Anybody watching trains? Union Pacific Steam Locomotive tour

[Morich]

I have an old passtime that still holds my interest! I like to watch trains, especially steam and the bigger the better! More smoke, more noise, more fun!
So I thought to make mention of a trip the UP is taking with their Big Boy engine that might interest some of you folks!
You don't find them bigger than this in the US!

https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm

It's coming up pretty quick to do a large plan for long distance and for me, I will just make a day trip or two out of it due to short distance.
Hearne, Tx to Navasota, Tx will be my target but there is a lot of room along this route crossing nine states on an out and back!
I thought others going further out might want to hear about the schedule?

Note that this is not for a ride but for the watching and looking at it from outside! I find that is more fun to for me as I can't see the engine much if I'm riding behind!

[Sparky19053]

Hey I'm with you. I enjoy watching live steam engines, the bigger the better and the UP4014 is as big as they get. Wish I could join you.

[bigb]

I like all the trains but especially the early diesel/electric locomotives. Funny thing I was just checking out the City of San Francisco Streamliner today which was in service from 1936-1971. .

[Morich]

Personal taste? My dream girls always wear black!
I like to have all the working stuff out where I can see it!
Can we assume there is a big diesel engine under that front grill?

[bigb]

Originally Posted by Morich

Personal taste? My dream girls always wear black!
I like to have all the working stuff out where I can see it!
Can we assume there is a big diesel engine under that front grill?

The original train had 2-1,200 hp diesel generators powering two cars with electric motors, the "engine" car and the power car behind it as you can see more clearly in the picture below.

[bigb]

I also like rotary snow plows, here's a coal-steam version for you diesel-electric haters
There is one on display at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Denver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzVJyQ4Jsk4

[Morich]

I've always wanted to be there when they were running one but there is a problem!
If there is snow on the ground, I don't want to be there!

[bigb]

I just spoke to my brother in Coralville IA and they are driving to Belle Plaine next Thursday to see the Big Boy.

[wyocamper]

UP rebuilt Big Boy 4014 here in Cheyenne a couple of years ago. I don't know if this schedule is old or current for 2024, but seeing it up close was pretty amazing.



https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm

[Morich]

Originally Posted by wyocamper

UP rebuilt Big Boy 4014 here in Cheyenne a couple of years ago. I don't know if this schedule is old or current for 2024, but seeing it up close was pretty amazing.



https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm

Yes, this is the schedule for the Heartland tour and likely the only trip for this year. It is a long trip covering several states buit it is also partly done, so if folks are interested, NOW is the time!


Currently headed East to Il. , then South passing St. Louis and on down to eventually Houston before heading back North, running through Fort Worth and back home!

Trips like this are so hard to fit into the more limited tracks that we have and the costs involved are so great that I want to catch this one as they may be the last one, if that decision is made.

[Fanrgs]

Originally Posted by Morich

Yes, this is the schedule for the Heartland tour and likely the only trip for this year.

Yes, it's the last trip this year for the Big Boy, but not the only. It just got back to Cheyenne after a June-July trip to California. It's great viewing now because it has a new stand-alone cab control system that automatically activates all the signals on the UP. On past trips, they always ran it with a restored E-9 or other diesel to activate the computerized system. Now they don't need the diesel!

We have now had the UP #844/8444 4-8-4, #3985 4-6-6-4, and #4014 4-8-8-4 visit Denver over the years. Chasing them north on US 85 back to Cheyenne is a lot of fun!

[bigb]

Every morning my bike ride takes me over the Union Pacific switching yard. They were very busy this morning. I've read that we average a train every 20 minutes here, not sure if that means one east and one west every 20 min which would be 6/hr or counts both directions which would be 3/hr.

[Morich]

Anybody know of a real time tracking site that is reporting the actual time of arrival at different places?

I would assume this schedule is open to being changed for higher priority trains?
I like to catch them when practical but not to the point I want to spend several hours waiting if it is possible to get a better read on the actual timing!

[bigb]

Originally Posted by Morich

Anybody know of a real time tracking site that is reporting the actual time of arrival at different places?

I would assume this schedule is open to being changed for higher priority trains?
I like to catch them when practical but not to the point I want to spend several hours waiting if it is possible to get a better read on the actual timing!

Maybe contract some of the local train clubs, They're probably all going to see Big Boy. We have a train club here that is great and full of volunteers who love to tell you all about trains. They have some large model setups of various gauges.

[Morich]

I found a tracking/reporting site here:
https://x.com/up_steam
Currently headed South down through Illinois to St. Louis.