Driving the Transcontinental Railroad grade

[Henry/Kokomo]

A great travel log. Nice to see an article by someone who knows history and can properly identify railroad "stuff" by its proper name. Like Lawrie says, "You da' man!"

[Turdytoo]

Fantastic story and photos. Thanks for sharing.

[peewee2you]

Old Henry rides again, what a trip, photo's and video fantastic, glad the trip was enjoyable and you stayed safe... like the handstand and the period dress. Keep em comin. much appreciative

[cmbrucew]

Prof
It is always interesting, and entertaining reading your posts.
Bruce

[Lawson Cox]

Great pictures and narrative as always. Thanks for posting. I could not pull up the link of the Lucin cut off though. Thanks for sharing.

[Binx]

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Originally Posted by Ross F-1

Another adventure, not at all what I expected! I'll have to look it up, but why is this run of line abandoned? Hard to believe so little remains of the roundhouse, was it moved?

Liability is my guess if this is now BLM property. They tear down and level everything. Likewise Department of Interior (BLM's big daddy) do it to their historic structures on private land that they have acquired easement to and now have considered obsolete, liability or just a good reason to get a crew employed.

Lonnie

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by Lawson Cox

Great pictures and narrative as always. Thanks for posting. I could not pull up the link of the Lucin cut off though. Thanks for sharing.

I figured out how to convert the PDF file to a JPG so that I could post it here:



I've also attached the PDF which, if you have Adobe reader to see it, you can magnify it so that you can read the words better.

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by Ross F-1

Another adventure, not at all what I expected! I'll have to look it up, but why is this run of line abandoned? Hard to believe so little remains of the roundhouse, was it moved?

The roundhouse was moved to Carlin, Nevada per this from the monograph I cited here: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/o...ut/8/sec2b.htm

"Being chiefly dependent upon the railroad, Terrace began to suffer after the rerouting of transcontinental traffic over the Lucin Cutoff. Only three trains a week (down from ten a day) passed through Terrace. Additionally, the maintenance shops were moved to Carlin, Nevada (Carr 1972:12; Tinker 1964:20). Historical accounts indicate that a sweeping fire in the early 20th Century hastened Terrace's demise. Records vary on the date of the fire: 1900 (Conley 1976:258; Carr 1972:12) and 1907 (Tinker 1964:20). An extensive search of the Box Elder News 1900 to 1908, failed to reveal a report of the fire. Terrace lingered, still having a Justice of the Peace and Constable in January of 1908 (Box Elder News 1908)."

[s55mercury66]

Moving slightly off-topic, the roundhouse in Evanston, Wyoming, still stands, with turntable intact, and along with some other buildings there, is slowly being restored by the City of Evanston. Pretty cool to think that Big Boys and Challengers once slept there.

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by s55mercury66

Moving slightly off-topic, the roundhouse in Evanston, Wyoming, still stands, with turntable intact, and along with some other buildings there, is slowly being restored by the City of Evanston. Pretty cool to think that Big Boys and Challengers once slept there.

Many years ago I walked with three of my little kids along the track to that turntable and roundhouse and were playing on the turntable when a very irate guy came out yelling at us to get out of there. So, I know where you're talking about.

For anyone that doesn't know what Big Boys and Challengers are, Big Boys were 4-8-8-4 locomotives (meaning they have 4 smaller suspension wheels [trucks] on the front, then two sets of 8 larger drive wheels followed by another 4 smaller suspension wheels) the largest successful steam locomotive ever built. There are no more Big Boys operating but one just arrived in Cheyenne, WY May 8th to be restored to be operational. The Challengers were 4-6-6-4 locomotives of which 105 were built but only one remains operational - #3985. Here's a video of it running across Wyoming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OgSNQOTw2U

Both of these huge locomotives were built specifically to be powerful enough to make the climb up the 1.14% grade of Ogden canyon here in Utah without the need to add helper engines.

More info on Challenger: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_3985
More info on Big Boys: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Big_Boy

[turnpikecrusier]

Awesome, just Awesome!! I very much enjoy your adventures.

[Seth Swoboda]

Well Done!! I really enjoy your trips but this one is especially interesting. Thanks!

[Old Henry]

I just received an email from someone at the Golden Spike National Historic Site in response to my request for a high resolution of the "Champagne Photo" that Morgan, Pepe and I were in. I then sent him the link to this thread to which he responded:

"I noticed on that link you sent us that there is someone doing a handstand on the locomotives. We do not promote that activity, and in truth, actively discourage this. I am hoping this photo is not distributed so we do not have others trying to do what he did. We ask people not to climb on or touch the locomotives, and this was something we cannot condone."

So, if any of you go there, don't do what Morgan did.

[rheltzel]

Golly, I'll bet he would frown on all the freight trains I used to ride back in the day, too. Probably wouldn't condone, promote, or encourage that sort of activity, either.

[Mafman]

I really enjoy reading and seeing all about your travels. Thank you for sharing!

[s55mercury66]

A couple years back I was in Douglas, Wyoming at a park with a steam engine in it. I looked up and saw the cab doors were open, and hopped on up there to have a look. I was in there for a half-hour or so, checking out the auger from the tender, all the valving, thinking it had to be hotter than the fires of Hades in there in the summertime. My phone rang, and my daughter was on the other end, so I climbed out the other side. At the base of the ladder was a sign; "Do Not Climb On or In Locomotive". I was wondering why everyone in the park was looking at me like I had 3 eyes......

[rheltzel]

That sort of behavior cannot be condoned.

[Old Henry]

I'm thinking that there are probably very few if any of us that could do a handstand anywhere, much less on the pilots of two old steam locomotives. Probably no worries about any of us trying this stunt.

[Reisterstown Ray]

Hi, Really enjoyed the pictures. I am interested in steam engines and their history in our country. Ray

[so_dak_kid]

Cool narrative as always Old Henry!! thanks for posting!!