Steam & Excursion > Chasing 4014, Adventure on the Caliente Sub

I spent Saturday and part of Sunday chasing the 4014 on UP’s Caliente subdivision from Beryl, UT to near Apex, NV.  This post is part personal documentation of my weekend so if it’s too much to read I hope you at least enjoy the photos. 
 I headed out from my home in Henderson, NV at 5 am Saturday on the way to Beryl Utah to intercept the 4014.  First mistake was my brain not registering that the 9:00 departure from Milford was UTAH time thinking I’d get to Beryl at least an hour and a half before the train since he had to travel 50 miles to get to me and maybe I’d catch a freight.  I headed north off of I-15 on AZ route 91 which was an unexpectedly scenic route. At Veyo, UT (pop 483) where I was to make a left onto Utah route 18 I ran into a roadblock. I spent an unexpected 45 minutes stuck there waiting for a marathon to end.  Small town USA blocks the only road north out of town. Cops were friendly and almost spot-on about my wait and there were a few stores for coffee. I made to Beryl with about a half hour to spare. I posted two shots from Beryl yesterday before I went to bed.  [color=#1155cc]https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,4879579[/color]. 

1. Train going away at Beryl showing the vast emptiness of extreme southwestern Utah. As I was leaving Beryl I noticed a group of cars west of me by the signals that were still there 10 minutes after the train passed.  I later found out from a friend that it was a 6 car foamer demolition derby which made the St George news as posted here on TO. [color=#1155cc]https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,4879809[/color]=11pt  That also explained the emergency vehicles coming at me as I was driving towards Modena.
2. .I couldn’t believe I beat the train to its scheduled stop at Modena, UT considering the roads were the two legs of a right triangle and the UP was the hypotenuse.  As I was approaching town I couldn’t help but notice the enormous amounts of cars parked in this tiny town of 21 souls. The best shot was the route 56 bridge just east of town.  Only problem was it was one of those elevation gain bridges with long guardrail approaches on either side which means no where close to park. As I was leaving the car to walk I could hear and see him coming thus settling for this shady side distant shot.  I kind of like the smoke trail over the prairie effect though.
3. I posted a closer shot at Crestline yesterday but here is a distant one with some decent smoke.  About 5 miles out of Modena I decided to put Crestline in the phone GPS not being sure how to get there.  Instead of taking me further west on the main road to the dirt road to the Crestline grade crossing, it immediately took me off the main road and shortly onto the UP maintainers road! for about 6 miles.  I got a wave from the UP stack train in the siding with the crew probably thinking I was just another foamer looking for the Big Boy.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/19 20:35 by stevelv.

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4. After Crestline I knew I would easily beat the train to Caliente considering he had to negotiate the Clover Creek Canyon with its low mainline track speeds.  Arrived at        Caliente with 45 minutes to spare and an expanding crowd of foamers and locals. Here he is arriving in town within about 15 minutes after the 12:45 scheduled time.

5. Shortly after arrival in Caliente with surprisingly few people in my shot when there were actually about 25 very close to me.  This is where it spent the night until Sundays 8 am departure.

6. End of train at dusk while walking to Shamrock Pub and Side Track Restaurant for cold ones and dinner.  The spot where the 4014 was parked had zero lighting on it so I bagged any attempt at night photos.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/19 20:30 by stevelv.

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7-8. On Sunday morning I arrived a bit late to the grade crossing west of the tunnel at Stine where 15 people had already gathered.  Didn’t matter though as I was still able to pick my spot and everybody there had to deal with the bushes next to the track. This location is about 9 miles RR west of Caliente in the Rainbow Canyon.

9.  There was a 50+ vehicle parade down the twisty 2 lane 45 mph road through the canyon that barely sees that many cars in a day or two.  While driving in the slow controlled traffic jam I got a lot of nice views of the 4014 snaking through the canyon many times in great light but no time or place to pull over for photos. . A lot of spots were still in shade so I weathered the thinning caravan and got him at the south end at the Elgin school house crossing with what I think is my only shot without the diesel. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/19 20:31 by stevelv.

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10.  Drove down to Moapa and got there at least an hour before the trains scheduled arrival.  It was mobbed already when I got their and crazier as time went by. The UP police had a drone with a speaker.  It would fly about 20 feet above the heads of people walking or putting coins on the track and broadcast the officers voice from his car saying stuff like this is the UP police please step back from the track etc.  This was an active RR entertaining the 1,000 plus people waiting in the hot sun on either side of the NV route 168 bridge. UP ran one EB empty coal train to meet the now delayed steam train at Farrier 9 miles east.  Another UP empty coal train was west at Ute with stuck hand brakes waiting for Vegas mechanical to show up. Then some powers to be decided it would be easier for Vegas mechanical to meet the train at Moapa so orders were given to move it east from Ute.  You guessed it. Much to the disappointment of me and 1,000 of my closest friends the empty pulled through the Moapa siding blocking the view of the arriving Big Boy.

11-12.  The train had a 45 minute scheduled stop at Moapa so after finding my way out of the massive traffic jam I headed 8 miles west to Ute with only 6 other people present.  The sun was high and the people would get thicker from here to Vegas so I decided to get him one more time here and head home for some rest and football watching. I wasn’t expecting much but ended up with a few nice shots coming up the grade including my distant artsy attempt with the decrepit code lines. It was a very fun and enjoyable weekend even with the multitude of foamers and spectators out for the same thing. 
Thanks for looking.

Steve B.
Henderson, NV 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/19 20:32 by stevelv.

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Nice story and great images ... you dun gud!  I had planned on
making the journey from Provo - Milford-Caliente, but the travel
gods were not smiling ... had vehicle issues ... but thanks
for sharing your work!

Odyssey
Evergreen, CO

No apologies needed on the background story for your photos . . makes it much more interesting!

Craig
mcmrailvideos.com
 

Thanks for some nice pix and great commentary.

JBWX  

stevelv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> At Veyo, UT (pop 483) where I was to make a
> left onto Utah route 18 I ran into a roadblock. I
> spent an unexpected 45 minutes stuck there waiting
> for a marathon to end.  Small town USA blocks the
> only road north out of town. Cops were friendly
> and almost spot-on about my wait and there were a
> few stores for coffee. I made to Beryl with about
> a half hour to spare.

I got screwed by that marathon. After spending the night in St. George, I left with about an hour and a half to spare to catch the train at Heist, UT. When leaving town, I saw that the only highway heading north was blocked, with the maps apps being of no help since they were showing roads open, when they were closed, I tried detouring on the fly. I was able to go about 5 miles out of town, only to be turned back, with some cryptic instructions about how to detour that only a local would know. BTW there were absolutely no signs on how to detour around the damn thing. After trying to go thru the state park, and told it was also closed, and told to go thru "gunlock", my navigator looked at the live UP steam map and said it was at Zane, UT. Being only 10 miles outside of Saint George, I knew I would never make it. 

I had a miniature mental breakdown, and I had missed a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the engine going across the escalate desert, and months of careful planning had just been deficated on. So, I decided to drive thru Zion and Bryce, before going to my next stop in Caliente, and had a wonderful time seeing it in the Meadow Valley wash. 

Words can't describe how pissed I was at the City of Saint George closing the only route out of town, and providing no info about how to get around it...

I'm glad you got to experience it...


 

I enjoyed your UP 4014 slide show . Despite the traffic/ crowd issues you got some good images. Reading your log gave a good insight into the 4014 chase situation that day. Thanks. 

Nice saga DB - wish I could have been there with you.  Even with your troubles, you nabbed some nice keepers.  

Thanks for sharing your adventure with us Steve.  Great coverage.