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Historic Steam Locomotive Rolls Through Benicia As Part Of Western Heritage Tour
April 20th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Fun Stuff, Local Stuff, Vallejo
The last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific railroad was welcomed by several hundred history buffs, train buffs and curious Benicians as it rolled through Benicia earlier today as part of a 32-day tour celebrating the 140th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike.
Benicia planning commissioner Rick Ernst organized the event and said he didn’t expect more than 50 people to attend. To his surprise, four or five times that number showed up, including Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, Vice-Mayor Tom Campbell and Councilmen Alan Schwartzman and Mike Ioakimedes.
Ernst set up an impromptu Benicia train station (a tent) in hopes that the train would make a temporary stop along its way from Roseville to Oakland — the Western-most destination on its 32-day round-trip journey from Cheyenne, WY.
In keeping with the historic theme of the day, Ernst provided penny candies and 5-cent sarasparillas, plus other modern-day treats. With a crowd that eclipsed his wildest imaginations, the food was snapped up long before the historic locomotive arrived.
With the train originally scheduled to pass through Benicia between 9:00 and 9:30, people started arriving well before 8:30. By 9:30, the road and a dirt parking area across from CCL Organics on Goodyear Rd. was packed. Along with city dignitaries, there were children, babies, moms, dads, grandparents and even a few ladies outfitted with parasols and period attire.
Steam locomotive No. 844, which everyone came to see, was the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific Railroad. It was delivered in 1944 and pulled many well-know trains, including the Overland Limited, Portland Rose, and Los Angeles Limited.
While waiting for the train with my two-year-old grandson, Nicholas (yes that’s him in the lower left-corner photo above), I snapped a few photos of the historic event and met several admitted train-a-holics, who stopped to share their memories of riding the rails or building model trains.
The train was late getting out of Roseville and finally rolled through Benicia just before 10:30 a.m, about an hour behind schedule. Judging by the cheering and enthusiastic waves, nobody seemed to mind the delay, nor that it wasn’t able to stop at our cozy little rail station.
Everyone had a great time, Nicholas included — but then, what kid doesn’t like candy and ice cream at 9 a.m.?
For more information on Union Pacific’s No. 844, click here.
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