Certainly probable although finding the track to do it these days to verify it would  be virtually impossible as how many track engineers would want that hammering their track at 120+! Let alone signing off the risk on the loco and track. 
I do find it slightly odd that the Pennsy wouldn’t officially claim the record if they could though. They were very media savvy, like the LNER etc and they had the equipment to do it. That’s the only thing that makes me wonder about the claims for the T1 and others. 

From what I've read there were heavy penalties at the time for those sorts of speeds, the exact reasons why I'n not sure of.

 

It will be interesting once the 5550 is operational, to see if they do make a speed record attempt. I know the group had moved away from that idea, but it would put alot of unanswered questions to bed.

Edited April 29, 2022 by simon b
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