daylightrain
Development Purgatory.
In December of 1944, the Union Pacific took delivery of it's final steam locomotive. The engine itself as a product of wartime production, and wouldn't have been built if World War II hadn't begun. This locomotive was of the FEF-3 class, the most modern steam locomotives ever built for the UP. Capable of hauling freight and passenger trains at speeds exceeding 100 mph. Assigned to it was the highest number in the 800 series: 844. Rolling out of the shops, the engine looked quite different to how many know her now. No mars light sat above her headlight, and no elephant ears adorned her smokebox. Ready for her builders photo, the workers and railroad officals posed in front of the camera, and as the shutter clicked the first ever picture of 844 was taken. Many more would come after. As the engine was prepared for its long journey from the Alco shops in New York to the Union Pacific's home base in Omaha, no one could imagine the fame and legacy the 844 would leave behind, or what a unique history the locomotive would have, for at the time the 844 was just like any other engine that rolled out of Alco's shops.
This however, was just the first chapter in the story of Union Pacific #844.
This however, was just the first chapter in the story of Union Pacific #844.