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June 2, 2011 I'm packing for the UP trip. Lots of stuff to pack. What will I need for this? It's hard to say. Weather will be hot. If I get a chance for a cab tour, I'll want long pants.   I've got a carry-on (roll-aboard) and a small back pack. I hope I didn't forget anything.  I've got a RR hat, two DLS tee shirts, my lap-top and camera. What else would you need?
June 3, 2011 I'm up early. Today is the day. Leaving for St. Louis later this am. I'm stoked.  We flew down to St. Louis from Chicago on American Airlines (plug for the airline). Landed early. I met Skip Waters (another contest winner) and Mike Jaixen from the Union Pacific. We took a cab directly to where the Steam Excursion train sat on a siding. It was there on display all day today. We saw lots of happy folks getting a close up look at the cab and the running gear along with some of the cool antique rail cars. This evening, Mike was our host for dinner. Tomorrow, our trip begins at 8:00 AM as we leave for Gorham, Illinois and then on to Cape Girardeau, MO. to finish up the day's travel. 

Photo: The cab driver helps carry our bags to our train early (6:50 am) on departure day.
June 4, 2011. Right now, we're sitting in a "hole" along the main line outside Chaffee, MO. We started out just after 8:00 from St. Louis. The crowd in St. Louis was huge! We headed east and crossed the Mississippi River on and old railroad bridge (very old). I’ll need to google that for more info. We stopped for a short time in Dupo, then Prairie Du Roucher, Chester Gorham, Wolf Lake and Ware (all in Illinois).  Check this video out.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VtxvWFypCY  and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VtxvWFypCY

Photo: Me (in red) and my son Mike on the platform of our business car "Feather River".
June 5, 2011 Today is a free day. We can explore the town or hang out at the hotel or what ever. I might go back to the train. I don't know yet. It was an easy day today. We stopped out to the train for a short time to talk to the locals and meet the mayor of Cape Girardeau, MO. Very nice folks in this town! The remainder of the day I puttered with the computer and swam at the hotel.

Photos: Mike (in the shades) walking track side.  Locomotive UP#844 parked under the new bridge in Cape Girardeau, MO.
June 6, 2011 We stayed the night at a hotel in Cape Girardeau, MO. Up early and out by 6:30. Our train was all steamed up by the time we got down to the tracks about around 7 AM. The crew was "oiling around" using grease sticks and a pneumatic greaser. The crowd was almost as large as it was the afternoon before. The local TV channel was out doing a "live remote" trackside. We pulled out just after 8 down the BNSF track to the UP junction about 10 miles down the track. We did a whistle stop at Dexter MO. followed by a 2 hour stop at Poplar Bluff. It was HOT today! The crowd was great. We rolled through town and then backed onto a siding at the Amtrak station. I heard that some folks figured we forgot to (or didn't want to) stop at Poplar Bluff and went home before we backed in. That was very unfortunate. After about an hour and a half, we departed for Walnut Ridge. We were relatively on time but between there and our final stop at Bald Knob Arkansas, we lost about an hour due to rail traffic. We did an interview with a local radio station and an interview with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal. In fact, the WSJ reporter spent the entire day in our business car. Great guy! It looked like the crowd at Bald Knob was in the hundreds. That's a great turnout for a small town. Tomorrow is a display day in Bald Knob for UP 844.

Photo: Visitors get a "look see" at 844's cab as the crew stands by to assist.

June 7, 2011 Should be a slow day today. UP #844 is on display in Bald Knob, Arkansas. We plan to explore the area a bit in a rental car. At some point, we'll drive over to the track to talk with the crew and visitors and snap more photos of 844.  To be continued....
June 7, 2011 (continued) A very hot day in Bald Knob! We spent most of the day out by the train meeting folks and visiting the train station/hobby shop right by the tracks. Folks came out all day to visit the train. It never slowed down. The local radio station did a live remote. There were ribs served but we missed out spending too much time at the train station. We had a great lunch at "Kelly's" just up the street. This was considered a "slow day" for the steam team. They pulled the main drive rod off the crank pin to pick out old grease and repack it. They worked under a tent canopy to keep from cooking under the HOT Arkansas sun. Wednesday we leave for Little Rock around 10AM. and should arrive shortly after 11 AM. That's the last stop for the contest winners. We fly home that evening.  

Photo:  The "Feather River" business car is the best way to travel the rails at 60 mph.
June 8, 2011  The governor of Arkansas will be riding with us today from Bald Knob to Little Rock.  The crew attaches two flags to the stanchions on the pilot.  One is a US flag, the other is the state flag or Arkansas.  The governor walks through the passenger cars to meet all the riders. Then he enters the "Feather River" visitors car and shakes our hands.  Then he's off to the locomotive to get a "cab ride" into Little Rock.  At Little Rock it's not easy to leave the train we called out home for the past 4 days. We all piled into a cab, grabbed some burgers at the "King" and headed over to the UP's repair facility called "Jinks" for a tour before we head home. The facility can strip a locomotive like an SD70 down to the frame, rebuild the traction motors, alternaitor, prime mover, trucks etc and have it ready to roll including new paint in only a few days.   After the tour, it's off to the Little Rock airport and a short flight back to Chicago.

Photos: Jinks shop (left).  Leaving the train for the last time in Little Rock, AK (right).
June 9, 2011 I'm back home now. IMPORTANT NOTICE: Due to upcoming flooding, The Little Rock Express has pushed it's schedule forward by one day for the return back to Wyoming. If you wish to meet the train along the way, please see the website http://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/steam/details.shtml .