After a great Saturday and good night's sleep, I went on an quest to chase Big Boy.
No, I haven't changed my persuasion, nor is he a rival competitive eater. "Big Boy" refers to the 4-8-8-4 massive locomotives the Union Pacific ran from the late 40's to the early 60's. Union Pacific 4104 was completely refurbished and has been running excursions. As part of the nation's birthday, it's been attracting crowds heading east, ultimately stopping at Philadelphia for July 4th, and heading through the classic Horseshoe Curve near Altoona the week after, on its return journey home.
Big Boy was escorted by local excursion steam locomotive trains between Pittston and Jim Thorpe, spending Saturday night in Nesquehoning, before coming back up to Pittston with excursions, and traveling to Steamtown National Historical Site for a short display until it's ready to travel to Philly.
An extended delay allowed me to straighten up the apartment before heading where I used to live, Mountain Top. It seemed like an extended stay, so perfect time to drive up Penobscot Mountain and find parking.
It was a beautiful madhouse, cars parked everywhere and traffic jammed six mile or so through town. A quick swing on to the Interstate and I started taking back roads as I tried to follow, catch up, and ultimately find the pair of locomotives as they descended the mountain.
I didn't see my first glimpse of it... I HEARD it. I was trying to find a vantage point in Pittston, and there's bridge construction I'm way too familiar. Except I never added two and two together and realized it's as the base of the ascent/descent for the mountain. As I cross the narrow bridge... I could hear a blast of the Big Boys whistle, over a quarter mile away. It was terrifying. I don't know what wouldn't leave the state, much less get off the track.
The second glimpse was from a vantage point high above a popular crossing. The Big Boy Train, ran parallel , just ahead of the 2-8-0 Reading & Northern #2102. The 2102 is a good sized train I've seen a few times and watching them in the crossing, it was like a Lionel train running alongside an HO model.
I actually caught the excursion train twice, as the dual tracks merged into one at Dupont/Duryea. And upon checking the UP tracker, I realized the Big Boy was stopped and needed to wait for the excursion train to unloaded before in itself to the Reading & Northern terminal. I parked at a local grocery store's lot, walked up the hill, and waited twenty minutes until the gate crossing lit up and bars dropped. I found a spot away from the people filling, but definitely within the 25-ft distance the railroad folk recommended we stay OUT of.
I have no pictures or videos of it. I fumbled with my phone under 10% power before saying screw it and just absorbing it's majesty.
It's biblical in scale. Terrifying in close proximity. The 2102 2-8-0 makes the ground rumble as it passes. Big Boy make the ground freaking shake. The pictures and videos do not do it justice. It is an amazing piece of American engineering, and I'm so happy to get to witness it in full motion.
The video is from Friday and Saturday, but it's pretty epic... the video makes the train look small.
No comments:
Post a Comment