Backtracking to the Age of Steam Engines
C H E Y E N N E, Wyo., April 14 -- There it was — steam locomotive 3985 — a vision out of the World War II years, all steamed up and ready to head out again from the Union Pacific Railroad Company's Cheyenne Roundhouse.
"I helped build that monster," said Herman Bloss of Greeley, Colo. "I was 16 years old working in the shops during the war, that's where this thing was built. We built maybe a couple of dozen of them. It draws a tear from me every time I see one of them go by. It takes me back so many years."
It's an oil burner, built in July 1943 to handle wartime traffic on the "Overland Route." It was one of 100 Challenger Class locomotives built for the Union Pacific by the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, N.Y. It had a job to do, keeping American servicemen overseas supplied with munitions, clothing and food produced in the U.S. And, once upon a time, it helped moved domestic freight and passenger traffic on the Union Pacific.
The railroad named these engines Challengers because they challenged the Great Plains, the mountains, time and distance. Union Pacific 3985 is 121 feet long, painted in locomotive black, weighs close to 500 tons and is rated for 70 mph. For efficiency and traction, it has two sets of driving wheels, controlled with one throttle.
By and large, by the mid-1960s, steam locomotives like this disappeared from America's railroad lines. The diesel-electric locomotive was much more efficient and required less frequent maintenance. But steam locomotives still hold a prominent place in the popular imagination.
Back in the Saddle
It had been a few years since I earned a regular paycheck working for the Union Pacific Railroad. But when the call came — Do you want to learn how to fire one of our steam engines between Cheyenne and Denver? — of course I said yes.
After a quick rules refresher and locomotive engineer's certification review, I kissed my wife Kathleen goodbye at the roundhouse and climbed aboard.
At 9:30 in the morning, Union Pacific engineer Steve Lee gave two throaty steamboat-like blasts with the whistle, the engine began to chug, and we were off to Denver pulling 16 Union Pacific armor yellow passenger cars. The train would be used for the Cheyenne Frontier Rodeo Days Special.
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