The Cheyenne Depot Museum is selling tickets to a special christening ceremony scheduled for May 4, when No. 4014 is expected to depart for Ogden, Utah, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad.
Two tiers of tickets will be sold: $40 “VIP” tickets will grant attendees access to the depot platform where the christening ceremony will take place and $10 tickets will allow people to watch the event from the adjacent parking lot. Christy McCarthy, executive director of the Cheyenne Depot Museum, tells Trains News Wire that shuttle service will be provided from an off-site parking lot to the depot. A grand stand will be set up on the platform for VIPs to see the festivities and food trucks will also be on site.
General admission tickets to the parking lot go on sale Friday morning and VIP tickets are being exclusively offered to Cheyenne Depot Museum members through the weekend. Any remaining VIP tickets will be available to the general public on Monday.
“We’re excited,” McCarthy says. “This is a real big deal for us.”
Doors open at 7 a.m. May 4 and Big Boy No. 4014 is expected to arrive at the Cheyenne Depot at 8:30 a.m. The christening will take place at 9:30 a.m. and the locomotive will depart west at 10 a.m.
On Wednesday, UP posted on Facebook that it was “steam testing” No. 4014. A brief video showed steam billowing up from the engineer side of the locomotive but offered few other details.
Last week, UP released the schedule for the locomotive’s inaugural run to Ogden. The locomotive is set to depart Cheyenne on May 4 and arrive in Ogden on May 8 where it will meet up with 4-8-4 No. 844. Both locomotives will return east on May 12.
To purchase tickets, go to the museum’s page at www.eventbrite.com.
Will Trains Mag be doing a live feed from UP 4014 Christening?
Will Trains offer a live video feed?
(Sigh) Wish I could be there. Oh, well. Still going to be fun to read about the events.