UP "Big Boy" 4014 rolling under her own power:
A couple of interesting points: First, you'll see her original tender parked in front of 844. 4014 is using Challenger 3985's tender, as 4014's tender hasn't been converted to carry fuel oil. Second, at one point, you'll see the train back up far enough to clear a signal block.
It's been a few months shy of sixty years since a Big Boy was steaming. I really thought that even the UP Steam Shop had bit off too big a project to have her ready for the Golden Spike Sesquicentennial. They've cut it mighty fine, though, as the ceremony is today.
Of course, 4014 and 844 won't be at the original location of the Golden Spike. Those tracks were pulled up for reuse elsewhere during World War II. All that's at the original location is a live-steam play.
4014 and 844 on the road:
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7 comments:
I’ll agree that bit off a huge chunk, but I also said less than a month ago it wouldn’t make it...it may not do it by strict terms, but, hot damn, that’s impressive!
Not to mention that they did it in less than three years. 4014 sat at the UP steam shop for two years while they worked on 844.
SO happy about this
God, LOOK AT IT!
Which lucky souls got to ride on that train and how much for a ticket?
Great to see! I just wish I could see it in person!
When a stillness reigns in the country lanes
and the wayside station's bare,
Stirs a faint,far hum that seems to come
from the spirits in the air;
And the long rails thrill with a murder till
There's a bursting shell of sound,
A clattering roar, like the rumble of war,
And a trembling of the ground-
A scudding blast has come and passed
With the shriek tortured souls,
And along the track is the echoing back
That slowly to silence rolls.
It is I the proud, the strong,
I who sway the lives of men,
Beating out my deathless song
As I speed through field and glen.
A stanza from "The Express" by R. Gorell Barnes
My favorite train poem
Bruce
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