Just found out on Friday from a couple of officals here in Boone that the reason the 3985 was not going to the Twin Cities is that the City Oddicals ther were afraid that the 3985 would detract from the RNC. Larry
…[:O]
Darn! And I thought he picked an attractive(?) young lady for a veep to divert attention back from the locomotive!
(Wouldn’t have swayed me!)
I suppose the #3985 is more interesting than Mcain…
There is a zone around the convention where you can’t even ride in on a bicycle, let alone a car. If that engine was coming I would find a way to go and see it even if I had to walk a few miles.
A friend of mine told me that this loco is still scheduled to be in the Twin Cities sometime in late Sept. or Oct. Sorry, don’t remember any details right now, but I will keep you posted as I learn more as I would like to see it myself.
Incredible machine,
Seems to me that a good old fashioned “whisle stop campaign” revisit would be the perfect photo op they are looking for. (I would encourage the RNC to use this idea and send me a couple of bucks, my gas tank is low…
Cheers, William
Maybe those Twin Cities officials have been hearing from Rochester people about the horrors of needless rail traffic.
Same engine went to the Democratic convention in Los Angeles in 2000. While on my way from the Denver area to Reno, Nevada, I had the good fortune to encounter it while it was stopped in Milford, Utah. No way I could have planned that!
As for it being in town for that convention, there were no complaints about the thing being a distraction. Then again, what could top the excitement of Al planting that hot kiss on Tipper?
…At least I got to hear the whistle blow several times on 844 that was located at the Denver Union Station right back of the DNC. {On TV of course}.
Here’s a link to the schedule for that trip:
http://www.upsteam.com/schedule.html#schedule
It’s September 18th through October 6th. I know that I will certainly need to see it on one of the days that it is in or near Omaha.
Yep…the 3984 would be…but not the 3985.
Phil
How ironic to worry about a little detraction from a steamer when along comes Gustav to completely suck all the air out of the RNC.
It’s not really ironic. The RNC was concerned that all the blowing smoke from the 3985 would be confused with all the blowing smoke from the convention.[:P]
Speaking of blowing smoke, there’s a reason why some speeches need to be given in open stadiums.
…85,000 people seemed to be having a great time…
I’m not sure why they cared. 844 was the ONLY thing worth any attention in Denver last week except maybe for the fact that Denver has more brewpubs than any other city. mmm steam engines and beer! Otherwise there was nothing useful going on there.
Actually I would think that anything that would detract from the RNC would be welcomed by city and state officials of Minnesota. But on the other hand, I could see them thinking that the UP engine should be converted to battery power before being allowed into the state.
…Steam engines should be a welcome visitor to almost any location.
The people seem to really have an interest in seeing them. Probably most of them have never seen an operating one. A live one so to speak.
As for the other stuff…Lets hope we get the best combination possible in November to put us on a better track. The current one is taking us nowhere the majority want to go.
I think it’s more likely they’re worried about it being vandalized by the useless bums calling themselves “anarchists”, who’ve infested St. Paul for the RNC. They’ve done a fair amount of damage already (Macy’s got their windows busted out and a number of other businesses attacked).
Believe me, if that unit rolled-through St. Paul and those jacka**es were around, they’d go after it. The police cornered about 50 of the anarchists yesterday, and arrested over 200 troublemakers total (with half expected to be up on felony charges).
OMG! Everyone panic! The godless anarchists are coming!