A Union Pacific train creeps along slowly westward at Gibbon, Neb., as flood waters touch the base of the track ballast. Flood waters and poor operating conditions have forced the railroad to keep UP Big Boy No. 4014 at the North Platte, Neb., yard until further notice.
Jim Wrinn
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. – Due to rising water levels, Big Boy No. 4014 will remain in North Platte “until further notice.” That’s the latest word from Union Pacific, via its @UP_Steam Twitter account.
The railroad had planned to run No. 4014 on Wednesday from North Platte to Grand Island instead of Thursday due to flooding in Central Nebraska. The locomotive was originally scheduled to make the run east on Thursday following a day off in North Platte.
The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings Buffalo and Hall counties, which are along the UP main line. The Grand Island Independent reports some areas in central Nebraska have received more than 8 inches of rain since Monday.
Trains News Wire is following this developing situation.
–Updated 12:25 p.m.
I am finally catching up on stuff that had been posted and wanted to be sure I did not miss any Big Boy articles, videos or pics. This looks like what we saw from Amtrak Zephyr window at Burlington, IA when were on the way to Denver, pick up rental car and drive to Ogden/Prom Point. Water was all around the train and we just crept thru very slowly.
With the delay in Kansas, will BigBoy be able to “make up time”, and keep to schedule (St. Paul, Duluth)…or, will the schedule be permanently altered? Just curious… as I took off work Thursday for St. Paul, and the weekend for Duluth. If schedule will remain behind, I’d like to try to re- negotiate my days off at work in order to see Big Boy with my family/ grandkiddos
It’s supposed to be not far from me in Boone, IA on Monday, which happens to be a day off for me. I also have Tuesday off, so I can absorb a delay of one day, but any further postponements will mean I won’t see it in central Iowa next week. That would suck. I just saw IAIS 2-10-2 #6988 last week so a two-fer of steam locomotives this month would be wonderful.
What is “heaving” rain? I’m not familiar with the term.
4014 won’t be leaving North Platte today due to high waters.
Can it get to Omaha via Kansas City? What about Denver and KC?
It is fine that 4014 can operate through higher water than diesels, but its support train includes a diesel. Besides, we would all feel really bad if soft footing from the torrential rains caused the Big Boy to derail somewhere along the way. Better to err on the side of safety.
Featured they would use the 4014 to haul freight where the water was too high to operate diesel-electrics. That was the norm during the transition from steal to diesel – water more the 2 inches over top of rail, bring on the steamers.