# UP 844 returns for Frontier Days



## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/ste...cle_cb90e4ec-18db-11e6-8e07-af3f5a95209d.html

Maybe someday I'll be able to hitch a ride with her.


----------



## Bwells (Mar 30, 2014)

I suspect there will be a diesel in the mix. I have heard that it is a requirement of the track owners that it be in place for possible breakdowns. Not sure on this but I have never seen a steamer without one.


----------



## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

I agree. The only ones I've seen without diesel backup is some of the shorter scenic trains. It's pretty sad that they don't trust the steamers...there must have been one broke down one day. Then, as with all things nowadays, a single rule covering everything fixed it all. Yeah, sure, you betcha!


----------



## /6 matt (Jul 7, 2015)

I thought the diesels were there for dynamic braking?


----------



## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

I'd never heard the theory about dynamic brakes. If it's true, it makes you wonder how they got by all those years without them! :laugh:


----------



## Bwells (Mar 30, 2014)

/6 matt: by george, I think you nailed it! I watched a youtube video of #844 pulling a Union Pacific passenger train with a UP diesel in tow and sure enough, there was the dynamic brake gizmo on the roof. I watched another one of a different loco and the diesel had the same blister. Never new that. Thanks.


----------



## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

On mainline steam locomotives, there is usually a control box in the cab of the steam locomotive that allows the engineer to control the diesel. At least in the case of NS steam trips, they're used to help stretch coal and water on long distance moves as well as to assist in pulling the train if needed. I could be wrong, but I don't think dynamic braking is normally used with a passenger train.


----------



## Tranz4mr (Sep 3, 2013)

The UP heritage deisel 1989 is there due to the weight of the 21 cars. Neither 844 or 1989 alone could pull the 21 train at the speed needed to make the schedule. Supposedly they hit 60 mph.


----------

