The Rail Giants Museum said Friday in a posting on its website that the excursion will begin with a bus from the Metrolink Rancho Cucamonga Station to UP’s West Colton Yard, where passengers will board the train and ride to the Barstow area with a bus return on Oct. 12. The Oct. 13 trip will start at the Metrolink station, go to the Barstow area, and return to West Colton by train, and end with a bus transfer to Metrolink.
The museum said no space is available for viewing the train at West Colton or for passengers to park. “West Colton is a secure railroad facility owned and operated by Union Pacific Railroad which is closed to public access. Excursion passengers and railfan spectators cannot park vehicles there. Therefore, all passengers must arrive via our charter buses that load from our staging area at Metrolink’s commuter train station in Rancho Cucamonga,” the posting said.
This is only the third Big Boy excursion ever operated, and the first two with limited capacities in Utah in May and in Nebraska and Iowa in July, both sold out. This train will seat about 600 passengers.
Coach seats are priced at $700; dome coach seats at $1,100; dome diner lower at $900; dome diner upper, $1,300; first class diner, $1,100; first class lounge, $1,100; and first class dome, $1,500. Office car Cheyenne for a party of eight is $15,000.
The 15 car train includes 12 passenger cars; 3 support cars; 2 water cars, and a diesel helper.
The museum also said that buses will board Oct. 12 between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m. to take passengers to the train, that the train would arrive in Barstow mid-afternoon, and the return would be 5:15 p.m. On Oct. 13, buses would board 4:30 to 4:45 a.m., that the train would arrive in West Colton in early afternoon, and return to the Metrolink station would be 3:30 p.m.
The museum said that it would limit passengers to age 10 and older, there would be no photo runbys or opportunities to get off the train during the trip, and tickets would be limited to four per purchase.
Details: https://4014traintix.com/index.html
When 4014 was in Utah for the Golden Spike Anniversary, I asked Ed Dickens what route they expected the train to take when they finally took her to California for the Rail Giants Fundraiser. He said just by the nature of the size of this locomotive, off main line jaunts or rare mileage trips will not be possible. He imagined that it would be straight To Ogden, Ut on the Overland Route, South to Salt Lake City on the I-15 Corridor and then south to LA via the LA&SL main route through southwestern Utah, Nevada and California just as she came back to Cheyenne on in the hospital train when she was reacquired. This engine must follow routes that allow for as shallow of curves and as few tunnels as possible. Remember, once the fire were dropped for the supposed last time in the 60’s, most of the railroad curvature was realigned for modern diesels so going anywhere/everywhere off the main lines just isn’t possible.
Having ridden quite a few train excursions, including the UP 3985 when it came to Southern California in the
mid 1990’s..unless you are hanging out a vestibule door..which is probably forbidden these days, you really don’t get much of a view of the locomotive powering your train. Stopping for a photo run by is about your only contact with the locomotive. On the 3985 excursion, which was Ontario to Barstow and back, Saturday and Sunday, I rode the train on Saturday, and chased it on Sunday. For me the chasing was a more interesting day. When I read the ticket prices, for the Big Boy Excursion… I just about sucked all the air out of the room. I know the proceeds are going to the Rail Giants Museum, but being retired, the prices were just a little over the top. Like David Wire said, “I have few doubts that these trips will sell out”
I have few doubts that these trips will sell out. There is a huge population base in Southern California and a lot of money. And a lot of folks with a lot more money than sense. The wee hours starting time might be more of a problem. As for me, although riding behind mainline steam is certainly fun, and I’ve done it a couple of times, I get more thrill from watching, listening, feeling, smelling, from the roadside. See ya in Cajon!
Before grousing about ticket prices, perhaps we should keep in mind that many rail history preservation organizations are — for a number of reasons — having a tough time. Thinking of the Blue Water NRHS Chapter that is liquidating………
This looks to be another fundraiser. I was lucky to ride behind 844 and 3985. I enjoyed those trips. Hopefully a regular excursion will come where ticket prices will be more reasonable.
This is a trip only for the rich, When I rode the UP ‘s steam special pulled by #844 in 2010, our local railfan group chartered a bus from St. L to motel in Council Bluffs. Toured the Museum that evening, open just for our group as trip was a fundraiser for them. Bus took us to Omaha to board and it was an all day trip, just a stop at Grand Island but no one allowed off train. Found out later it was when Steve Lee took over from Ed for his last run. We got to go to Bailey Yards where #844 was cut off and a diesel pulled the train thru the yard where a classic diesel was hooked up to train to take us back to Omaha. We had dome diner seats with 2 box lunches for lunch and dinner. Complete price was about $500.00 which incl our bus from St. L, motel for 2 nights and train trip. Glad I did that then as it was much cheaper.
Well, I used to save my school lunch money to buy tickets for Iron Horse Rambles. That’s not gonna happen now.
Night-owl gathering times, sky-high ticket prices, no photo opportunities. It will be interesting to see how well these excursion trips sell.
When prices and restrictions reach this height, this definitely is not worth it
It will be interesting to hear how the train is going to operate between Cheyenne and West Colton and if any of the moves will have any public events.
Is there any info on the route to Southern California from Wyoming?