It's about 8:15AM, and UP 844 is all hot and steamy in the Oakland Yard getting ready to head to Stockton, via Altamont Pass.

Hundreds of railfans are parked on the turnouts of Highway 70 to witness UP 844 cross the beautiful Rock Creek Trestle, bound for Portola.

With the truss bridge over the Truckee River standing tall, UP 844 battles up the 1.6 percent grade through the Truckee River Canyon, at a location known as Iceland.

UP 844 sits cold for the night after a long day of being displayed to the public.

Steamy streets! UP 844 creeps at a snails' pace down Jack London Square, which is lined with railfans, lookie-loos and people just passing by. I'm unsure of the last time JLS saw mainline s... (more)

Now here's something you don't see everyday! UP 844 gets a police escort down the streets of Oakland's Jack London Square. This is the first time the 844 has visited Oakland and the last time a st... (more)

THe UP 844 crossed the Martinez Benicia bridge on the former SP Cal P line at milepost 33.4 on it's Western Heritage Tour of 2009

Also known as Bloomers Cut, this area just West of Auburn was completed by the CPRR in early 1865. Named for the local Bloomer family landowners, this 63 foot near-vertical by 800 foot long cut wa... (more)

Some smoke for the photographers, some due to Archer Hill, it makes for a nice show on an otherwise gloomy day.

A UP business special heads down 3rd Street in Oakland, almost to it's destination, the old WP yard. These tracks are now long gone, as all of the old WP/UP traffic now runs on the old SP through ... (more)

The big Challenger was enroute to the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.

Steam specials always bring out the photographers, but this lady was reading a book to the locomotive itself. A crew member gives a curious look as he works around the engine.

With my work schedule being what it is I am not always able to chase the best of what UP has to offer. As a personal favor to me, the railroad offered to bring it's E9's to my home town and save ... (more)