The UP Museum has confirmed that its fund-raising trip of July 15 from Omaha to Boone, Iowa, will be pulled by the newly restored 4-8-8-4 that returned from its inaugural run between Cheyenne, Wyo., and Ogden, Utah, on Sunday. The July excursion features the Chicago & North Western main line and the Kate Shelley Bridge near Boone. With a bus return, expect to see tickets in the $400 to $750 range, the museum says. Tickets go on sale to museum members first and the public on May 28. The trip will place No. 4014 in territory far removed from traditional Big Boy operating rails from 1941 to 1959 between Ogden and Cheyenne.
It’s logical to expect, though it has not been confirmed, that No. 4014 will appear at Omaha’s Railroad Days festival the weekend of July 13-14. From there, the engine could head many directions, but once it gets to Boone, it’s likely to continue toward the Great Lakes, according to those familiar with the subject. A more specific destination was not available.
Other speculation has centered on a Gulf States tour or a run to California to operate an excursion for the Rail Giants Museum, which provided the locomotive to the UP in 2013. Wherever it goes, one thing is certain: No. 4014 will draw a crowd.
There’s nothing like “flapping flags” on a locomotive, especially since no one to my knowledge uses white (extra train) or green (second section following) flags or lights anymore. As for being a political statement, why would anyone have a problem with that? The transcontinental line was completed four years after the Civil War. It was to those people what the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon was to us. We can use a “little flag-waving” now and then to remind us of those pioneers and what they accomplished, and inspire us to meet the challenges of our time.
Maybe Memphis will be a destination this year.
Looks as if the East Coast will be ignored once again. God, it’s awful to be unfortunate enough to be living in the forgotten eastern part of the United States!
If only 4014 could come east to New Jersey.
Chicago to Minneapolis and the Twin Cities: the latter two must have meant St. Paul and South St. Paul, of course!
Good to see that the Big Boy will be pulling more public trips, and most of all, that the price is coming down to where we all can afford to ride behind it. Looking forward to it!
It’s amazing where these Big Boys can go – around 1963 the Big Boy which is now at Steamtown in Scranton PA was towed to the original Steamtown, the Boston & Maine loco terminal at North Walpole NH, just east of Bellows Falls Vt. And I agree with W. Cook: enough with the flapping American flags on the front of so many steam engines in excursion service.
Mr. Cook they were for the historic occasion considering Utah was where the transcontinental railroad was completed. Regardless of the flags 4014 looked nice.
Great news! Union Pacific has #4014 and should use it as an ambassador. Run it everywhere you can.
The UP owes the Rail Giants Museum one excursion out of LA as part of the deal for the 4014.
A little bit off subject here, but I wanted to report that today, after following 4014 and the Golden Spike commemoration, I went to my local Post Office and asked if the “Transcontinental Railroad” stamps were available. They were. I looked down at an advertising poster displaying the latest stamp issues, and there it was. Just below the stamp illustration was an image of a BRITISH steam-hauled passenger train. We often comment about the railroad-ignorance of the generic crowd, so there it is, again. Sigh.
Chicago or Kansas City would be my guess after the excursion. Especially given another steam locomotive visiting the Windy City after the Joliet Rocket…
I wonder if she would make it around the wye in Janesville? 😛
I’d love to see it come all-the-way East for a triumphal trans-continental “Atlantic to Pacific” run, say Hoboken NJ to San Francisco CA. I believe there are clearances generous enough in the East to make it possible, but I may be expecting a bit too much.
Still, the UP DID run that “Harriman” train East.
Mr. Pins,
Here’s another USPS howler for you. Years ago it commissioned a series of classic streamliners watercolors, used for stamps and purchasable prints. The Otto Kuhler Hiawatha F-7 Hudson was captioned “Chicago to Minneapolis & the Twin Cities.”
4014- The World’s most expensive flag pole. The ceremony is over so I hope we see it again without the flapping flags that distracts from seeing the flapping drive rods. Flags are a political statement and for sometime special events but if you do something all the time, it is no longer special. Why do we need flags on every remaining steam locomotive? You can’t photo shop them out of video and it sure is a distraction from the historic image. The UP has a very fine flag on the canteen, anymore is overkill. It also dates all the photos taken to be the return run from Ogden.