TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KLIX) Union Pacific's Locomotive 844 will steam through the Magic Valley on its way back to Wyoming today. The "Living Legend" will begin its journey back home today from Boise with scheduled stops in Glenns Ferry, Shoshone and Minidoka.

According to Union Pacific's schedule, No. 844 will stop in Shoshone at 1:15 p.m.  and leave at around 1:45 p.m. to Minidoka where it will arrive roughly at 3:15 p.m. The 454 ton locomotive will steam on to eastern Idaho and then Utah to round out the trip. The engine made the trip to mark the 92 Anniversary of the Boise Depot during the weekend.

Photo by Benito Baeza
Photo by Benito Baeza
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Engineer Ed Dickens spoke to News Radio 1310 on Friday while stopped in Gooding and said the destination is just part of the trip "The destination is always what we call the key event, but half the fun is getting there. Traveling around, overnighting in various locations and just seeing the public, watching the reacting of other children and everybody. Everybody loves steam locomotives"

Dickens says he has been operating the locomotive since 2005 which he equates to running an old World War II aircraft; everything is done by hand without a computer or automated system helping, "This locomotive is entirely by the seat of your pants. Everything is manually operated. It doesn't do anything without a human input."

No. 844 was completed in 1944 for Union Pacific and was their last steam locomotive. The 5,000 horse power engine can travel speeds of up to 100 m.p.h. You can track the locomotive by GPS at this LINK.

Photo by Benito Baeza
Photo by Benito Baeza
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