On Sunday, 16 Sep, I traveled to Chickasha, Oklahoma, to see the UP 844 and the Oklahoma Centennial Sooner Rocket special train on static display at the Rock Island Depot.  This was a followup to my trip to Chico, Texas, the previous Friday to see the 844 in action.  I will try in this section to show mainly items that I haven't seen on other web sites about the 844.  The exceptions are the photos of the inside of the cab.

The Rock Island Depot is in very good condition, and a few railroad items of historical interest are on display inside.  The cash register below especially caught my eye.
 

The UPP 814 (Joe Jordan) is an extra water tender that gives the special train additional range between watering stops.  UP converted it from a fuel tender several years ago.  I believe these wheels, and most of the others on this train, originally had oil film journal bearings and at some time received an upgrade to Timken roller bearings.  I recall seeing Timken advertisements in the 50s showing a man with a rope pulling a freight car that had the latest development, Timken tapered roller bearings.
 

The axles on the tender had polished caps with the Timken name prominently displayed.  The picture on the right is of a re-railer.  Every tender I have seen carried two of these tools.
 
 

This photo appears to be the steam-driven mechanical water pump for forcing water into the boiler through the feedwater heater while the engine is under power and the feedwater heater is hot.  I couldn't find the steam injector, which the crew uses to force water into the boiler while the engine is idle or coasting (feedwater heater not hot enough).  The water output from the steam injector is hot enough to prevent damage to the boiler or loss of steam pressure due to cold water coming in. You can read more about watering a boiler here: Richard Leonard's Steam Locomotive Archive - http://www.railarchive.com/rlsteam/index.html Then go to: Locomotive Firing - http://www.railarchive.com/firing/index.html And then to: Water Systems - http://www.railarchive.com/firing/p051.htm

This is a closeup of the two steam-electric generators on top of the engine just forward of the cab.

Here are photos of the piston rod, valve gear, main rod bearing, and air compressor.  Notice that this engine does not have a double crosshead slider on the piston rod.  Instead, it has a single slider that provides restraint for the rod in both the upward and downward directions.  The main bearing appears to be well greased, as do all the other mechanical components.
 

Here are two photos of the cab.  I was unable to ask any questions here because the crew member was on the telephone at the time and there was a long line of fans behind me.
 
 

Lastly, the Burlington Northern caboose on permanent display outside the depot.

After the crew member in the cab got off the telephone, I asked another fan to ask him about the grease on the rails at the wye in Chico, TX.  The answer was that the grease was a safety measure to prevent a derailment while the train was doing the wye.  That's something new to me.  I'll have to find out more about it.
 

This was a very good experience that I enjoyed very much.  All the steam locomotives I had previously seen were older than the UP 844 and didn't have the latest (for 1944) features.  Besides, I had forgotten quite a bit of what I knew many years ago.

I personally thank Union Pacific for keeping this fine example of the best of American steam railroading in such excellent condition.