Union Pacific BIG BOY

Wayne,
Have you seen anything on the UP Challenger 3985? It’s really amazing to see running.
https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/3985/index.htm
3985 pulling 143 cars

3985 and 844 doubleheader over Sherman Hill

 

https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm. Union Pacific announces steam schedule - looks like the Big Boy 4014 is about ready to go.

 

Engines arrived in Laramie at about 1:00. Saturday, May 4. Really hard to get pictures. Mobs of people. Running with 844 to Ogden. They leave in about an hour. #ad


#ad

 

Exactly!! and I would suppose that ANY SANE driver wouldn't be trying to set land speed records

 

Hey Bud, Whats downtown Laramie look like these days?
Haven't been down there since the Cowboy and the Buckhorn were a real bar.

 

JR,

It’s changed a lot since I was a kid! I don’t know what years you lived here, but a lot of the places I remember from just a few years ago are still pretty much the same. They are trying to make improvements and it looks pretty good.
The Phillips 66 station at 4th and Grand is gone. That’s where I worked as a kid and my boss turned nothing away. Got quite an education there. I think the Cowboy and the Buck are still doing well. I noticed the bookstore is still in the old whooorehouse.
My mom would not drive down that street!

 

#ad
4014 in the lead with 844 next. This is on old highway 30, about eight miles before Rock River.

 

Rock River - Isnt that up past Medicine Bow?
It's been 4 years since Ive been to Laramie but i haven't been downtown in years. I hardly recognized the Grand Ave area by 22nd Street. I remember when that was nothing but open prairie with the exception of some student housing for the university. I also remember the old Phillips Service Station. Sad!

It is neat that you got to get up there to see that! Good on you.

 

When you go north out of Laramie on US 30, the old Lincoln Highway, it's Bosler, Rock River, Medicine Bow, Hanna, and Walcott Junction, where it joins I-80. The picture beneath the bluffs is just before the four lane ends, south of Rock River. The four lane goes from Bosler to just before Rock River. Originally, it was thought to do that as a first step to making it a four lane all the way to Rawlins. Unfortunately, the geniuses in Washington who control highway funds opted to build I-80 past Arlington and save seventeen miles. The old timers in the area advised against it and told them there was a reason the railroad built where they did. Being politicians and career bureaucrats, they "knew better" than the people who actually lived in the area.

 

I cut my teeth driving alot of the roads around Laramie, both east and west on I80 is no picnic at the right (or wrong) time. East of Laramie coming down the hill into town I remember watching my rear view as much as in front of me for run a way trucks. Seen some bad pileups on that stretch. West always seemed like a vortex cutting through the base of the mountains. The wind always blows in Wyoming but that stretch always stood out to me. Good times.

 

I should have posted this earlier...
For anyone who is interested, here is the "Great Race Across the Southwest" schedule:
https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm

You can track it here:
https://www.up.com/forms/steam-trace.cfm

 

What is the long term plan for Big Boy?

It's too bad they didn't make it out this way. Would be a site to see!

 

If you ever find yourself near Scranton, get to Steamtown. They have one not running on display. It’s tre friggn mendous.

 

This engineering marvel "MONSTER" will be rolling into Southern Calif on 10/8/19. Unfortunately there will be NO PUBLIC displays while she is here.
I plan to catch her at her Victorville stop on 10/9, although it's only going to be 45 minutes, it will be well worth it just to see her and just might be the only chance I ever have. Good reason to take the girls to lunch and run the CTD out there.

You have to hand it to UP, they spent $5 million dollars I heard on this restoration. That with the combination of the Challenger restoration and will proceed to tour the country in segments, continuously year after year to share these two engineering marvels of the country's heritage with the entire country.
My Brother on the other hand, who is a HUGE STEAM RR Buff and a CTD member also is going to delay his "Snowbird" departure from Missouri in November and detour north to Kansas City so he can see and tour it while on public display and then head to Texas for the winter. After that it will head back to the barn in Wyoming for the winter. They will have another tour next year in another segment of the country.

To copy BSeyler, you can follow it here: https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm
And if you would like more information on the UP STEAM program, history, schedule, tracking map and their Steam Club you can find it here: https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/

Hopefully UP will be able to continue program many years into the future. Watch the schedule in the future and you never know, a couple of hours of leisurely driving may get you to a location for the Public display and a tour of her. A sight to behold, that I am looking forward to this week!

~Chad

 

From what I understand, Big Boy 4014 (4-8-8-4 Wasatch) will join 844 (4-8-4 Northern) as "ambassadors" for Union Pacific. They will both be housed in Cheyenne and travel for special occasions. 3985 (3-6-6-4 Challenger) is also in Cheyenne and I'm not sure of its fate. I've heard it will be rebuilt, and also that it will not. Time will tell.

4014 traveled to Duluth and West Chicago on its last trip. I'm not sure if it ever will be able to travel east of there. That's as far east as UP tracks go and they'd have to work that out. Not sure if they would. They had to work pretty hard to make some of the bends, as it was not designed for them and they had to oil the track to keep it from crawling out. One of the tenders has centipede wheels and does not like tight turns, either.

I don't know how often you get to Laramie, but there is a Big Boy in Cheyenne at Holiday Park. (You may already know that.") There is a nice display in Omaha, as well:
https://www.lauritzengardens.org/about/kenefick_park/index.asp

 

I sure hope they do restore 3985! It's pretty worn and will take a lot of work. Seeing 4014 and 844 together was awesome!

 

I AGREE AND I BET IT WAS AWSOME!
~C

 

Post #35 - 3985 is a 4-6-6-4. Fat fingers!

 

You can edit your post.

 

Edit button disappears after an amount of time. Hasn't always been that way, but something with the new software, I guess.