Train Frustration!

[Pilgrim]

Doggone. The train fans here will appreciate the frustration.

The Big Boy locomotive will pass through Greeley, CO about 40 miles from me in about 3 hours.  It's the only Big Boy in operation, the largest steam locomotive every built, and it's finishing a national tour today, heading north of me about 55 miles to Cheyenne, WY for storage.

In the past 12 hours we have gotten 16+ inches of snow, and it's still falling vigorously.  Getting that 40 miles east to the tracks may or may not be practical today, but I REALLY want to see that Big Boy go past.  Traffic warnings are out, flights are canceled, businesses are closed everywhere, and the roads are questionable.  Estes Park which is nearby but up in the mountains got around 2.5 feet of snow in the past 16 hours.  Roads to the east where the Big Boy will travel are described as "blizzard conditions" with slick roads.

I know I CAN get there - I have a 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee with good snow tires.  The question is whether I should navigate the other vehicles and closed roads out there.  Roads are pretty bad, and the idiot factor of other drivers can't be ignored.

We'll probably get another 3-6 inches of snow before mid-afternoon, as it's not slowing down a bit.

Yesterday my neighbor and I drove east to the tracks paralleling Highway 85 in Colorado, thinking the train would pass in the late afternoon.  Unfortunately it stopped in Denver.  We found the pages at http://up.com with its schedule after we made it to the tracks.  Didn't realize it was coming north today, not yesterday.

I lived in Denver in 1973 when UP donated one of the five remaining Big Boys to the Forney transportation museum there. https://www.forneymuseum.org/

The locomotive and tender together weigh more than ONE MILLION pounds!  I had never seen "one million" ANYTHING before that locomotive! It's more than 2 stories tall. A true behemoth, as Mark and many others here can attest.

I've been to the Forney museum in its new location and climbed on the Big Boy there, and it's like climbing a house. It's the most impressive mechanical device I've ever seen...and I've visited NASA sites, too.

Here's a feature on the Big Boy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=qrqzaSDiM-A&feature=emb_logo

Doggone it!! There's only ONE that's still in operation, and no telling when it will be out of storage again. I'm inclined to give it a shot regardless of the weather.  I've driven through stuff as bad as this in vehicles that weren't nearly as capable as the Jeep.

[gearHed289]

Be safe and good luck! Big Boy rolled through my town back in July. Pics in the article were taken 1/2 mile from my house.

https://www.journal-topics.com/articles/big-boy-locomotive-makes-unscheduled-stop-in-des-plaines/

[Rob]

Thought about you when I heard the snow report.
Be safe

[uwe]

Way to go! That is what I call devotion and commitment!

[TBird1958]

One of my train buddies has been chasing it, which to the uninitiated can be a harrowing adventure. Foaming train idiots behind the wheel trying to film while driving - Foamers!
OTOH, if you haven't seen such a thing it's well worth the effort under most circumstances, like all things, trains grow to the size of their environment and while England is the mother of all Railways it was us Amis that made it into the largest - BTW while the "Big Boy" is the largest, it's not the most powerful with locomotives from the DM&IR, Rio Grande and Northern Pacific being capable of greater tractive effort. 

     

[Highlander]

The locomotive and tender together weigh more than ONE MILLION pounds!  I had never seen "one million" ANYTHING before that locomotive! It's more than 2 stories tall...

Just to put it into perspective, that's more than the max take-off weight of a 747...

[uwe]

Marc, what's your moniker among the similar afflicted? Firebirdman1958? "Working the engine from behind!"



Personally, I continue to believe that all this railroad enthusiasm masks only thinly very serious sexual obsessions in dire need of treatment.



I always liked the "Krokodil".

[TBird1958]

Marc, what's your moniker among the similar afflicted? Firebirdman1958? "Working the engine from behind!"



Personally, I continue to believe that all this railroad enthusiasm masks only thinly very serious sexual obsessions in dire need of treatment.



I always liked the "Krokodil".

I'm really only on one model train forum and I use TBird1958 there as well - which could be dicey as if one were to google that plenty of questionable images that would certainly give the average train dork a fright! No doubt about the underlying sexual implications - long objects disappearing into tunnels indeed!
My two worlds may some day collide......... It'll be a grand mess on the model train planet! 

[Pilgrim]

Here we go...train came through about 1:30 this afternoon. Note the plume of steam, the temp was about 20 degrees....

[uwe]

Congrats!

[TBird1958]

 Nice Al!

This how it starts, Christmas isn't too far away so a nice set of trains for you under the tree!

[Rob]

Nice Al!

This how it starts, Christmas isn't too far away so a nice set of trains for you under the tree!

The ice and snow added some drama to your video!

[Pilgrim]

The ice and snow added some drama to your video!

16 inches of snow in Fort Collins, more than that drifting over the plains east of here.  When the Big Boy went past it was somewhere between 15 and 22 degrees. Driving 20 miles to the site wasn't too bad, but some of the traffic really was crawling. We managed to get past it and get to oiur planned spot.

And after the train passed, we retired to the Bison Breath saloon in Ault and had burgers and beer.  https://www.facebook.com/Bison-Breath-104478562943977/