Picto Diary - 08, 09, 10, 11, 12 May 2019 - Big Boy

Above: Bishop and Big Boy. Echo Canyon, Utah. 9:00 AM. 08 May 2019.

Union Pacific Railroad has restored to operating status Engine 4014, Big Boy, one of twenty of the largest steam locomotives ever, built in the 1940's. Big Boy's restoration, accomplished over the last six years, was accomplished at the Union Pacific train yards in Cheyenne, WY.

This week, Union Pacific Railroad, sent Big Boy four hundred fifty miles, from Cheyenne, WY to Ogden, UT as part of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary, 10 May 1869, of the completion of the transcontinental railroad and the driving of the Golden Spike at Promentory Point.

While Big Boy won't be able to make it all the way to Promentory Point, where the railroad construction from the west met railroad construction from the east, Big Boy will be on display at the Ogden, UT railway museum for the next few days. The transcontinental railway route has long abandoned the route over the top, north end, of the Great Salt Lake, in favor of a causeway over the lake, cutting off two hundred miles or so from the original route.

The image of Big Boy (the locomotive!) above was captured by me as a selfie five miles east from the mouth of Echo Canyon.

Echo Canyon is historic area. This is the original transcontinental railway routing. Before the railway, this was the route of pioneer wagon trains headed to Utah, and beyond to California. The Pony 's Express came through Echo Canyon. The Donner Party. The Mormon pioneers. And, a century after the transcontinental railway, I-80.

In the above image, I am standing at the base of cliffs where my paternal great great grandfather, Andrew Hunter Scott, stood in 1857, then a teenage member of the Mormon Militia, sent to Echo to disrupt Albert Sydney Johnson's two thousand federal troops. Johnson's Army had been sent by President Buchanan to the Salt Lake Valley to ensure that Brigham Young, then ten years established in the Salt Lake Valley, understood that Utah was not ground central for a Mormon Kingdom, unaccountable to Uncle Sam.

Outright fighting was avoided in the "Utah War." But, Johnson's army remained in Utah, on the western side of Utah Lake, for two years before being called back east, in 1859, at the outset of the Civil War.

Back to Big Boy, today. What a thrill this was to see this great locomotive. I recalled the days of my pre-teens when Dad took me to the Provo City, Denver and Rio Grande train depot in Provo, to watch the trains, including even then, a few steam powered locomotives in active service.

Standing in intermittent light rain, forty degrees, at the base of the Echo Canyon cliffs, I was accompanied by Montage and Dentist as we awaited the Big Boy. My two friends and I had decided to avoid the Echo Junction hoards, two thousand spectators five miles west, and watch the train further up Echo Canyon... where, we figured, it would be barreling under a robust head of steam.

In heightened anticipatory mode, we kept our eyes looking east for the first indication of Big Boy. We saw the billowing steam before we saw the train. I don't know what it is about me at times like this, but, I might as well have been at the second coming. On first seeing Big Boy's steam cloud, my throat constricted and tears welled up. Big Boy was a restored piece of history in one of the more historical spots of Utah, if not the American West. I felt a special connection to my heritage (great great grandfather Scott on the cliffs above), my Dad (taking me to see the trains at Provo Depot), and America's great railroad history.

Then, seconds after the steam cloud appeared, as can be seen in the image, Big Boy came barreling around the corner. And I mean barreling.... at least fifty miles an hour. Chugga chugga…. chugga chugga…. chugga chugga. What an experience!

My hat is off to the management of the Union Pacific Railroad for restoring Big Boy as a symbol of American heritage and erstwhile American greatness. It seems fitting that Big Boy's maiden (as a restored locomotive) correlates exactly to a new era of American greatness.

Above: Big Boy #4014! Echo Canyon, UT 08 May 2019.

Largest steam locomotive ever manufactured. Kept running by Union Pacific.

Cheyenne to Ogden!

Celebrating 150th anniversary transcontinental railway.

PS. Great to be out on the Duc, even if it was raining and 40 degrees. First Duc outing of the year.
Duc Rockport

Above: Duc. Rockport Reservoir. Summit County, UT. 08 May 2019.

First Duc outing of the year.

Intermittent rain; 41 degrees.

Reservoir up, but not yet full.

Here returning from seeing UP Big Boy 4014 in Echo Canyon. — at Rockport Reservoir.

Above: Bling and Bishop. Wasatch Bagel. Park City, UT. 09 May 2019.

Bling up from Albuquerque.

Above: Commodore and Montage in front of the UP 844. Ogden Train Yard. Ogden, UT 10 May 2019.

We couldn't get enough of Big Boy so we drove an hour north to Ogden to see Big Boy, and here in the image, sister locomotive, 844. 844, another Union Pacific restored steam locomotive, accompanied Big Boy 4014 on the trip to Ogden from Cheyenne.

Above: Drums at Kit. Juke Box Antihero Band. Caleb Chapman Soundhouse open house. American Fork, UT. 11 May 2019.

Above: Bishop, Big Boy, and The Colonel. Echo Junction, UT. 12 May 2019.

I couldn't get enough of Big Boy, so I took Drums and two of his friends to see Big Boy on the return trip.. from Ogden to Cheyenne.

The Colonel is an old motorcycle riding friend who I ran into while at Echo Junction.

I learned too late that individuals could pay $3000 to make the trip on the Big Boy train from Ogden to Evanston, WY... about 70 miles. One could pay $5000, and ride in the engineer cab of 4014 and 844. Proceeds go to keeping the locomotives running.

When the current generation gear heads who like working on old, steam locomotives dies out, who's going to work on these engines. Are there procedure manuals?

Hagerty, an auto insurance company, special lines, has spearheaded a foundation to train young mechanics to work on vintage automobiles. It seems that something similar might be in the offing for old steam locomotives?

Above: Drums and friends with Big Boy. Echo Junction, UT. 12 May 2019.

Above: Drums video's Big Boy as friends look on. Echo Junction, UT. 12 May 2019.

Above: Eleanor Gayle DeWitt Taylor
1918 - 2011
The greatest generation.