question for hot water

A bit over 90MPH. I was sort of busy as Fireman, but could occasionally go over to the Engineer's side at check the back pressure gauge and the speedometer.

I recall back in the 8444 days (when I was young and foolish) chasing a trip into Laramie.  The car's speedometer was pushing 90 and the train was still pulling ahead!

While not 90mph, I always liked this video of her at 75mph.

Nice, and Skip has a LOT of pacing video of both 844 and 3985. While 75MPH is nice, 844 really isn't even breathing hard.

I can relate a famous story about when Robert Claytor came out to the UP as an "invited guest" of then Chairman of the Board, John Kenifick (sp). As the trip progressed back towards Cheyenne, CEO Kenifik asked Mr. Claytor if he would care to "Try his hand on 844?".  Naturally Bob jumped at the chance, so "Big John" called on the radio from the office car for 844 to stop at a convenient location, i.e. the next service stop. Mr. Claytor quickly went up to the cab, and "Big John" introduced everyone around. At this point, it should be pointed out that Steve Lee was the Road Foreman of Engines.

Upon receiving the high ball to depart, Mr. Claytor was at the throttle of 844. As they accelerated through 60MPH, Steve Lee commented to Mr. Claytor, "We generally keep her at about 75MPH, Mr. C.".  With the,t Mr. C. nodded acknowledgement. So much for THAT! When the speedometer went past 80MPH, Steve again "suggested" the "We try to keep her about 75MPH!". Acceleration continued well past 85MPH. After awhile a stop for something or other was made, and "Big John" appeared on the ground below the cab of 844. He hollered up to Bob Claytor, "Damit Bob, quit going so ****ed fast! Your going to get Steve fired over this." Mr. Claytor's response was, "John, they won't let me run 611 THIS fast at home." At any rate, Mr. C. then kept 844 at 75 to 80MPH the rest of the day.

As an aside, having met and dined with Mr. Robert Claytor more than once, I will always refer to him as Mister.  Having met Mr. John Kenifik more than once also, he called me Jack, and I called him Mr. Kenifik only once, from then on he informed me his name was John. I couldn't bring myself to EVER call him "John", but "Big John" or "Boss" seemed to work for the both of us.

Related from Steve Lee himself.

Great story. Thanks!

Absolutely a great story, thank you for sharing that.  I can only imagine the look on Steve's face as the speedo kept creeping up.

That is just a fantastic loco.  There is just nothing as good as a big Northern.  Wow.

Knowing Steve as long as I have, and fired for him many times, the speed probably didn't bother him at all, but knowing that "The Boss" was back on the rear end in the office car, that also had a speedometer, was the greater concern.

That's a great video indeed. The cab motion is something to see - looks like quite a ride. How is the motion at the higher speeds?

I never noticed much of a problem.

Ed will have the 844 up and running before you know it.

Understandable to say the least.

ROTFL!! ("Rolling on the floor laughing." for those of you in Rio Linda.)

Jack:  Great little story about Bob Claytor.   Sure envy the times that you fired #844 as well as #4449.  My lifelong memory of steam occured in 1969, in the cab of the #5629, the Grand Trunk Western's, great, little USRA Pacific.  We were on a ferry move from Chicago to Durand, MI and since we had a group of about 10 of us from Milwaukee, we were invited up to the cab in small groups for part of the trip.  The train was only four cars long so the #5629 handled the train like it wasn't even there.  I got on in Valparaiso, with the intention of letting someone else take a turn in South Bend.  But when we got to South Bend, we got a clear board and highballed right on through, so I actually rode all the way to Battle Creek, MI.

North of South Bend, Bud Young, our engineer, let the engine run a bit and before long we were rocketing along at between 75 and 80 MPH.  The floor of the cab   rocked in so many directions at the same time that you couldn't stand without holding on to something.  The sound became so loud that in order to be heard you had to go right up to someone and holler in their ear.  The coal soot was sucked into the cab from the back of the roof, while a certain amount of steam, as well as heat, escaped from the backhead.  Sounds bad?  I tell you, it was the greatest experience I think that I have ever had!  Pay money to do that again!

Paul Fischer

Yeah, she's a big muscle bound bit of rolling thunder there.  Pardon me for asking, but why is Lionel Lines on the tender?  I think that rocks whatever the reason is.  Did Lionel make a LL #844 to follow this?  Just curious. 

You bet it was! That is a VERY long and heavy passenger train, so it pretty much takes the DDa40X in throttle 8 and the 844 at wide open throttle in order to maintaing track speed of 79MPH. 

That consist must have been putting out between eight and ten thousand drawbar horsepower.  How many tons was that train?

I never heard what the tonnage was, but with so many 80 to 100 ton office & dome cars, I would guess the trailing tonnage was close to 2000 tons. Plus, remember it isn't "all down hill" to Cheyenne either.

HW, since the speed in the video appears to be pretty constant and the grade fairly level I would have though the smoke plume would have been a constant density, however you can clearly see darker puffs that seem to be at irregular intervals.  Is my original though of a constant smoke stream incorrect or could there have been a reason for the darker puffs?