Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

On Tuesday, the Big Boy traveled from Winnemucca to Portola over the former Western Pacific route via Gerlach. Those of you familiar with Burning Man will know of Gerlach as the last town before you head off into the Black Rock Desert. It was once a division point for the WP and still has a yard and people based there. I had to work on Tuesday, but after my regular morning meeting with my co-workers, I awakened Lisa and she drove up to Gerlach to get more pictures and video.

While we were expecting the Gerlach stop to be relatively lightly attended, Lisa said it was very busy, with the Nevada DOT along the route up to Gerlach and state police available to assist people.

The route to Gerlach goes past Empire, which was and now is the site of a gypsum mine. It was shut down the last time we were up there, but times have changed.

( Mines and Steam Locomotives )

We did not go to the Portola event, nor did we follow the train down the Feather River Canyon. (I've been back at work.) From other videos I've seen, UP spliced into the consist their Western Pacific diesel "heritage unit" wearing a color scheme inspired by the WP, which was merged into UP in 1982.

Lisa says that the drive home from Gerlach was longer than the drive up there. It was much busier. Lisa was going the speed limit and traffic was passing her.

It was very hot and very dry. Lisa says that she went through more than two litres of water on the drive. Her pickup truck is not air conditioned, and when she got home, she headed for the travel trailer and turned the swamp cooler on high.

Tomorrow morning, we're going to drive to Roseville, where there the Big Boy was on display today and will be tomorrow from 9 AM to 3 PM, plus other stuff going on in Roseville related to the train's two-day layover there.