On our vacation, we stopped in Cheyenne to see Dad's engine, the 4004. Of course it's not his engine, but he worked on it. That engine belongs to every Union Pacific Employee who worked on it, who wanted to work on it. That engine belongs to every rail fan there is. It belongs to everyone. That engine is on display at the Holiday Park in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is one of eight remaining Big Boys.
When Thomas and I were visiting my dad last week, we went through all his railroad stuff -- from the 1940s to the 1980s. As he stated, we went through his life. He had all of his log books. We divided the books into decades, and then distributed them into four piles, so all four of dad's kids would get log books from each decade. That was the best way we could figure to distribute them.
I was going through my (dad's) log books tonight and found one from 1958. Because this blog gets a lot of search hits for Union Pacific Big Boy and steam locomotive, I'm going to share something very special: A page from dad's log book that includes the 4004. October 12, 1958. Dad was the fireman, so his name is not listed. It's the 14th listing on the page. The 4004 is the engine on display in Cheyenne.
The other photos show this gigantic engine. Thomas was happy to pose in front of "grandpa's train."
Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
Thomas is IN this picture. Click on it to enlarge it so you can get a grasp of how huge this engine is!
4 comments:
I'm really enjoying reading all your travel updates. Very cool. In 100 degree weather, I think I would have been in the water at Wall Drug too, lol!
Your dad's log book is neat. It's kind of nice to see things that are handwritten, as I think many jobs today don't really have that element (w/ so many things being either automated or computerized).
Too funny about the bears.
Can't wait to read further installments.
the GA peach ;-)
Ohh that's amazing Frankie! How thrilling for your kiddo!
That is an awesomely huge engine. I love trains. You have such a cool dad!
Talk about learning history from "the horses mouth."
Think about how much it will mean to Thomas as he continues his studies of American history in the future. My grandfather worked on the Rock Island Line. And before he was married, he was a track supervisor for the Atchinson, Topeka and the Santa Fe. His stories really helped me understand the opening of this country to commerce and the westward movement. I think having a personal connection made the history a lot more real to me than it would have been otherwise.
Hang onto to those wonderful family artifacts.
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