jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

To all who are like me and enjoy the old steam locomotives and live between Cheyenne, Wy. and Los Angeles, Ca. Union Pacific locomotive 4014 leaves Cheyenne, Wy on September 27th and arrives Los Angeles on October 9th sometime after noon. It will be on display on October 10, & 11 then do an excursion run to Barstow on October 12th and overnight in Barstow and return to Los Angeles on October 13th. It will leave Los Angeles on October 15th and go the south route to Yuma, Az, via Beaumont, Indio, Niland, Ca. Then from Yuma it goes thru Mohawk, Gila Bend, Casa Grande, Tucson, Benson, Wilcox, Bowie, Az. Then to El Paso and on thru New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, back thru Kansas and into Colorado then back to Cheyenne.

It looks like my October is all planned out.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Our special needs son (27-mental age 5) loves trains. If his bank account gets over $2000 his SSI gets cut or eliminated. Since we/I care for him and pay his expenses my wife uses a lot of it to get him his video games, HO trains (Day Light of course) and takes him places to keep the account below $2000-he also "pays rent" since if he doesn't pay "rent" the SSI gets cut-most of that rent goes to his games, trains, 55" TV to play the games and gaming computer to run about 6 different train simulator programs. Right now the track with the Day Light runs around his chair and in and out of the dining table in front of the TV and his game machines in the fireplace/dining room. (I think he has 4 different systems counting two vintages of the Play Station. I would have to go count.)

She just ordered tickets for the two of them for the Oct Barstow excursion, I think she was going for the upper level dining dome car and the bus ride up to Barstow and train back to Colton. That way he has the train memory on top of the bus ride memory and he gets to see the same country from two different perspectives. A few years ago she took him on a Day Light excursion from Portland up to eastern Washington and back. Home to Portland was Amtrack both ways. I did a few prints of the pictures and put some in his computer's wallpaper/desktop program rotation and he still goes on about the ride(s).

I will have to give him refreshers on using my bridge camera for him to take his own pictures in addition to the ones his Mom will take. And give him a pile of AAs, he can really go through batteries - using the camera for a telescope zooming in and out etc.

The local papers here refer to it as the 4014 Home Coming since it was on exhibit at the "Rail Giants" museum at the LA County Fairgrounds for decades.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Oh Lord! I am a rail fan from way back. And I lived near Benson AZ for 8 years. I think I must convince my wife it's time for a road trip. You know, visit old friends.