From: weinstoc@sei.cmu.edu (Chuck Weinstock)
Subject: Trip Report: 3985 from Little Rock to Kansas City
Organization: The Software Engineering Institute
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 14:41:18 GMT


Here is a trip report on the third leg of my summer UP saga.

On Monday, August 31, I caught a Delta jet for Atlanta, and changed to one
bound for Little Rock, arriving around 4pm.  My friends were waiting for me
with a rental car and we went over to the stadium to buy tickets for the final
game of the Arkansas Travelers (AA St. Louis) that evening.  They were playing
the Shrevesport Captains (I think that's their name).  Then checked into the
motel for a while and then back to the stadium at game time.  A neat stadium,
but I won't bore the rec.railroaders with details.  Was in bed by midnight.

At 6am I got up and my friend dropped us at the bus loading point for the UP
excursion.  (He then turned in the rental car, and grabbed a cab to the
boarding point, making the train with 2 minutes to spare!)  There was minimal
hassle, and we were underway just past 8am.  As with most of the rest of the
trip, we were in the Texas Eagle, the first coach on the train.  There were
two uneventful runbys (Steve Lee still won't run by the passengers fully...he
doesn't want to go thorough any signals during the runby so as to avoid 
complicating life for the dispatcher.)  The trip was most pleasant, and we
arrived in Van Buren early in the afternoon.  A taxi ride took us to the
Budgetel in Ft. Smith where we spent the night.  We commandered the conference
room at the Budgetel for a game of rail baron that went on into the evening.
A great dinner at Calico County interrupted.

The next morning was another 8am departure, and our taxi got us trainside in
plenty of time.  We were assigned to the City of Salina, the second car on the
train.  Again, a very uneventful day.  I have more pictures of the 3985 now
that I need, so I didn't partake in all of the runbys.  (Also, I have a
reputation of attracting chiggers...they call me Chigger Chuck...and I didn't
want to press my luck at some of the stops!)  We had some good running and
arrived in Parsons Kansas, approximately on time, at around 3pm.  We had
stashed a rental van there (rented in Kansas City on Sunday), so that we
wouldn't be stuck there for the following day.  (The 3985 was laying over for
a day for servicing.)  We drove to Wichita, checking out the Southeastern
Kansas, and other shortlines along the way.  After a night at the Super 8, we
awoke to fog, but drove down to Wellington to start our chase of Santa Fe
3751, which was conveniently heading for Kansas City with a load of employees.
We shot the train in the fog, and then the overcast until north of Wichita.
There was hardly anyone out there chasing, so we were able to catch it 11
times, including 2 short pacing sessions.  (Aside: I hate pacers in general,
because the tie up traffic too badly, and make it difficult for chasers to get
into position for the next pictures...also they hog the train.  In this case,
however, the only one behind us while were pacing was a trucker, and since the
train was doing 61mph, we weren't slowing him down at all!)

We lost the 3751 at Ottawa (?) and went and had lunch.  Then into Kansas City
where we caught up to the train just after its arrival at Argentine yard.  A
friend arranged a tour of the dispatching center there.  A really neat setup
which controls the whole eastern half of the system.  One of us (not me) got
to dispatch a train during the tour.  We also spent some time at Santa Fe
Junction before checking into our motel and hitting Steak'n'Shake for dinner.
Then to bed because the next morning would be early.

At oh-dark-hundred (4am) we woke and made our way to the buses which would
take us back to Parsons.  The boarding site was a park without lights, so we
were dependent on the headlights of arriving cars to guide us to the waiting
buses.  The drive was reasonably comfortable (why can't bus seats be as
comfortable as even airline seats?) and the club provided donuts and juice.
We arrived in Parsons at 7:30 and the train left at 8:00.  This particular day
we were ensconced in the Sunshine Special, the coach immediately behind the
dome diner.

Another day of mostly mediocre runbys.  In addition to not wanting to run
through signals, Steve doesn't like to do runbys where chasers can easily get
involved.  This is a pity, because as a result many of the runbys are in very
marginal locations.  To his credit, this particular day, he did a runby at a
very nice rural grade crossing, which allowed us to stretch a nice photo line
down the road.  He also came through at reasonable speed for that one.  The
only downside of that runby was (you guessed it) a chaser, who crossed the
tracks about 100 yards ahead of the photo line and stood in the middle of our
pictures.  It took three car hosts and the threat of arrest for trespassing on
railroad property to get him to move.  (If he had joined the photo line, no
one would have cared....how can people be so ignorant?  Reminds me of the time
Doug Cummings intentionally got into the photos of a bunch of us who had been
waiting on a hillside for a shot of BCR electrics for well over an hour...he
got punched out for his rudeness.)

After one more runby (in chigger country, so I passed), the train arrived back
at the loading site around 1pm (I think).  The unloading area was probably the
unsafest in railroad history.  They had new ties scattered all over the place,
waiting to be layed, and no easy access to the road for most of the cars.  All
of the runby sites were better than this.  Someone really screwed up on that.
In spite of this we got to our van safely and drove up to North Kansas City to
spend the night (me near the airport, and my friends near downtown).  My
friends decided to do some more local railfaning that afternoon, but I was
exhausted and took a nap instead.  At 6:15 three of us headed over to watch
the Kansas City Royals get beat up by the Chicago White Sox.  Since I'm a
former Chicagoan, one of my friends was from Chicago and the other from the
Milwaukee area, we were rooting for the winning team anyway.  It was a fun
evening.  My friends dropped me at my hotel and, after a not very good nights
sleep, I boarded a United flight to Chicago.  My wife flew in from Pittsburgh
and we spent a nice weekend with my family before finishing the trip back home
on Labor Day.

My friends spent Saturday railfanning around Topeka (railroad days), getting
some shots of the excursion train, etc.  Then, on Sunday, they caught the
Southwest Chief back to Chicago, riding in the private car Caritas on the end
of the train.  They report that it was lots of fun sitting on the rear
platform at 90mph.

Observation: either I mellowed as I got into the 2nd and 3rd weeks of this
marathon UP excursion, or the sponsoring groups got less offensive.  I suspect
it was a combination of both.  There were almost always screwups (expected
because of the fact that most of these folks don't run trips very often), but
on the latter legs of the trip they were good natured screwups.  The attitude
of the groups in the first leg (particularly the Portola folks) really
affected how we reacted to screwups, and I'm sure that was the reason that my
first report came off so negative to some of you.

Anyway, I got lots of good rare mileage, in daylight, and got to spend a lot
of time with some good friends.  There weren't many of us "through" passengers
on these trips, and I knew most of them from prior excursions.  It was
(mostly) nice to be able to spend more time with them.

The rest of September will be a dry month, railwise.  In late October I plan
to do the Charlotte to Asheville (via Saluda!) trip, and then the Parkersburg,
WV to Clarksburg, WV (via the West Virginia Short-Line) trip.  I plan to ride
both of those trips one-way, so if anyone would like to ride the other way,
please let me know.  Then, I hear, that UP3985 is going to the Clinchfield
this November to pull the Santa Claus train.  CSX has nixed public excursions
on its portion, but there is a rumor that there will be public trips from St.
Louis to Memphis (via Poplar Bluff).



Chuck Weinstock				weinstock@sei.cmu.edu
Software Engineering Institute		(412) 268-7719
Carnegie Mellon University		(412) 268-5758 (Fax)
Pittsburgh, PA 15213