So I’m looking forward to seeing the Challenger pull into Fremont for about a month.
Guess what fancy trick UP plays.
This morning everything was on schedule… they arrived for servicing in Denison right on time and left right on time. So we get to Fremont at about 11:45 and watch some freight trains and then at about 12:20 PM decide to check and see if our favorite place to eat is open. The challenger wasn’t supposed to come in until 1:30. So we get back to the main street depot at 12:30 and there it is sitting at the depot. The best part of the whole deal was seeing it pull in, but they had to be a whole hour early and ruin it. And the excuse was that they like to get through track construction as quick as possible so they went through that construction by Carrol, Iowa extra fast. Must have been going at about 80 mph to get from Denison to Fremont so fast. All in all the day was about ruined. The only saving grace was that I did see 14 freight trains.
They left Boone about 20 mins late. They didn’t call the Boone pilot crew until 8am, so they swapped a 720am crew called for a hopper to actually pilot the train. I talked to the pilot engineer at Fremont and he said they topped out at about 63MPH.
I am with Willie - we both live where you can go or could, go see a static display of the Big Boy - but we were both looking forward to seeing the 3985 actually run. We were both very disappointed and even the driver, who isn’t into trains all that much, was really disappointed. He said they could take the Big Boy and just put some machine behind it that would make steam sounds and we could have had exactly what we saw with the 3985, only bigger. It was just a big hunk of metal with a crowd of people trying to take pictures and stepping all over you.
I would have loved to see it run, not just sit there and do nothing. I wasn’t impressed. I was all over the Big Boy and had more fun!
I guess I have to be the party pooper…Please remember that the 3985 no longer pays the bills(all of those freight trains you saw do) and that UP went out of its way to run the thing (most others would not have even tried)…
I’m sure Steve Lee & Co. did not screw the schedule up on purpose and probably is as disappointed as you are.
All I can say to the above is AMEN, I happened to even comment to my wife while we were observing 3985 on Saturday that “all of this does not generate a penney of revenue, they do it strictly for public relations value”.
Be gald you got to see the Locomotive at all. If I hadnt checked the schedule the night before I would have missed the 3985 myself.
Remember they are moving a non freight special through a heavily backed up freight schedule, this presents all sorts of scheduling conflicts. I am glad they run the specials here and there and work them in.
Seeing the loco come in isnt as exciting as seeing her leave. I have more whistle footage when she left than when she arrived.
All right, All right! I know that schedules aren’t set in stone, I know the cardinal rule of railroading, and I know they didn’t bring it into Fremont early just to make everybody mad! But one doesn’t expect a train to be an hour early! And I am happy that I saw it, I stated that earlier.
From press stories and this forum, it seems UP only runs its normal day-to-day freight trains on time about as frequently as it fires up steam(not very often). This time everything aligned and allowed for an early train–go figure.
Whether it’s early, on-time, or late, enjoy it. Steam excursions which were once very common in the South for over 25 years compliments of Southern Railway and, later, NS, has been gone 10 years plus.
But i really think the hour and speed is irrelavent, if you saw the locomotive, if the image enetered your retnals, was turned rigth-side up by your brain, and you can recall the image in your head, you are 9 steps ahead of me.
i msut be missing somehting… You are complaining because…
Hmpf! I must protest! I am behind and in front of Willy all the way. I grew up when steam engines were out there every day. That is why it was so important that I get to see it actually moving and hear the whistle as I did when I was very small. Union Pacific denied me that opportunity. I can see the Big Boy if I want to see a static display. And believe me, I am far more impressed with the Big Boy that I was with the Challenger. I only had the one day to do this - I couldn’t leave work to run up there on Monday morning and see it depart for home. I only had Sat and then had to rearrange many plans to even do that. Then to have the Union Pacific step in and for the first time in history, be ahead of schedule. Thanx UP - for nothing. As far as I am concerned, it was a wasted trip - I could have stayed home and seen a lot of real engines and real trains and heard them, too. Not a static display that made no noise.
Now one more time, tell one mad Mookie how wonderful you think it is that I just got to see it at all. I am not impressed with that either!
This past Sunday I drove over to Bureau Junction, Illinois to see the Milwaukee 261 steamer make an appearance as it pulled into town to turn on the wye track located there. It was a beautiful day and I expected to just relax, go with the flow, and have an enjoyable time…which I did.
Good thing I had taken that attitude since the loco was 1 1/2 hours late!
I came early and I heard a lady, who was sitting on the grass behind me, say to another, “Do you think the train will be on time?” To which here companion replied, “Trains are never on time!”