The Transcontinental Railroad’s replacement 1,000-mile tree in Utah. Jim Wrinn Of all of the locations that Union Pacific marked either formally or informally in the 1860s as it worked westward toward Promontory, one of the most interesting is the 1,000-mile tree. Nestled next to the tracks in Weber Canyon between Evanston, Wyo., and Ogden, Utah, […]
A view of the Union Pacific main line from Piedmont Road near the Altamont and Alpine tunnels along the Transcontinental Railroad route. The location is where, legend has it, that Union Pacific workers delayed Thomas Durant’s train on his way to the Golden Spike ceremony at Promontory Summit, Utah. Jim Wrinn A tried and true […]
The Ames Brothers monument along the former Union Pacific and Transcontinental Railroad right-of-way in Wyoming. The monument is on the Sherman Hill grade. Richard Koenig OLD SHERMAN, Wyo. — One of my favorite places on the first Transcontinental Railroad is Sherman Hill. It was the first big obstacle in Union Pacific’s way when the railroad […]
The 2014 deadhead move of No. 4014 through Utah’s Echo Canyon created a long line of chasers in vehicles. Trains: Jim Wrinn CHEYENNE, Wyo. — With only one month before Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 makes its inaugural run from Cheyenne, Wyo., to Ogden, Utah, law enforcement agencies in both states are reminding fans […]
Jerry A. Pinkepank 1 “Mountain Type” F3A. Briefly in 1947, EMD referred to its steam-generator-equipped, passenger-geared F3s as “The Mountain Type.” These units were intended for use on passenger trains that traversed grades for which E7s were not suitable. In September 1947 Union Pacific got eight F3 A-B-B sets, plus three extra A units, all […]
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – More than 600 tickets have been sold to the christening celebration of Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 at the Cheyenne Depot Museum on May 4. As of Monday morning, Christy McCarthy, executive director of the Cheyenne Depot Museum, tells Trains News Wire that all of the “VIP” tickets have been sold […]
Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz Union Pacific OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has slowed work on the new hump yard it is building near Hearne, Texas, and no longer has a firm opening date for the $550-million Brazos Yard. UP now has about 90 contractors working on the yard, down from 300. Crews were aiming […]
FULL SCREEN Drake Hokanson FULL SCREEN Drake Hokanson FULL SCREEN Drake Hokanson FULL SCREEN Drake Hokanson FULL SCREEN Drake Hokanson FULL SCREEN Drake Hokanson FULL SCREEN The railroad roundhouse is even more an anachronism than the heavy-timber barn, and perhaps even more emblematic of nostalgic times in U.S. history. The Evanston, Wyo., roundhouse stabled Union […]
Replica steam locomotive Union Pacific 4-4-0 No. 119 stands outside its modern engine shed in rural Utah in 2018. TRAINS: Jim Wrinn Come May 10, 2019, two locomotives will be in the spotlight for some 12,000 spectators at the 150th celebration of the first Transcontinental Railroad completion: Replicas of Central Pacific Jupiter and Union Pacific […]
Flooding of the Platte River, south of Omaha, Neb., has destroyed spans of BNSF Railway’s Omaha Subdivision, along with the Union Pacific’s Fall City Subdivision. On Tuesday morning, a Union Pacific crane was working on removing a log jam on the upstream side of the bridge. Steve Smedley Three truckloads of rock are being dumped […]
Union Pacific SD60 No. 2181 is on the point of a welded rail train tucked into the storage siding at Woodford, Calif., for the weekend in March 2002. TEH-12131-6 Howard Ande Question: Is Union Pacific the only U.S. rail carrier to use long rail? What exactly is long rail? Periodically, I see ocean bulk carriers bringing […]
Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 as it slowly departs Pomona, Calif., in 2013. TRAINS: Jim Wrinn Question: Reportedly, Union Pacific had a name picked out for it’s 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotive but someone at American Locomotive Co. in Schenectady, N.Y., beat them to the punch by writing the name “Big Boy” on […]
