Rotten Luck

[kevin_standlee]

Some of you may have heard of how the Union Pacific Railroad restored to service one of their gigantic "Big Boy" locomotives and that they take it around their system on goodwill/publicity tours. I figured that eventually they would schedule a trip that would go past our house and put on a big show.

Well, they have planned it, all right. Here's a link to the story. But we're not happy about it. Click through the link to find out why.

Union Pacific's "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4 locomotive 4014 will roar past our home in Fernley on July 5th, 2022. But we'll be two hundred miles south of there in Tonopah as it's the day after Westercon 74 and we'll be in the process of moving out of the Tonopah Convention Center. At the moment, we probably won't head for home until July 6th or maybe even the 7th.

There's nothing that can be done about this. Making a 400-mile round trip to go look at a train on a day when we'll be needed to finish our commitments to Westercon just isn't possible.

There's no telling when they'll be through again next, but I hope that it happens at a time when we can see it in person.

Comments

[garyomaha]

Is there anyone (a Fernley friend or someone else who wouldn't have to travel far) who might be able to record for you the Big Boy's visit past your house that day? That could kinda sorta be like you were there.

[kevin_standlee]

Oh, there will be recordings galore. That's not the point. Seeing in person is the important part. We just have to hope there will be another opportunity someday. It's not the recording that matters; it's the experience.

[timill]

News today off the Union Pacific Steam Club is that the tour is postponed for a while.

[kevin_standlee]

That's good news unless it turns out that they postpone it to the two week Worldcon trip.