“The completion of the first transcontinental railroad is one of the most important events in railroad history and in American history,” Editor Jim Wrinn says. “We want to celebrate this accomplishment and bring new understanding of just how incredible this feat was a century and a half ago and how it remains so today.”
To bring railroad history to life, Trains and partner Special Interest Tours will offer a unique Journey to Promontory tour May 5 to May 14, 2019, that will cover the route from Sacramento, Calif., to Council Bluffs, Iowa, stopping at significant sites, and making sure to be at Promontory on May 10, 2019. Pending Union Pacific’s restoration of Big Boy No. 4014, participants will get to inspect the massive 4-8-8-4 close up. Among the highlights will be the use of private dome and sleeper cars on a portion of the route covered by Amtrak’s California Zephyr passenger train. Details: www.specialinteresttours.com.
On the Trains website, look for these two new blogs. One will cover the transcon and the other the history of the Big Boy locomotive. Historian John Hankey launches a regular blog post today about the birth and constriction of the railroad, leading to the Golden Spike ceremony at Promontory Summit, Utah. Union Pacific steam expert John E. Bush will share his insights and observations into the history of the amazing 4-8-8-4 locomotives that once ruled the main line in Utah and Wyoming.
Find these new blog posts here and look for updates often:
The Significance of the Transcontinental Railroad by John Hankey
The History of the Big Boy Locomotive, Part 1 by John E. Bush
Sounds good, Jim, will enjoy reading the blogs and hope to get out there for the celebration. Your tour would be great, but have to watch costs and have already been to some of those places.
This is all well and good for those interested in such things but how about at least an article in the magazine about the travails of Ed Ellis and Iowa Pacific. Plenty of hype when he started out renovating Pullman era passenger cars but now that his empire is collapsing nary a word.
How will Amtrak’s new policy on handling private cars affect this tour? Especially the pre-tour and post-tour segments (which are all on private cars).