The East met the West. Six years after work began, laborers of the Central Pacific Railroad from the west and the Union Pacific Railroad from the east met at Promontory Summit, Utah. It was here on May 10, 1869 that Governor Stanford drove the Golden Spike (or the Last Spike), that symbolized the completion of the transcontinental railroad.
I know its Jalopnik, but it has some cool videos of the UP 4014 and the UP 844 Highball. The UP 4014 is heading out to Promontory Summit to be a part of the celebration.
https://jalopnik.com/heres-the-biggest-steam-locomotive-in-the-world-flying-1834641096
And the schedule for UP 4014:
https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm
I like big trains and I cannot lie 
I’ve been following along 4014 on Facebook & YouTube. It’s such an awesome piece of machinery & history, and I’m so glad UP values it enough to put that much money & resources into restoring it!
I saw that on a documentary called "The Wild Wild West", with Will Smith.
"Pinchvalve, you are a moron. Get back to work."
This is really awesome.
Also, if they wanted to do this today, it would take 6 years just to do the preliminary feasibility study. And that would cost more (even in inflation dollars) than it cost them to build this whole thing.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
Not to mention not killing the thousands who died making it happen the first time.
Here is a photo of 4014 and 844 arriving in Ogden last Wednesday. This is taken just west of the mouth of Weber Canyon
CJ said:In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
Not to mention not killing the thousands who died making it happen the first time.
Who were mostly immigrants.
A friend of mine is there. Speaking of immigrants....
They had to go back and rebuild large portions of the original track since both railroads were trying to lay claim to as much land as they could. So the first road went down fast and sloppy.
volvoclearinghouse said:This is really awesome.
Also, if they wanted to do this today, it would take 6 years just to do the preliminary feasibility study. And that would cost more (even in inflation dollars) than it cost them to build this whole thing.
That is because there are a lot more people in the way today, and the government back then was much more cavalier about appropriating private property so they could give it to private businesses. (railroads)
The "good old days" weren't always.
You'll need to log in to post.
