Kevin Standlee (kevin_standlee) wrote,
Kevin Standlee
kevin_standlee

Missed Opportunity

Yesterday afternoon, after Amtrak had passed roughly on time around 4:45 PM, I heard a slightly unusual-sounding train horn. I went outside and saw an unusual train. I don't have a picture because my phone was siting on the charger. The good part was that it was a Union Pacific business train coming through, which is a great sight. The bad part was that the passage of this train reminded me that UP had been at Sparks yard for the past two days with this train, which is part of the about-to-happen 150th anniversary celebration of the Golden Spike that completed the first US transcontinental railroad.

I'd read about this event. With my work schedule, we would have been able to get to Sparks to see it either yesterday or the day before. Except I'd forgotten to put it in my calendar, and therefore we missed it and probably won't get another chance. If they'd decided to do a day at Winnemucca today, we might have tried to get there, but they're off to Ogden now, where they'll meet UP's restored "Big Boy" steam locomotive that will soon be heading east from Cheyenne. I won't get to see that, either, although I'm looking forward to the Big Boy coming through Fernley someday on a trip to Sacramento.
Tags: "union pacific", trains
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