If the 4014 comes anywhere near where you are or can get to - go! My wife and I chased the 4014 in October 2019 at the start of the "southwestern tour" that lasted until December (IIRC). We caught it in southwestern UT and eastern NV - a trip I described in this post: https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...rn-utah-october-2019 It was great fun and frankly, pretty amazing to see that the UP folks were able (even with help, as if that matters) to resurrect a cold, static engine that had been on display in a park in Pomona, CA for 50+ years into the fire-breathing monster in front of us. Kudos to UP for having/maintaining a steam program that other class 1 RR's ignore (I guess NS is planning on running the 611 again??).
Sure it cost money to do this - but so what. Its not my money (nor yours) and as someone else noted above, its largely chump change for the folks at UP. While I have no idea what UP's annual advertising budget is, it must be many times larger than whatever this cost. There must be some advertising/goodwill/community building return on this investment (unless the current UP president and/or board chair are huge steam enthusiasts willing to spend the company's money regardless... or maybe the green eyeshade folks just haven't gotten the bills yet). Again, it doesn't matter - its OPM being spent on something that was a huge nostalgia trip for me (and many others), as I grew up in western NE at the tail end of the UP steam era and saw Big Boys and Challengers roaming the western NE and WY rails.
Was the accompanying diesel involved in moving/stopping the train? I don't know - and as far as I can tell from the lack of any data presented here - neither does anyone else. Someone - in one of the previous discussions on the topic - pointed out that it would make sense for the diesel to be involved somewhat, as a way of extending the range of the steam engine (water and fuel facilities aren't as plentiful along RR's these days and steam engines aren't known for their efficiency in the use of either) and probably saving on brake wear. In the end, that doesn't matter to me either...
Some of the very best photos of the 4014 2019 southwestern tour were taken by Erik Lindgren and posted on OGR here: https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...#115037109860665313, as well as other photos he posted on RailPictures.net
- Rich
