I should have sold ice cream and hot dogs

[WuzzFuzz]

Well it was worth the drive to see it. The U.P Big Boy..I wasn't the only one that drive a distance to see it..There was Iowa plates, South Dakota, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

I thought I was a old farm kid, so I drove thru town, going down old Lincoln Highway, The train was do to make a stop and I figured I'd catch it coming out of town. So I drive thru the town and went a few miles on to a dirt country road and turned towards the tracks...

I was the first one there. Better early than late...First a large east bound U P freight..I was trying to take photos with one of the camera I had with me, Movie to be exact, and I know I did, from seeing the head lights in the far distance to when it came up close and went by...I filled the whole thing..It had to be a good three miles long...Our interstate commerce being moved at it's best.

Anyway, I would have been on the wrong side of the tracks for the west bound. So I moved over to the west bound main line...Nope not yet...

The some more people arrived. They were locals, and boy were they ever "LOCAL. It would take me too long to describe their stupidity, but any way...Not yet..


More people arrived..They must have had the same idea I had, to go out into the country to a crossing to see the BigBoy come and since it was a crossing it would have to whistle.

While waiting, another east bound coal train came, but it stopped short of the crossing...Thank you sir...The engineer even got out of his cab and came down to the ground to see the passing of BigBoy....

Well I have my trusty dusty camera set to the movie mode, and used the telescoping to as far distance as I could then shortened it up as BoyBoy drew nearer...

Well I know I got photos, because the screen said I was recording....Anyway, I got some shots of it from the rear and out of site.

So before the east bound coal train started, I scooted across the tracks so I could get back to the highway to join the chase to the next stop, Which I did.

BigBoy and I arrived at about the same time. I drove towards the tracks and I could already see a crowd down where the train would stop...

I did find a place to park and managed to hobble over to see it up close...This is where I should have had a Ice Cream and Hot Dog cart with me...There were people...lots of people...You would have thought that something special was going to happen today....

Anyway, I used my trusty dusty camera again, but it didn't come on???????? I tried again...Nothing...Dead batteries already??? I know it eats batteries when it's in the record mode....But nothing....I wanted to get some real good close ups of the engine and the servicing of the wheel and driver bearings. We'll see if I can post all of that stuff at a later time, after I take my trust dusty camera to the camera shop to see what's wrong with it.


So In the mean time I used my back up camera...Here goes.






Wuzz Fuzz


More in the next post

 

[WuzzFuzz]

Ice Cream and hot dogs part 2

Actually as you can see in these first two photos there was quite a crowd around...That's why I said I should have had a Ice Cream cart and Hot Dog stand to sell some goodies to the crowd.

Here are some more photos from my back up camera....They are only stills and just a few at that.

One the the things I wanted to get into town for was to hear Big Boy start up from a dead stop...

Two blasts of the whistle, tell me and all others that the train is going to start to move.

I had positioned myself about a block away, hoping I would hear that sound of the pistons starting to move, releasing the pressure and so forth..

Well it did, but it wasn't as loud as I thought it would be...


But I can say...today...I got up close and almost personal with the U.P. 4014 BigBoy engine...I'll probably never see it again. But I can say...Once I did, and I have the photos to prove it.


WuzzFuzz

 

[WuzzFuzz]

More trains.


This is the U P Challenger...I took these a few years back when I still had a airplane...I got the schedule and found out where it would be. So I fired her up and up I went to find the Challenger..











From up above this time you can see the cars driving along the highway trying to keep up, and Photo...

The fun part of flying and taking photos, when the Challenger went thru a town, it didn't slow down, but the cars had to. Then the cars had to play catch up on the other side of town...


I will say, trying to take the photos from the air by myself and flying the plane at the same time...Well....I did it, and I can say I saw the U.P. Challenger from a different perspective.


WuzzFuzz

 

[Rustyt1953]

Looks like fun. Did it scare Monica?

Appreciate the pics.

 

[WuzzFuzz]

I thought I had a couple more from my back up camera.

The back u diesel behind the oil and water cars...then a long shot looking back down along the whole train of cars, and the one dome car. The final car was a open back deck...I'd have to see when the last candidate for what ever office road the back car for a whistle stop campaigning.


Hope ya'll enjoyed.


I certainly did.


Wuzz Fuzz.


Oh by the way...Whil in the nighborhood, hear that the B-24, B-29 FiFi, a B-25, and a P-40 weren't too far away, and their take off time was going to be around 5 or 5:30 or so.


Now since I've flown the B-24 before...Not as a passenger, but flew left seat from Phoenix to El Toro Calif back in the 80's.

Rank had it's advantages back then. ..

 

[WuzzFuzz]

Looks like fun. Did it scare Monica?

Appreciate the pics.

No, I left her at home...would have been a long day, lots of people, and it was lets say warm and humid enough a person would wear it.


Wuzz Fuzz

 

[doublesharp]

dija lay a nickel on the tracks?

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMRFXoJB7AQ[/ame]

 

[WuzzFuzz]

Ok, when I was a few years younger, and like I mentioned above, rank had it's advantages...I got to fly the Collings Foundation B-24 in the paint scheme before what it is now....

That's me in the left seat, Notice the engine nacelles to the left of me are red on the leading edge...and notice the engine nacelles when it was on the ground...Both are red..

So in my log book I have B-24 time logged.

Some day maybe I'll post the B-17 and P2V-5 when I worked for Evergreen tankers.

WuzzFuzz


Woops, me and my younger hot rod days with my mother with me.

 

[DeathGrip]

You got me with the Hot Rod. Great old photo. I'm hoping to find my fathers A-V8 picture. He sold it in '57 or so.

 

[whitestang]

WuzzFuzz, The picture I posted was from a small rural village west of the town I live in and the Big Boy did not stop,so no large crowd. It did stop in Rochelle Il at the Railroad Park which is at the crossing of UP and BNSF and from the news report said about 1000 people were on hand to greet Big Boy.That would have been a good place for ice cream,water and hot dogs. Great pictures,thanks for sharing.

 

[Old_Cop]

WuzzFuzz you have led an interesting life, thank you for sharing your photos.

 

[WuzzFuzz]

WuzzFuzz you have led an interesting life, thank you for sharing your photos.

If I told all the stories of my life, most would say what a bunch of bull....But I do have a lot of old photos to back up what I say..


It's been a Hell of an adventure...But I can look back and say, I did it, rather than saying I wished I would have.

Regards,


WuzzFuzz

 

[Kurusu]

More trains.


This is the U P Challenger...I took these a few years back when I still had a airplane...I got the schedule and found out where it would be. So I fired her up and up I went to find the Challenger..

View attachment 408199

View attachment 408200

View attachment 408201

View attachment 408202

View attachment 408203

From up above this time you can see the cars driving along the highway trying to keep up, and Photo...

The fun part of flying and taking photos, when the Challenger went thru a town, it didn't slow down, but the cars had to. Then the cars had to play catch up on the other side of town...


I will say, trying to take the photos from the air by myself and flying the plane at the same time...Well....I did it, and I can say I saw the U.P. Challenger from a different perspective.


WuzzFuzz

That in the picture. Is not a Challenger. It is a Northern.
oo OOOO oo

But I like it all the same.

 

[steveno]

I went up to see the U.P. Big Boy steam engine going through Kearney. I went on a county road a few miles east of Kearney and waited. this section of of track is triple track so I was hoping there wouldn't be any other trains coming through that would block out the view. there was a container train at least 1 1/2 miles long that came through with no problems. then there was a freight train that was coming through and it must have been at least 2 miles long with 8 locomotives doing the pulling. it managed to get by with about a 1/4 mile to spare. this steam engine is one amazing piece of machinery.

I was a little surprised at the speed as they were only going about 30 mph. Highway 30 is right next to the tracks and there was a line cars following along side bumper to bumper for over a mile. I decided I wasn't going to mess with that traffic into downtown Kearney.


in the late 1950's I used to live in Central City , Nebraska. I think most steam engines were gone by then. I remember the U.P. mail train coming through town at 60 mph. outgoing mail was on pole and it wasn't there very long. it was a big event in those days to watch the mail train

 

[steveno]

more on big boy

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Parj-WdffHs[/ame]

 

[Kurusu]

Giving "Big Boy" justice

All the modern footage of 4014 is extraordinary. But it doesn't really give justice to the real workhorse the Big Boy used to be.

No diesel assistence, no double banking.

Just the way it was, pulling a freight train that seems endless.

This was the Big Boy in it's heyday.

Respect.

 

[WuzzFuzz]

That in the picture. Is not a Challenger. It is a Northern.
oo OOOO oo

But I like it all the same.

Sorry Kurusu it was a U.P Challenger.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/208350/manuals/Union Pacific Challenger.pdf?t=1520954955


They transfer the U.P Challenger most of the time in June to Omaha for the College World Series baseball games. There it is put on display next to the ball stadium.



WuzzFuzz

 

[WuzzFuzz]

Steveno,,, that was a so much better post you gave with the filming of the 4014...So much than my lame attempt of trying to film it as it passed by.


WuzzFuzz

 

[Kurusu]

Sorry Kurusu it was a U.P Challenger.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/208350/manuals/Union Pacific Challenger.pdf?t=1520954955


They transfer the U.P Challenger most of the time in June to Omaha for the College World Series baseball games. There it is put on display next to the ball stadium.



WuzzFuzz

It's me who's sorry but I thought you were referring to the locomotive type, not the name of the train.

The Challenger is also an articulated locomotive, just like Big Boy is, with a 4-6-6-4 wheel configuration.

The one in your picture has a 4-8-4 wheel configuration. And that is a Northern.

UP Challenger # 3977:

Your picture:

Edit. For further knowledgehttps://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/844/&ved=2ahUKEwiPstbq7OzjAhVRzYUKHcLvDV0QFjAhegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw08zh2hXPX6cW1UlWyWxsZX

As it turns out "Challenger" was the name of one of the trains the Northern used to pull.

 

[Kurusu]

So WuzzFuzz?

Could it be one of these that pulled your train in Spain?