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The largest and most powerful operating steam engine, the Challenger, is making its way to Houston as part of the Super Bowl Steam Special.
It left Cheyenne, Wyoming on January 12 and as of now on the 15th its in Kansas City, Missouri, ready to make its way to my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, scheduled to arrive the 16th and leave the 18th of January.
Does anyone know much about the route it takes from KC to STL? Does it travel the route of the KC/STL Mule? Im going to be around the area of Kirkwood, Missouri, a stop on the Mule, and was wondering if anyone knew if it would go by the Kirkwood station and at what time?
Its finals week at school, so Im off at 11:50 AM.
Posts: 547 | From: St. Louis, MO, USA | Registered: Nov 2002
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Shouldn't this item be more appropriate in the "Rail News" section of the forum?
Posts: 506 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: Mar 2002
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Well I finally saw the Challenger yesterday.
It was supposed to arrive at 3:30 PM at Kirkwood, Missouri, but ended up arriving at around 9:00 PM instead.
I got to the station at about 3:50 after learning that it was going to be 45 minutes late from the Union Pacific PR man over the phone. I was at the station until about 4:30 when it was announced the Challenger wouldnt be in until sometime between 7:00-8:00 PM due to heavy freight traffic.
So I went home for a couple of hours, then came back at 6:45 to find out it would be in at 7:50 PM. About 4 Freights passed by from the West and each time everyone thought it was the Challenger. There was some kid standing with us who had been there since 9:00 AM and he had a scanner and was telling everyone which track the next train would be on as he thought it would be the Challenger. Also he was waving traffic across the tracks as if he worked for the Police, and was waving people off the tracks including police officers(lol). Many people began to dispise the kid.
Anyway the Challenger finally arrived in Kirkwood at about 8:50-9:00 pm. Man I tell you it was sure worth the wait. It was a magnificant locomotive. Kinda mad though that it finally came in at night time in stead of during the day as my movies of it were kinda dampened by the darkness.
It stayed for only about 2-3 minutes as it was headed for Downtown STL, but those were 2-3 great, memorable minutes to see the largest active steam locomtive running.
It'll be in St. Louis for 2 days, so I'll probably head down to the yards to get some movies of it during the day time hours. Maybe if I found out how, I'll post them on the Board.
Posts: 547 | From: St. Louis, MO, USA | Registered: Nov 2002
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BTW it was stranded in STL for an extra 3 days because of cold weather.
Posts: 547 | From: St. Louis, MO, USA | Registered: Nov 2002
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