Trains.com

What celebrities might show up to watch Big Boy this year?

Posted by Steve Sweeney
on Thursday, April 18, 2019

Well, Trains Nation, here's the day dream:

"Imagine you think you know which celebrities and "famous" people like trains or model trains — and who might have the time, money, and inclination to splurge on a once-in-a-lifetime event. Who do you think will be on-scene, in person, for the biggest railfan party in history in May?!"

I'm of course talking about the expected first runs of Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 since the 1950s in honor of the 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad's completion at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10. I expect that it will be the biggest rail party in my lifetime.

So besides Jim Wrinn, me, and the hordes of railfans spending 401k retirement funds and the last of their vacation time on three weeks of chasing the world's largest steam locomotive, what famous railfans do you think will stop by?

I read from a ticketing website that singer Sir Rod Stewart (one of the few people to have their face featured on Model Railroader in recent years) is touring in Europe. So he'll probably be out. 

Reported private varnish owner, Dan Aykroyd, might want to see this. Maybe Kevin Costner, who reportedly wanted to build a private railroad in South Dakota. 

I see several websites and message boards rumor that Sir Patrick Stewart (of X-Men and Star Trek fame and no relation, I think, to Rod) is a railfan and that so are actors Julianne Moore, Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid from Harry Potter), and singer Phil Collins. 

We know that Michael Gross (Family Ties) is a railfan. And if Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffet is NOT a railfan, I'd be shocked.

Well? Who do you think will show up in Wyoming and Utah in May?

Let me know in the comments below.

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