Pocatello is in for a treat next month: A steam engine is making a stop in town. A real one. Haunting whistle, steam pouring from its stack, the whole magoo.

This happens every few years. Union Pacific Railroad maintains a small selection of fully functioning, amazing steam engines, and every so often they take a tour around the region.

This particular engine is No. 844, or as it is more affectionately known "the Living Legend." It will be making stops in Pocatello, Montpelier and Soda Springs next month.

The steam engine just underwent a full restoration, according to the UP website dedicated to such affairs. “No other railroad in the country has retained its historical equipment and honored its past like Union Pacific,” www.up.com proudly declares. My heartfelt thanks for that.

I have no real history hooked to trains, other than living in this train-bisected town for most of my life. When I have lived away from this valley, I find that one of the things I miss the most is the sound of trains, running like the background music of my life. I still miss the screech and thump of the humping yards, to be honest.

I have caught the steam engine tour a couple times in the past, both times when my kids were still around and I could haul them down to the train yard to stand in front of whichever steam engine was parked there for the day to pose for a picture or two. You should totally do that, by the way. They are a wonder to behold up close and personal.

But that’s not my favorite part. My favorite parts of a steam engine’s visit is when it arrives and when it leaves. Because a train parked so you can check it out up close is pretty cool. But a train whistling, blowing steam, and chugging down the tracks is staggeringly AWESOME!

You’ll know the train has arrived, because you’ll hear the whistle, rolling across the valley like a long, lonesome memory. The first time I heard it I just stood there, recognizing the iconic sound, but unable to place it in my modern world. And then I remembered reading the press release that a steam engine would be in town, and I stood there grinning as the whistle echoed again.

It’s just as awesome to watch it leave town. I took my kids to school quite late one time, so we could perch on the Benton overpass and watch the train pick up steam and begin to thunder out of town right beneath our feet with a whistle that sank into our bones.

My favorite steam engine visit, however, was the year I heard the train’s long, amazing whistle just as I was getting out of my car on campus. I realized the train was getting ready to head down the tracks, so I jumped back in and headed south. As I drove along the Interstate, heading for the Portneuf gap, I saw that big black beast picking up power, steam trailing behind, cutting through the green valley to my side, like it was meant to be there. I got off at the landfill exit, pulled off the road, and stood by my car as the engine thundered across the road in front of me: whistle, steam, and trembling earth combined into a breathtaking vision into the world my parents knew.

I couldn’t help but feel that something important had been lost to the world as I watched that magnificent train pass on by. And obviously I’m not the only one who harbors such steam engine thoughts, since the Union Pacific Railroad spends significant time and money keeping their small collection of steam trains running for the sole purpose of touring them around the region, reminding people why we LOVE trains.

So mark your calendar, fellow train lovers. The train will arrive in Pocatello at 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19. It will hang out at the Pocatello train yard, on display all day Thursday, April 20 — lucky us! And then it will pull out of town headed west to Minidoka at 8 a.m. Friday, April 21. Prior to arriving in Pocatello, the train will make two other stops in East Idaho on Wednesday, April 19: Montpelier from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. and Soda Springs from 2:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.

I’ll be waiting out by Pocatello's Simplot plant, ready to catch that vision again.

Marjanna Hulet has taught at Idaho State University for over 20 years, is a founder of the Pocatello Community Charter School, and currently works in information technology at ISU. She lives in Pocatello with her husband and 3 children.