Friday, 14 September 2007.  The Union Pacific Oklahoma Centennial Sooner Rocket train headed by Union Pacific steam locomotive 844 came to Texas from Waurica, Ok, to turn the train at the wye just south of Chico.  The scheduled arrival was 10:00 AM, but a freight train broke a coupler knuckle at a siding near Bowie.  The 844 had to wait while the freight replaced the knuckle.  Unfortunately, the freight couldn't get started on the upgrade and had to split the train and bring the two sections separately to south of Chico before the 844 could continue at about 12:30 PM.  Local school classes and the high school band showed up at the crossing at Farm-to-Market (FM) Road 1810 in honor of the very special train, but they had to leave before the train arrived.

Here is one section of the freight train that caused all the delay. There were probably about 200 people waiting overall, and all they saw up to this time was an ordinary grain train.  Twice. Railroad employees and local sheriff's deputies were very liberal in allowing guests to roam freely in the area.  In return, the railfans and others stayed well away from the track in use while the train approached.

Finally, the 844 appeared around the trees to the north and approached Chico with a loud and distinctive whistle.  This engine is an oil burner, so we didn't get to smell the familiar coal smoke that some of us remember from years past.  Other items I noticed were two air compressors hidden under the shelf-like panel below the headlight, two steam turbine electric generators, and the automatic oiling system shown just above the cylinder in the last picture on the right below.

After about a half hour the train moved to the south to do the wye turn.  It carefully backed into the southern branch of the wye while a crew member operated a horn on the last car for the crossings.  Then came big trouble.  For some reason, which I haven't found out yet, someone had severely over-greased the switches and other parts of the track on the wye.  The 844 spent over half an hour trying to get moving onto the north branch of the wye, only to spin helplessly each time.

Each time the wheels spun, not only did we see and hear the exhaust from the smokestack, but we also heard a momentary decrease in pitch of the whine from the turbine generators.  I believe that the excess usage of steam due to wheel spinning caused a temporary decrease in steam pressure, which affected the turbines.

It didn't help that the north branch is a slight upgrade.  The crew expended the on board sand with no result and finally began applying sand manually with a trowel and a bucket.  The train inched its way toward the north switch, where there was more grease, and finally got on to the main and back to the crossing at FM 1810.

I went a few miles north of Chico to see the train at speed.  I regret that I didn't videotape its passage because I could see the flames flashing in the oil burner at the bottom of the firebox, sort of like the burners on a hot-air balloon.  But by this time I was very hot and tired, so I skipped the video.

I have a bit of video from back in Chico, however, and I will post some stills from it later.  I intend to visit the train again at Chickasha, OK tomorrow, 16 Sep.