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Wrapping up the Journey

A pair of steam locomotives. Foreground 4014 in gray and sliver. Background 844 in gray and sliver. There's a flatcar with equipment in front of 844.
4014 along with FEF 844 in the UP Steam Shop, Cheyenne, WY

When I set out on my trip on June 4th, I resolved to travel all the way to the East Coast, and then back, all the way to the West. By the time I arrived in Cheyenne on June 20th, I had a cooler full of trout, and concern I needed to get back to the grind. Instead of going west, I saw 4014, and drove home. In all, I drove about 6000 miles (10,000 kilometers for the metric inclined), visiting 14 states, 5 states for the first time. I visited twelve railroad museums, one model railroad museum, and four other railroad related sites.

  • Museum of the American Railroad, Frisco, TX. Home of 4018.
  • National Museum of Transportation, St. Louis, MO. Home of 4006.
  • Horseshoe Curve, Altoona, PA.
  • SEPTA Transit Museum, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Steamtown National Historic Site, Scranton, PA. Home of 4012.
  • National New York Central Museum, Elkhart, IN.
  • Illinois Railway Museum, Union, IL.
  • National Railroad Museum, Green Bay, WI. Home of 4017.
  • Sioux City Railroad Museum, Sioux City, IA.
  • Kennefick Park, Omaha, NE. Home of 4023.
  • Forney Transportation Museum, Denver, CO. Home of 4005
  • Colorado Model Railroad Museum, Greeley, CO.
  • Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden, CO.
  • Georgetown Loop Railroad, Georgetown, CO.
  • Holiday Park, Cheyenne, WY. Home of 4004.
  • Cheyenne Depot Museum, Cheyenne, WY.
  • UP Steam Shops, Cheyenne, WY. Home of 4014.

I neglected writing the last post for weeks, as it's easy to slip into regular life, and I suppose wrapping it allows the magic to slip away. Regular life is still hard. I'm at a crossroads between trying new tactics to find a job, or continue building my own thing. My co-founders and I are working on a feedback platform for authors, while maintaining respect for their copyright. No LLMs here. As of this writing, we have a waiting list. If you want to learn about new authors before they get big, or if you're looking for better feedback for your works, check us out.

Cheyenne, WY

Cheyenne is an interesting place. Much smaller than I expected, and with the growth of the Denver metro area, felt almost like a suburb. (Apologies if you live there). Union Pacific is everywhere. Their giant rail-yard is the biggest part of the city, and sits just south of downtown, with the prominent tower in the middle of it all.

A bridge over railroad tracks. In the center a giant control tower rises above the bridge with a red, white, and blue shield that says "Union Pacific"
UP Signal Tower in the middle of Cheyenne

First on the list was a visit to Big Boy #4004. She's in Holiday Park, on the east side of downtown. I was saddened by the chain link fence, making it difficult to take decent pictures. The morning sun angle didn't help either.

A steam locomotive in the sun. The boiler is silver and the nunber board says 4004
Big Boy #4004 in Holiday Park, Cheyenne, WY
Cab of a steam locomotive. The black boiler jacket and tender is visible. The letter reads 4004 under the glass window. The tender says Union Pacific

After a few shots, and enjoying some shade. I made my way into downtown for a nice burger, and a fight with a silly parking app. (Seriously, it was more of a pain to park in Cheyenne than anywhere else on my trip). Downtown is pretty walkable and other than the wind being fierce, felt like a nice place to hang out.

After lunch, I made my way into the Depot Museum. As you might guess, it's built in the old Union Pacific station. The first floor has a giant map of the Union Pacific Railroad, inlaid into the floor.

A tile floor with an inlaid map showing the route of the Union Pacific Railroad

The museum itself contains historical exhibits around the building of the transcontinental railroad, and Cheyenne's place in it. If I hadn't had fish in my car, I might have followed the line further west to see Sherman Hill or Promontory Point. Maybe next time.

The upstairs of the museum contained a large narrow gauge model railroad (HOn3) representing the Georgetown Loop I rode on a few days prior. (See the previous post!). The art in this piece is every bit as good as the Colorado Model Railroad Museum.

A model railroad setup with figures playing baseball in the foreground and a train in the background, in front of a mountain
A view of the "Georgetown Baseball Team"
A railroad scene where two cattle cars are waiting to be loaded in front of a town and a painted mountain backdrop

Union Pacific Heritage Shops

When I started this journey, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to see 4014. While sitting in Scranton, I refreshed the Cheyenne website to discover they released a small number of tickets for Friday the 20th.

Yellow banner with the Red, white, and blue, UP logo

If you're a rail fan, I recommend checking every so often, and then go if they pop up randomly. Seeing 7 static display Big Boy's was awesome, but seeing 4014 up close, with every part cleaned, and in working order was amazing.

front side view of Big Boy 4014 steam locomotive. The silver boiler is visible with the builder plate above pipes, rods, and the black and silver pistons

Ed Dickens, the senior manager for UP Heritage operations, gave the tour. He was an amazing storyteller, and so passionate about his locomotives.

FEF 838 is a donor locomotive. As Ed explained, 844 and 4014 use many of the same parts (he described 4014 as two 844s stuck together). They also build many parts from scratch. The companies are either out of business or they don't have the tools any longer.

The UP Heritage shop has several other pieces, including these beautiful E9 streamlined diesel-electric locomotives. The guide explained these are kept in working order but haven't run since 2012.

Finally, as I've posted a few pictures of snow-blowers. Here's Union Pacific's that works, and is run a few times each winter. They joked BNSF begs for it from time to time.

Thanks everyone for coming along on this journey.

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Jamie Larson
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