Nostalgia & History > UP Streamliner to "Circle The Wagons"

It seems like the first half of the '90s were a boomtime for public excursions on the high iron. I had the pleasure of riding from Fremont to Portola behind UP's E's in '94, heading for Portola's Circle the Wagons celebration. Here are a few pics from the trip. The first is a runby on the east side of Altamont Pass.

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Back in the dome, as Steve Lee and crew prepare to continue the journey to Stockton and points beyond.

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A CCT switch crew gives us a rollby.

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Another photo runby, near Elsey I believe, and another shot from the dome.

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nice yellow

Sometimes yellow works...

dan Wrote:
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> nice yellow

brianbergtold Wrote:
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> A CCT switch crew gives us a rollby.

Hey, real men aren't afraid to operate pink locomotives. That first shot is great with the classic train juxtaposed with the modern windmills in the backgroud.

Good memories there Brian. We missed each other perhaps by one roundtrip on that run. I took my family on the morning run out of Portola to Keddie and back. We didn't have a photo run this trip because of the many trains in the canyon that day.

Sam Reeves
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http://www.samreevesphoto.com

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[img::]https://cdn.trainorders.com/attachments/thumbs/123000/CN35940701_3.jpg[/img]

I rode the morning Portola/Keddie trip in the dome ( but mostly the vestibule) as well, and I did remember seeing a lots of freight meets for such a short run. Got my "runby" photos by chasing the other runs.

Thanks for the photos and memories.

Ya Sam, I think I was on the late afternoon Keddie run. We even got to roll out to Reno Jct. for a trip around the wye.

Brian,

Do you recall the schedule for this trip? I know I chased parts of, but I was held captive in Chicago an extra day due to weather and United Airlines.

I think it was July 2nd or 3rd. We boarded at Fremont and made a straight shot for Portola.

If my Illustrious friend "Drew1946" and "brian" don't mind.. I will chime in here--Thank You..

The trip was run on July 4th WEEKEND in 1994. As a member of Central Coast Chapter--NRHS, I was "Car Hosting" for all FOUR days, as part of the overall crew of "Pacific Limited Group" members who were attending to everything on this trip except for explicit train ops which was handled by our onboard UP Crew and Liasions...
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday... I think that MONDAY was the actual July 4th...

We left the UPRR Yard at FREMONT, CA about 0830 hours on Friday, July 1st.. Basically ex-WP routing over the Altamont and on to Sacramento, Oroville, and Portola..
Arrived in Portola around 1000 PM that evening. "Hal Lewis" was the In-Charge person for the overall trip, other than the UP employees. He did a fantastic job too.
Late Friday night, The Pac Limited Group members adjourned to the Feather River Inn, I believe it was. KRK didn't go with them.. More on WHY on a separate thread. You guys will absolutely love it, I can assure you.
Anyway, Saturday and Sunday, July 2nd and 3rd, was spent giving railfans and members of the Public rides up and down the Feather River Canyon. It was an 80-mile Roundtrip all day long on both days!!

Portola to the Keddie Wye-- Keddie Wye back to Portola..

The Keddie Wye was used to TURN the train on the WEST end of the trip.. The WYE at "Reno Junction" EAST of Portola was used to turn the train on the EAST end of the trip.

It was decided on the spur of the moment to allow the Public to take an additional ride from Portola to Reno Junction and Return, for a payment of $ 20.00 !!

So then, you could have billed these trips as "WYE-to-WYE" all day, on both Saturday and Sunday...

Monday, July 4th, we packed up our personal belongings and loaded them into the baggage car, and with a few sounds of the horn by Steve Lee of UPRR, the train left Portola and arrived that evening back in FREMONT, CA., about 7:00 PM...

It was a great trip-- a great holiday weekend and the weather was absolutely perfect..

To my good friend "Drew1946" and others-- I hope this agenda is kind of what you were looking for.

Cheers.

"Key Route Ken"...

One interesting aspect of riding the dome car to Reno Junction and return was the housekeeping we Car Hosts performed. Have you ever tried to thoroughly VACUUM the carpeting in a DOME CAR while zipping along at 50mph to Reno Junction and Return ?

Sure gets your "Sea-Legs" in a hurry.. (grin)

Cheers.

KRK

Yeah, just tryinmg to put the pieces together. UAL stranded me Thursday night in Chicago, partly due to electrical storms delaying my departure from Baltimore. By the time I finally got to San Jose it was Noon on Friday so I turned and headed out of town as soon as I could and spent the night in Truckee then up thru Sierraville and Satley the next morning to Portola. I just could not recall chasing it up the FRC now I remember why.

Too bad you missed the trip, Drew... We would have enjoyed your company onboard..

KRK

Unfortunatly, not much of a train rider here. One, I am too claustrophobic and I am way too much in love with chasing trains. Being outside and behind the wheel is how I made my living and I still enjoy it.

The Agent was along for this one, my first non-Zephyr ride up the canyon, and I could not get over how out of place UP Yellow looks when in former Zephyr territory. Still, a wonderful trip, caught #5 home the next day, nice, but not as.....AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

KeyRouteKen Wrote:
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> Have you ever tried to
> thoroughly VACUUM the carpeting in a DOME CAR
> while zipping along at 50mph

Foxtails in the carpet are pretty much vacuum-proof, too.

Sir AgentAtascadero--
Too bad you didn't stay with us for the roundtrip--
You missed out on all the excitement when we got back to Fremont. hehehe....

Search for KRK's "Circle the Wagons" story ...
You'll absolutely love it !!

KRK