Steam engine leaves Cape, takes area ticket winners to Poplar Bluff

Union Pacific's Great Excursion Adventure, led by the company's locomotive No. 844, left Cape Girardeau on Monday morning after a stopover Sunday. The train continued on a route that will lead it out of Missouri and eventually back to its home in Wyoming.

The Little Rock Express beat out other routes in an online voting competition sponsored by Union Pacific. Many train enthusiasts took part in the online voting, and some were selected to receive the bonus of a trip on the train as it traveled from Cape Girardeau to Poplar Bluff, Mo.

Bill and Cathy Brown of Cape Girardeau were some of the few to receive an email around the first of May telling them they were selected to ride the route.

"She voted every day," said Bill Brown of his wife. "She got to pick a guest, so she picked her husband. She didn't want to, but she did," he added with a smile.

"I went to church [when the voting was open] and asked everyone there, 'Did you vote today?'" Cathy Brown said. "It was close at the end, and I wondered if we were going to make it."

The train left Cape Girardeau at 8 a.m. Monday. As No. 844 cruised down the tracks toward Poplar Bluff, passing people at nearly every crossroad, waving and filming and taking pictures. A short stop near Dexter and Bloomfield, Mo., gave residents there the opportunity to view the train up close and to board the souvenir car.

The air-conditioned cabins have plenty of leg room and large windows for viewing the passing landscapes.

Scott County Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger was one of a few area dignitaries like Cape Girardeau Mayor Harry Rediger and Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Chuck Martin aboard for the excursion.

"It was the chance of a lifetime. I wish more people would have got to partake of it," he said. "After I got on there and saw the people standing beside the tracks wanting to see the engine, I realized how privileged I was to be able to ride."

Burger said it made him realize why a lot of communities stopped growing when rail took a backseat to interstate highways and air travel.

"I thought it was very pleasurable, seeing the countryside, and putting in relation to all the small communities that you just drive by down the highway that you never notice," Burger said. "With the bypasses and such, there are a lot of communities you don't go through anymore."

Tom Wencewicz and his wife, Dotty, also won tickets and were excited to be going for the ride.

"I was so surprised to get invited to come," Tom Wencewicz said. "When I got the email, I couldn't believe it."

"My husband is a huge rail fan, and I'm so glad that he was given this opportunity," Dotty Wencewicz said. "We're so thrilled that we got to do this."

Engine No. 844 was the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific and was delivered in 1944. It served for nearly 13 years as a high-speed passenger train and was saved from the scrap pile in 1960, not long after diesel engines began pulling passenger trains.

Penny Braunschweig said the real mission of No. 844 is one of good will. She is a volunteer with Union Pacific and works in the concessions area. Her husband, Rick, is a fireman with No. 844, and has worked for Union Pacific since 1973. They have both been involved with the train since 2002.

"We do about five trips a year," she said. "One year, we took troops in Oklahoma that had just gotten back from Iraq from one little town to the next. It's good will for the railroad, and a wonderful tool for history."

The crew has done trips for the Make-A-Wish Foundation as well.

"We take schoolchildren sometimes," she added. "We do it to teach them about safety on the rails and show them our history."

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