I can't blame them for having a diesel with the train,there is another factor. The project went down to the wire to make it to the commemoration of the 1869 golden spike in Utah (well, as close as they could get, given Promentory point is now cut off from the rest of the rail system as far as I know), they only did the final fire up testing just before. As anyone who has restored something as relatively simple as a car knows, that shakedown cruise often is full of surprises, on something as big and intricate as a steam engine, even more so. Cylinder leaks, oil leaks, bearings that fail, any number of things can go wrong. The trip to Utah and the rest of the tour were kind of like a shakedown cruise, they didn't have time that year to take it back to the roundhouse and give it a good going over.....so having a diesel in case of breakdown is not all that hard to understand. Would love to see UP allow them to run without a diesel in the consist quite honestly just to silence the complaints once and for all.
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