Dexter, Missouri - Do you like trains?  Most everyone in Dexter and the surrounding area know all too well the train schedules in these parts, but have you ever seen a piece of train history even rare and unique to the locomotive industry?

This is one of Union Pacific's oldest serving locomotives and is the only steam locomotive never retired by the North American Class 1 Railroad.
In 1960 the train was saved from being scrapped to be used as a public excursion train.

"Steam Locomotive No. 844 is the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific Railroad. It was delivered in 1944. A high-speed passenger engine, it pulled such widely known trains as the Overland Limited, Los Angeles Limited, Portland Rose and Challenger."

Union Pacific says its 4-8-4 No. 844 steam locomotive will arrive in Bloomfield on Wednesday, October 19th around 2:30 p.m. on County Road 527 and stop at 15399 CR 527 for about an hour.  It will then depart around 3:45 p.m. and stop in Dexter at the junction of County Road 708 and County Road 717 from 4:30 p.m. Wednesday until 8:00 a.m. Thursday morning.

The Class I railroad released a full October schedule for its famed Northern-type locomotive which shows the engine departing its Cheyenne, Wyo., base at 8 a.m. Oct. 13, and passing through North Platte, Neb., Oct. 14; Fairbury, Neb., Oct 15; and taking a day for display in Kansas City, Mo., on Oct. 16; before heading to Illinois. The locomotive and crew will cross the Mississippi River for brief visits to Chester, Gorham, and Wolf Lake, Ill., on Oct. 19, before returning to Missouri and heading through Arkansas on the way to Memphis.

"Hailed as Union Pacific's "Living Legend," the engine is widely known among railroad enthusiasts for its excursion runs, especially over Union Pacific's fabled crossing of Sherman Hill between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming."

To follow the Steam Locomotive's schedule click HERE.