Western Railroad Discussion > Big Time with a Big Boy (pt 2)

Part #1 left Tom, Ken & me trailing the 4014 into Columbus, NE. But not by much. During its scheduled 45 minute service stop I had some aspiration of shooting crowd scenes around that big sonuvagun. You know, recording looks of pure joy on the faces of steam fans from 5 to 85 years of age. But that plan was scrapped when it became obvious Tom would have to park in the north 40 and we would have to walk 4 blocks to the site.

After a long look at a location just east of town we moved a bit further east to Richland, NE. We found a good spot, dug in and watched other fans filter into the area. The captions:

19. 20. & 21. The 4014 rolls by the Schuyler Cooperative Association complex in Richland, NE. When we arrived we talked to a man working there and made sure his crew knew a steam engine was on the way. He was pleased and wasn’t at all concerned that we were invading his grounds. In my ‘away’ shot we see our TRAINS friends from Central City. Also present was Lincoln resident & TO member ‘wpjones’. That’s him trying not to put dents in the top of his pick-up…

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22. 23. & 24. By virtue of US hwy 30 converting to 4 lanes we were able to get around the 4014 for another sequence at North Bend, NE. Due to a noon-time high sun we had photo lines on both sides of the main line. I opted for and got 2 items for scenery fodder. There’s a goodly chunk of a Nebraska cornfield in image #22, and that’s the Frontier Cooperative Company elevator in #23 & #24.

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25. & 26. The 3rd & final service stop was in Fremont, but we didn’t even attempt to navigate our way downtown. Plowing right on through we set up at Nebraska Turf Products at a former UP timetable location called Mercer, just a couple of miles down US hwy 275 from Fremont, NE. Back in the old days (pre-CTC?) UP had a center siding here.

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Before we could vacate Mercer a westbound manifest came rolling by. It would be the last images we would shoot for 2½ hours. In between there was much discussion about calling it a day, or pressing on. But don’t let my typed word here fool you! That “discussion” was more like a moaning & groaning debate between 3 old geezer bodies & 3 railfan minds that realized this was a real living, breathing Big Boy we were chasing. The next paragraph should indicate the result of that debate…

We entered into the city that Uncle Pete built (sorta) and traversed a lot of territory new to yours truly. The Omaha I knew from the late 70s ~ early 80s sure has changed! While on a much needed pit stop the 4014 could be heard and tantalizingly not seen moving through downtown toward the Amtrak passenger area. We drove right on by the crowded Amtrak terminal. And we found that the Pacific St crossing was completely overstaffed (overstuffed?) with fans. Now with no real plan we drove down toward the river to see where & how the train would back up toward its display track over by TD Ameritrade Park. Coming back up to town we roamed around Little Italy and accidently found the stub end of Williams St. There was a young man with 2 of his very young sons camped out there, waiting for the 4014. He welcomed our intrusion, and even helped out when we started doing a bit of creative gardening (read: knocking down tall weeds). Meanwhile the crew was switching together the full train that was set to run east in a few days. After well over an hour we finally got to burn some more pixels on the 4014:

27. & 28. How about having a Big Boy roaming your neighborhood? Nice! The 4014 rolled by us at a rip-snortin’ 5 MPH (maybe less).

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29. & 30. In our ahead-of-time preparation I had talked to that young father who in turn ‘spotted’ his 2 Little Boys where I could shoot them & the Big Boy at the same time. Here is 12 year old Luke with 5 year old Titus hanging on to big bro, almost for dear life! To say they were excited would be a massive understatement. In image #30 I was really, really looking forward to shooting the exchange between engineer Dickens & these 2 future railfans. But something went wrong with the plan. Luke & Titus kept waving anyhow…

31. I couldn’t pass up shooting perfect light on UP 1943. And I didn’t realize Luke was still in frame, so I had to enhance him a bit. I think Titus got up and moved after the 4014 passed…
(Photos 27-31 taken off Williams St in the ‘Little Italy’ area of Omaha)

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32. 33. & 34. For our final sequences we moved up to the riverfront area underneath I-480 and waited forever for the train to come rolling our way. My chase partners Ken (pictured here) & Tom (not pictured here) took to the high road while I stayed at track level. I also did something I rarely do: After the 1943 passed me I shot perfectly lit, sequential rosters of each car in the train as it went by.

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35. & 36. It was very strange seeing the 4014 roll by backwards so slowly. It reminded me exactly of that idiot Hollywood scene in the movie Tombstone, where Kurt Russell’s Wyatt Earp is yelling “…and HELL’S COMING WITH ME!!!” And there in back is Sam Elliott’s Virgil Earp riding the train away from the station. At ALL of ½ MPH… BACKWARDS… Man, sometimes ya just gotta love Hollywood BS! ;^)

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One more for the road:

37. For a make-shift grand finale shot I took this image into Photoshop with the idea of just having some fun…
(Photos 32-37 taken in Omaha, NE, all photos taken July 12, 2019)

Until we meet again…
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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Nice set! I see Jim Wrinn in one of them. I was watching the Trains live FB stream and recognize the location. 

Lance - that residential shot is the bomb!

BB

Excellent and enjoyable chase along with the narrative!

Larry

Outstanding photos, Lance.  Thanks for sharing the adventure with us!

Rich

Pictures 27 and 28 are diffidently a Railfan's house..or at least it should be  

You and the sun both high lighted the valve gear really well on some of these pics !

Posted from Android

Nice photos and coverage Lance.  Ed-iting looks pretty good---I have some to do also.  After so many shots I just started going to the fireman's side.
Brian Stevens

Great shots with the kids enjoying this view of the Big Boy 4014, it gives hope to preserving the American Dream of real history.

Don Allender

Thanks Lance for sharing your travels. It must have been awesome to witness in person. Something I have never done but I am so happy to see the pictures by those that could get out there.

John Breitigan
Washington, PA.

Hey gang, thanks for all the nice words! To see the 4014 for the first time was, as they say, "...a MOMENT!!!"
(Except this particular moment lasted about 15 hours... ;^)

Lance/199

Thanks for sharing your chase with us...

Really enjoyed your 4014 shots !
I hope to see it when it leaves West Chicago in a couple weeks.
Gary