Western Railroad Discussion > Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

Thanks to all who replied to my inquiry about their "once-in-a-lifetime opportunities".

I too have a favorite.

A friend of mine and I were railfanning near Mission Tower about 20 years ago when an eastbound cabhop of about 9 locomotives and caboose with Santa Fe #2905 on the lead picked up their orders at the tower and proceeded up to Broadway to wait for #3. We drove up and parked and walked over and started up a conversation with the engineer who asked us if there was anywhere we would like a lift to. The answer was San Bernardino.

We climbed up into the cab and, with #3 behind us, proceeded east out the Second District. Somewhere around Pomona, I was offered the opportunity to "run" this train for about ten minutes! What a thrill! We arrived in San Bernardino and were able to catch #35 back to Los Angeles to complete our roundtrip.

Quite a day!

Huskerherb

As I missed your first post, I'll chime in here with mine.

For me, it was my visit to the roundhouse in Cheyenne and being given a tour of all the UP heritage fleet/steam program engines (except for the E units, they were out on a special) by Bob Krieger.

I figured we'd get a quick run through and be on our way but Bob took the time to show us *everything*, including the 844, visits to the cab of 6936 and 3985 (whose firebox was still warm from the previous days' shakedown steam-up), as well as all the other equipment (rotary plow, tool car, and the roundhouse itself). It seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, but Bob spent a good 60-90 minutes with us that were much appreciated.

Still looking for that cab ride, but it's gonna be tough to ever beat sitting in the cab of a still warm 3985. btw, for about the 1,000th time, thanks Bob, Steve, Lynn, and everybody else in the UP Steam program!

billywa