World’s largest steam locomotive trekking across Iowa,

[Clone83]

Links again to the schedule and real time tracking via Twitter:

Here is the schedule. I think there is a twitter account where they update any changes to the schedule

https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm

Found it
https://twitter.com/up_steam

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

Checked out the site I wanted to use and the road is closed due to flooding. I could probably find a place to park and just walk over because the tracks are real nearby on the other side which is closed as well.
I found another site that I will check out tonight after work. Hopefully that road is open. If not I might have to start scouting for locations for when it travels west from Omaha.

 

[Clone83]

Fourteen photos mostly of its stop yesterday in Wheatland, Iowa, and two from Mount Vernon, from the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

https://www.thegazette.com/photos-steam-engine-big-boy-no-4014-crosses-iowa-20190730






Hundreds of people crowd around as Union Pacific's Big Boy No. 4014 stops in Wheatland on its trip westward across Iowa on Tuesday, July 30, 2019. It is the largest steam locomotive ever built and spent Tuesday night in Cedar Rapids before traveling on to Des Moines as part of a commemoration of the Transcontinental Railroad's 150th anniversary.(Liz Martin/The Gazette)

 

[EIClone]

I went and saw the BigBoy in Cedar Rapids yesterday. I watched it cross the bridge at the Cedar River and then went later (9pm) to the yard it parked in. Going to the yard late definately paid off. No crowd or traffic to contend with.

I suggest where ever you go, get there early. The train is attracting large crowds now.

 

[wxman1]

View attachment 65443 I went and saw the BigBoy in Cedar Rapids yesterday. I watched it cross the bridge at the Cedar River and then went later (9pm) to the yard it parked in. Going to the yard late definately paid off. No crowd or traffic to contend with.

I suggest where ever you go, get there early. The train is attracting large crowds now.

I heard there was a big crowd over by Tait Cummins. Glad to see they kept it in a accessible location overnight.

 

[kilroy]

So where are people parking at the stops at crossings?

 

[wxman1]

Great shot of it crossing Indian Creek and the Sac and Fox trail by the nature center in CR.

https://i.imgur.com/80DbhKm.jpg

 

[Cy4Lifer]

So where are people parking at the stops at crossings?

Just about anywhere! From Clinton to Wheatland, just about every crossing and bridge was just packed with people! Quite a spectacle!

 

[k123]

It seems the only information you can find fails to give out any real specifics. Dates and times and that's about it.

More specifically where do you actually go to get in. I know where the switch yard is but like where should people park?

That surprised me too... In Omaha it's going to be in front of the CWS baseball stadium and in Chicago they had huge crowds so I assumed it would be downtown DSM and this was a misprint but appears not.

This is just south of the Fairgrounds so somewhat reasonable, but no info on specifics in our worthless DM Register (yes I subscribe so I can complain! : ) or local news KCCI/Channel 5 stories either, just "it's coming" and some copy/paste from UP website. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

That surprised me too... In Omaha it's going to be in front of the CWS baseball stadium and in Chicago they had huge crowds so I assumed it would be downtown DSM and this was a misprint but appears not.

I see that now. Last I had looked it had said The Durham Museum. The section of track by the stadium seems to make more sense.

 

[stateofmind]

I just missed it just South of Elkhart and kept following it South and just missing it. Finally caught it just West of the ARL, 2nd vehicle from the track. Caught a little video as it rolled by. Got held up on the a little county road where it passed underneath, people had the bridge blocked off.

 

[motorcy90]

View attachment 65443 I went and saw the BigBoy in Cedar Rapids yesterday. I watched it cross the bridge at the Cedar River and then went later (9pm) to the yard it parked in. Going to the yard late definately paid off. No crowd or traffic to contend with.

I suggest where ever you go, get there early. The train is attracting large crowds now.

I didn't know they had opened up the yard in CR to the public till today. really bummed I wasn't able to get up and close to it. and made the mistake of being over the track and not next to it.

told my friend back home that she should take her 4yr old son and 2yr old nephew to the stop in Elkhart, the boys absolutely loved it she said.

 

[aauummm]

Just got back from seeing it down at E. 32nd and E. Court, just south of the fair grounds. Huge crowd, people parked all over the place.

 

[Acylum]

Really good article that sums up the craze Big Boy has created:

https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/07/big-boy-locomotive-video.amp

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

Found my place to try and photograph this as it approaches Omaha. Hopefully there aren't a bunch of people with the same idea. We'll see.

 

[CloneGuy8]

This came across my feed

 

[k123]

Got some good snaps on SE Corporate Woods/NE 66th/62nd Ave (east of the the new Polk County DMV). Didn't want to have the crowds of the 'stop' at Elkhart, though there were still cars parked all over the sides of the road. Fun to see.

I guess I am a #Railfan now! Will book my future vacations accordingly!

 

[Clone83]

That surprised me too... In Omaha it's going to be in front of the CWS baseball stadium and in Chicago they had huge crowds so I assumed it would be downtown DSM and this was a misprint but appears not.

This is just south of the Fairgrounds so somewhat reasonable, but no info on specifics in our worthless DM Register (yes I subscribe so I can complain! : ) or local news KCCI/Channel 5 stories either, just "it's coming" and some copy/paste from UP website. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I didn't know they had opened up the yard in CR to the public till today. really bummed I wasn't able to get up and close to it. and made the mistake of being over the track and not next to it.

told my friend back home that she should take her 4yr old son and 2yr old nephew to the stop in Elkhart, the boys absolutely loved it she said.

Yeah, that was pretty deceptive, motorcy90. That would bum me out. Sorry about that.

Besides that Friday Gazette article, and that then current, top of the board tweet Monday, the official schedule at the UP Schedule web page still says “No Public Access” under Cedar Rapids.

It didn’t say that originally.

Yet, if you search online, there is a KCRG report on it (which I believe is owned by the same company as The Gazette). They said people (or at least some, I don’t recall) had to park pretty far away, but there were people there. Fewer than would have been, but for the reports. I think that is where they were filming. Yet, the Gazette the next day only had photos from Wheatland and Mount Vernon. I don’t think it was ever officially public access, but they let people in who showed up.

On some of this, for one thing it is new, a train this size anyway, so hopefully UP learns from this and is more consistent or plans better in the future,

Another is probably that some of the sites better accommodate crowds of people than others, with less planning. It sounds like both Des Moines and Cedar Rapids are just regular freight yards, not accustomed to a lot of people. Chicago sounds like it was tied into or at least near the commuter lines that go into the city. Omaha is their corporate headquarters and it seems they have options there.

If they come come back through, I would hope they do a better job in this regard.

North Platte is on the original UP route, and probably covers a bigger geographic area. I believe it was a, or the major hub or crossroads for troops going off to WW2. I think I saw a special once on how well the troops were treated by the locals there. At the same time it is much smaller than Cedar Rapids. Yet it warranted a full fledged stop, including the exhibit.

Not sure there were any cities of similar size they were less prepared for. And, that a large number of people might show up was precisely their concern.

 

[bawbie]

Great shot of it crossing Indian Creek and the Sac and Fox trail by the nature center in CR.

https://i.imgur.com/80DbhKm.jpg

Love it. We were going to walk down there, but we were running late so we just ended up parking on Otis just east of the nature center. My pictures weren't very good though. A couple of my co-workers had some really good ones

 

[motorcy90]

Yeah, that was pretty deceptive, motorcy90. That would bum me out. Sorry about that.

Besides that Friday Gazette article, and that then current, top of the board tweet Monday, the official schedule at the UP Schedule web page still says “No Public Access” under Cedar Rapids.

It didn’t say that originally.

Yet, if you search online, there is a KCRG report on it (which I believe is owned by the same company as The Gazette). They said people (or at least some, I don’t recall) had to park pretty far away, but there were people there. Fewer than would have been, but for the reports. I think that is where they were filming. Yet, the Gazette the next day only had photos from Wheatland and Mount Vernon. I don’t think it was ever officially public access, but they let people in who showed up.

On some of this, for one thing it is new, a train this size anyway, so hopefully UP learns from this and is more consistent or plans better in the future,

Another is probably that some of the sites better accommodate crowds of people than others, with less planning. It sounds like both Des Moines and Cedar Rapids are just regular freight yards, not accustomed to a lot of people. Chicago sounds like it was tied into or at least near the commuter lines that go into the city. Omaha is their corporate headquarters and it seems they have options there.

If they come come back through, I would hope they do a better job in this regard.

North Platte is on the original UP route, and probably covers a bigger geographic area. I believe it was a, or the major hub or crossroads for troops going off to WW2. I think I saw a special once on how well the troops were treated by the locals there. At the same time it is much smaller than Cedar Rapids. Yet it warranted a full fledged stop, including the exhibit.

Not sure there were any cities of similar size they were less prepared for. And, that a large number of people might show up was precisely their concern.

yeah I think kcrg and kwwl both reported the CR stop as being not open to the public. Then this morning both reported about the crowds with kcrg doing a live report there.