GPS to trace UP #3985

[kschmidt]

Greetings,

I just read this on another railfan webpage. A GPS unit has been installed in one of the support cars for the Union Pacific Challenger #3985. This unit will allow people (Yes, anyone), to trace the progress of the train on its trip to Houston, Texas.

According to the posting the GPS unit will be turned on late Friday night. Then to access the GPS map just go to the main Union Pacific webpage www.up.com and type in "3985" in the search box. Apparently there will may some ability to zoom in on the map.

This should be interesting, trainchasing via the web. Apparently the trains location will be updated every 15 minutes.

Keith Schmidt

[Anonymous]

That's the new age, the Rat Pack will be sitting in front of their computers instead of driving alongside the train and trying to beat it to the next crossing....

Can't see this working out too well for those that like to take pictures. [:)]

[edblysard]

I can.
Imagine being able to see, instead of guess, where the locomotive is.
Instead of getting to your favorite photo spot hours in advance, because you dont really know if its on time or not, you can plan to be there very close to when it will arrive.

Ed

[jeffhergert]

I agree with Ed, this will be great to plan ahead because it seems these specials always run late.
What strikes me as funny is that as concerned with security as they are, Alert Level 2, watch out for suspicious persons etc in our track bulletins, they go and make it relatively easy to track a high profile train.
Jeff

[jeaton]

http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/excurs/houston.shtml

Well, sort of.