Steam & Excursion > UP Challenger #3985

Earlier in November there was some discussion of #3985 and some photos of her under repair so it seems like a nice time to post this, a photo of her in coal burning days in the early 80's and Boyd Mattson was along doing a video segment on her that ran on NBC which I was even in leaning out of a car during the run. This was at Milepost 551, Perkins siding. We had stopped for a photo run-by and my buddy and I ran down the hill, to the howls of the other photographers who thought we'd be in their photos, but we hid in some pines and not visible to them as they were above and behind us and we had green coats!

#3985 had backed up through a cut(you can see the tip off to the right behind the steam) and came roaring by. This was shot on 35mm, Ektachrome 64 with normal processing, Nikon F2 motor, normal 50mm lens. I had a print in my studio that was 72" x 108" of this on the wall and if you stood about 6-8' away it looked about life-size as I had remembered seeing it. All I needed was some coal smoke and whistle in the studio! Needless to say, clients that liked trains were impressed!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/12 19:07 by dczarOP.

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If she's been running all day, why are the cylinder cocks open?

Boy! Does that image bring mack memories. Thanks for posting.

So it was YOU guys in the bushes. I remember it well, I was there. As I recall there WAS some serious howling and the stones were about to start flying. Anyway, all's well that ends well. Thanks for great memories. BTW, at that time I was hauling around a Pentax deck and camera VHS outfit along with all my still stuff. I had wangled early boarding of our flight from Burbank Airport acct. my wife was pregnant - four months, just barely showing. I can't imagine hauling all that stuff through today's TSA gauntlet. Boy, those were the days. OH, yeah, our son just turned 27 - boy how time flies when you're having fun.

RE: the cylinder cocks. The opened them at every stop. Condensation forms pretty fast and, anyway, there's no percentage in risking a blown cylinder head acct. "hydraulic-ing" Anyway, it looks bitcin'

Have fun be safe,
Bruce "Doc" Jones
Sierra Madre CA

patd3985 Wrote:
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> If she's been running all day, why are the
> cylinder cocks open?


Hey Pat,
Well we would always start out with the cylinder cocks open but back then this was the Mechanical Department operating the locomotive and I guess they were worried about water in the cylinders. I know a couple of times when I rode with them they did have some foaming issues ( not the ones along the tracks).

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

I rode that trip to help the NBC crew. They found a nun on the train who was a railfan and did an extensive interview with her that was featured in the show. JEB

Did you get any good video?