Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Historic locomotive engine has a home in Boulder City

Boulder City Train

Photo courtesy Southern Nevada Railroad

The fully restored diesel electric Union Pacific No. 844 now resides in Boulder City.

What does Boulder City have in common with southern Wyoming?

The answer is two historically linked Union Pacific locomotives, both with number 844.

The railroad began to purchase a fleet of large diesel electric switch engines in 1962 during the conversion from steam to diesel electric. One was assigned number 844, a number consecutive with others of the same class.

Union Pacific policy was never to use the same number twice on active engines, but it already had a large old steam engine with number 844.

The old steam engine, built in 1944, is the only one in the country owned by a major railroad that never was retired from service. Periodically it is rolled out of the roundhouse in Cheyenne and used to pull special excursion trains.

The solution in 1962 was to add another 4 to the steam engine's number, making it 8444. The new diesel with number 844 arrived in 1963.

I used to live in Laramie, Wyo., and periodically I would see the steam engine go by.

One thing that piqued my curiosity was that somewhere out there was this switch engine bearing number 844. I searched the country for it without luck before moving to Boulder City.

The original number on the steam engine in Wyoming was restored to 844 in 1989, so it was apparent that the diesel electric engine had gone out of service. I figured it had been scrapped.

An abandoned spur line of the Union Pacific Railroad ends in Boulder City, complete with a boneyard filled with obsolete cars and equipment of all descriptions.

The abandoned right of way was given to the state, so the state organized the Nevada Southern Railroad to operate an excursion train between Boulder City and Railroad Pass.

I was walking along the old tracks several years ago and to my amazement saw old and dilapidated switch engine. You guessed it: Number 844 was painted on its rusting side.

This relict was the engine I had been looking for to bring the 844 tale full circle. Later, volunteers restored it right down to its original Union Pacific paint job.

Now it is the centerpiece of the Nevada Southern rolling stock, so you can see it ply the 3 1/2 miles of track from town to the Railroad Pass Casino. The trip takes about an hour, and the fare for adults is $8.

Of much more interest to rail fans is the special $250 "engineer for an hour" fare where you can join the engineer in the cab, and he will teach you how to drive the engine back and forth for one of the round trips.

Boulder City's engine 844 was built in 1963 by the ElectroMotive Division of General Motors in La Grange, Ill., and is called a model EMD GP-30.

It weighs 125 tons and is powered by a turbocharged V16 engine that develops 2,250 horsepower. Its top speed is 70 miles per hour. It is 56 feet long, 10 feet 4 inches wide, and just less than 16 feet high. Imagine filling its fuel tank, which holds 1,700 gallons, at $4 to $5 per gallon.

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