SPOKANE, Wash. – Expo ‘74 may have taken place in the smallest city ever to host a World’s Fair, but it was a huge national event. A steam-powered train took hundreds of Americans on a 2,000 mile trip from Omaha to Spokane to celebrate the fair.
In an April 1974 Idaho Sunday Journal article, writer Matt Bailey described the excitement of Pocatello residents who visited the train during its stop.
“Not many events could bring several hundred Pocatello residents out of their beds before 8 am on a snowy weekend morning,” Bailey said.
The Union Pacific 844 train was commissioned in 1944 and has made several impressive stops. It was at Expo ‘74 and the 1984 World’s Fair in New Orleans.
The historical train’s time in the Lilac City illustrated the significance of Expo ‘74 not just to Spokane, but the nation as a whole.
