Went out to Covina, California this morning to get a view of UP Big Boy 4014 actually moving (not under its own power of course). The UP has acquired the loco from the Pomona Fairplex and is moving it to their shops in Colton. The move required the loco to be moved west through Covina and over to a junction with a line that runs through Colton (to the east of the Fairplex). The UP was kind enough to stop at the Covina Station for an hour to allow a small crowd to get a closer look at 4014. The big boy loco was sandwiched between a nice and shiny EMD SD70ACe in Southern Pacific heritage paint scheme plus a fairly grimy EMD SD70M in standard UP colors. I thought it kind of odd that the UP would not supply at least a clean loco for the marketing exposure the way BNSF does when the 3751 is run. Those not knowing much about railroads might have thought the SP loco to be the focus of this event. Anyway, here are few pics.
You might notice that the loco is stripped down a bit (no boiler jacketing or valve gear) and a lot of temporary airlines are in place to facilitate the move. However, they did think to connect the air horn so they could blow signals while under way.
