Today I saw UP 8355 pulling UPP 140 (Stanford), the Silver Lariat, and UPP 150 (Sunset). I saw the passengers disembarking, they were all carrying small blue boxes with gold ribbons. The Senior MTO at the yard shook their hands as they left. I was allowed to get close to take some pictures and it smelled like they were cooking. I wonder if it was some type of customer special. I heard the SMTO saying that they needed to turn the power. Presumably the trip will be repeated tomorrow.
The Silver Lariat had “UNION PACIFIC” near the top of the car at the middle (I cannot remember what the area where railroads put their name on passenger cars is called). Last month I saw this car on the BNSF and it had “OPERATION LIFESAVER” on it then. I noticed that the steps had “CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR” on them. Of course the car is silver.
I’ve read in the past that it gets chartered by both UP and BNSF for different chores. The last time I photographed the Silver Lariat it was on its way to Utah and an Operation Lifesaver event, fall of last year.
Thank you very much for your report on the
former CZ -CB&Q Silver Lariat dome car!
Yes, the owners of the Silver Lariat usually rent the car out to the
UP and others all the time. This usually requires changing the
outside letterboard as you saw. This is a very good way for
the owners to pay the bills and other necessary upkeep for
this fine and beautiful railcar.
More info and a short history of the CB&Q 4718 Silver Lariat is
at this excellent website on railroad domecars.
Scroll down and look for the CB&Q “4718” here: http://trainweb.org/railnewspb/Q/
Here is the relevant text copied and pasted:
CB&Q 4718 “Silver Lariat” coach for ‘California Zephyr’ - became BN 4682(not applied), to Amtrak 9452, retired 7/84 to Ralph Orlandella Sacramento CA, to Burt Hermey/Al Bishop/California Zephyr Railcar Charters Los Angeles CA(1985) 800190/CZRC 4718 - full CZ letterboards and titles - car is in very frequent charter use.
The contact information to charter the Silver Lariat is here:
Silver Lariat
California Zephyr Railcar Charters
1146 Charleston Street
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Day/Evening phone: (714) 751-2032
e-mail: cbhermey@pacbell.net
Thank you again for your contirbution!
— Daniel
quote]Originally posted by ericsp
Today I saw UP 8355 pulling UPP 140 (Stanford), the Silver Lariat, and UPP 150 (Sunset). I saw the passengers disembarking, they were all carrying small blue boxes with gold ribbons. The Senior MTO at the yard shook their hands as they left. I was allowed to get close to take some pictures and it smelled like they were cooking. I wonder if it was some type of customer special. I heard the SMTO saying that they needed to turn the power. Presumably the trip will be repeated tomorrow.
The Silver Lariat had “UNION PACIFIC” near the top of the ca
I was down at the train yard after work today. While looking at some freight cars, I noticed a locomotive with an unusual paint scheme creeping along in the yard. It was coming up the ladder track and where I was I saw it head on, so all I could see was the nose. When I drove down to where it was at (staying along the shoulder of the public road) I noticed it was UP 1996. It was pulling the Silver Lariat, with “OPERATION LIFESAVER” on it, followed by a passenger car with “UNION PACIFIC” on it, its name is the Silver _______ (I think it was the Silver Platte). Bringing up the rear was UP 1983. This time they unloaded the passengers somewhere else.
Could have been anyone from security analyst (stocks and bonds, not protection), government types, customers, whatever. The railroads need to get their story out, show what they are doing, Giving “important” folks a first hand look is a good way to do this.
You can do all the slide shows you want to do, but having someone actually see your operation is priceless.
There’s a good story that I’ve told out here before about how JB Hunt came to use intermodal - which is now its largest business segment. The then president of the Santa Fe got Mr. Hunt to take a train ride out of Chicago. (Business car on the back of a Z). According to Haverty: “We had the sale by Galesburg.”
The little blue boxes were small token gifts, maybe candy. It’s unacceptable to give security analyist, government types, customers, etc. anything of real value - that’s called a bribe. But a little blue box of candy given openly to everyone is within the rules.
When Amtrak still served Las Vegas and you could go out on the station platform at the Union Plaza (yes, the Union Pacific owned at least part of a casino back then, complete with the “Omaha Room” and a modest railroad theme)
I walked out to the plateform to see what I could see. What I saw was an Armour Yellow Domeliner sitting at the Vegas station.
It was a special train for the good folks at Nevada Power. There was a dining car with flowers in vases by the windows. A white jacketed waiter was working inside. I thought how lucky those folks from the electric company were.
That train was out doing it thing again today, then returned to the yard. Then they uncoupled UP 1983 and the passenger cars from UP 1996 and shoved them to one end of the yard. The yard switcher then went to the other end of the yard, grabbed four locomotives, coupled them the UP 1996 and shoved these locomotives to the same end of the yard as UP 1983. The last I saw they were just sitting there on two tracks.
