Steam & Excursion > UP Steam Schedules, 2003-2013

I have updated my web page of Union Pacific special excursions, 2003-2013, to reflect the historical events of the last 10 years of UP steam service.

http://utahrails.net/up/up-steam-schedules.php

In all the brouhaha and corporate politics of the past year or so, as a historian, I simply want record the events that are often so visible, no one else records them.

I have also updated the UP Heritage Steam web page, mostly to remove the dead links at UPRR.com.

http://utahrails.net/up/heritage-fleet-steam.php

Don Strack
P.S. Brouhaha: "state of social agitation when a minor incident gets out of control, sometimes referred to as an uproar or hubbub; marked by controversy and fuss that can seem, afterwards, to have been pointless or irrational." -- Wikipedia.

Hey Don,
Jim Reisdorf published a book a couple of years back covering the special movements of UP steam from 1960 to around 2010. It was done in cooperation with information supplied by the steam crew and other authors.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Thanks, Don. LOVE your website. Invaluable information. Thank you for all you do.

Bob3985 Wrote:
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> Hey Don,
> Jim Reisdorf published a book a couple of years
> back covering the special movements of UP steam
> from 1960 to around 2010. It was done in
> cooperation with information supplied by the steam
> crew and other authors.

The coverage of Jim's book ended with 2003. He sent me all his clippings and notes for subsequent years, and it was all incorporated into the web page, along with lots of additional info, which he approved. The book ""Fifty Years of Union Pacific Steam Excursions, 1953-2003" is still available, and there is a link on the web page.

It all started when I was trying to pin down the dates for when the two GTE tenders were moved from Ogden to Cheyenne in 2009. All I could find was that the steam crew moved them on one of their trips back to Cheyenne, so I needed to find out when UP 844 or 3985 were last moved between Ogden and Cheyenne. It was surprisingly hard to figure out the dates, other than "a couple years ago."

Don Strack



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/15 07:25 by donstrack.

If you are referring to the 2 tenders that were in the Ogden Museum
and were from 3800-series 4-6-6-4s, those were moved to Cheyenne in
a hospital train with other equipment destined to the steam shop in
August, 2005.

If you are referring to the ex800 series tenders that have been in
use for years, those were moved from Los Angeles in regular freight
trains sometime in the late 1980s, I think.



If you define the current uproar as being about minor events, I wonder
what major events would be?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/15 08:20 by Realist.

donstrack Wrote:
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> It all started when I was trying to pin down the
> dates for when the two GTE tenders were moved from
> Ogden to Cheyenne in 2009.
>
> Don Strack


Don,

I'm a bit confused, as I thought two auxiliary water tanks have been used behind UP steam operations, going well back into the 1990s. I distinctly remember 3985 having both yellow aux tanks on the 50th Anniversary of the Clinchfield Santa Train, back in 1995. Unless you are trying to locate two different turbine tenders than what the steam team has been using since the early 1990s.

Thanks for compiling all that info and sharing it with us.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,1062764,1062990#msg-1062990

2 other tenders above thread

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Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you are referring to the 2 tenders that were in
> the Ogden Museum
> and were from 3800-series 4-6-6-4s, those were
> moved to Cheyenne in
> a hospital train with other equipment destined to
> the steam shop in
> August, 2005.

HotWater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'm a bit confused, as I thought two auxiliary
> water tanks have been used behind UP steam
> operations, going well back into the 1990s. I
> distinctly remember 3985 having both yellow aux
> tanks on the 50th Anniversary of the Clinchfield
> Santa Train, back in 1995. Unless you are trying
> to locate two different turbine tenders than what
> the steam team has been using since the early
> 1990s.

I found the dates, but only after considerable research and email correspondence. The two GTE tenders were 903028 and 903029, both used as fuel tenders at Los Angeles from 1971 to 1988; moved to Ogden in 1988 and stored pending a convenient time to move them to Cheyenne, which turned out being over 20 years later, in June 2009. Not August 2005, because an inventory of the Ogden equipment collection shows them there in March 2009. Also, the COTS dates show Ogden in May 2009. I think they are still at Cheyenne today.

Here is the rest of the story for all of the GTE tenders.

http://utahrails.net/up/gte-tenders.php

Don Strack

Use the TO search function on a special train from Portola to Cheyenne in August, 2005 and you'll discover the correct dates and what else was in that train.

Hint: NOT 2009.

Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Use the TO search function on a special train from
> Portola to Cheyenne in August, 2005 and you'll
> discover the correct dates and what else was in
> that train.
>
> Hint: NOT 2009.

Well! So much for my supposedly reliable source in Cheyenne who in June 2012 stated without hesitation that he had looked at the COTS data on the tenders.

Here is the TO message that shows the consist of the hospital train when it left Ogden on August 18, 2005, and arrived in Cheyenne on August 20th, "FRRS Special Train to Cheyenne":

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,981126,981394#msg-981394

That same consist data gives the date that rotary 900080 came through Salt Lake City, August 17, 2005. Which brings to mind, does anyone know when 900080 was moved to Portola?

I will make the appropriate changes to the respective web pages. Good thing that my errors were not published in a book or magazine article on paper; ain't no taking that back.

Don Strack

Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you are referring to the 2 tenders that were in
> the Ogden Museum
> and were from 3800-series 4-6-6-4s, those were
> moved to Cheyenne in
> a hospital train with other equipment destined to
> the steam shop in
> August, 2005.
>
I drove from Nebraska to Portola in 2008 to get the Fairmont I bought from Norm Holmes. I stopped in Ogden on that trip and the two "baby" tenders were still in Ogden then. I have photos somewhere.
Steve

donstrack Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> P.S. Brouhaha: "state of social agitation when a
> minor incident gets out of control, sometimes
> referred to as an uproar or hubbub; marked by
> controversy and fuss that can seem, afterwards, to
> have been pointless or irrational." -- Wikipedia.

I wouldn't call what has transpired at the UP steam shop this past year as a "brouhaha"; more of near-criminal destruction of historical equipment accompanied by personnel abuse not to be tolerated in today's workplace environment.

On the other hand, I would call news attention to deflation of New England Patriot's footballs a brouhaha.

Could be wrong but believe that sometime in the 1990's it was taken out there to plow in the FRC after a big storm, and also plowed a bit of the line to Bieber. Think there is video of that out there somewhere.

Then it went to Stockton and sat until the next big storm, then was used to plow all the way to Bieber. After that it went Rose ville, where it sat unused for years until hauled back to Cheyenne.