ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. – Attention all 10,000 of my fellow fans who chased Big Boy No. 4014 last May: This chase, the one we’re on now, is the one you were wishing for.
Remember the 12-mile long motorcade in Weber Canyon? Remember the standing room only crowds in Medicine Bow? Remember the inability to move from one spot to another freely?
Well, then, you should be here now. It’s a small group of dedicated fans who either didn’t get to see No., 4014 last spring or in the summer and now they’re out after the 4-8-8-4 on the start of its Southwestern tour. Or they’re fans who decided that an encore along the original UP main line in low fall sunlight would be dandy.
I hate to gloat. But it is really nice to be able to drop into photo lines at grade crossings and to have your pick of shots along the way. The locomotive and its 10-car train left Cheyenne Friday, tied up in Rawlins, traveled to Rock Springs Saturday, and spent Sunday in Rock Springs. On Monday, the train moves to Rawlins, then on Tuesday it enters now territory, traveling south from Ogden through Salt Lake City to Provo, Utah, where it will be on display for two days.
I’ll share a few photos from the chase. This one is at Speer, Wyo., just after leaving Cheyenne, climbing Track 3 across Sherman Hill in gorgeous autumn light.
This one is from high atop a hill on the west side of Rawlins, Wyo., which I have entitled “You don’t need no stink-in’ drone in Wyoming hill.”
And the last shot for today, south of Point of Rocks near Hallville, Wyo., where the rented Trains Dodge Durango accumulated so much mud that I had to rinse it in Rock Springs -- twice!
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