Union Pacific Train
A few days before July 23rd,
Trains Magazine newswire had an article pertaining to
the Union Pacific train making
its way east of Chi-town to Philadelphia for its East
Coast debut at the Republican
Convention. It snaked its way silently through the old
New York Central line through
Selkirk, NY, and headed south through Manville, NJ before turning west
towards Philadelphia on the night of July 23rd. Of course, no one really
knew the times and locations of the train until after the fact. Also, my
family and I were on our way back from Strasburg, and if we knew of its
travel arrangements, we could've caught sight of it as it pulled into the
Philly area.
Jump ahead to Saturday. As
you can imagine, once I learned of UP's location, I was going to be there
at some point before it headed back home. And luckily, my wife was very
understanding, and got up early on Saturday to come with me. Before
I knew it, we were heading out on Route 70 toward Philly. I was pretty
calm until we were on the ramp on the I-95 Broad Street Exit. Out
of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of something large and yellow
down on street level between the First Union Center and the Vet.
I was now like a kid in a candy store. As we made our way among the
traffic (both vehicular and pedestrian), we quickly came across our intended
goal. After verifying a safe place to park with Philly's finest,
we were getting out of the car and right in front of us were two locomotives,
a boxcar, and two other Union Pacific cars.
As I was getting the camera
ready, a Union Pacific worker driving a golf cart and told us that we shouldn't
park there. I calmly responded by stating the police had told us
it was okay to park where we were. He said they were trying to keep
the area clear for a luncheon for the delegates later in the afternoon.
No problem, we'll only be here a short period of time. He said okay,
and drove away. We were not alone as a handful of other people were
eyeing the train, paying no attention to the ongoings for the convention.
I was in awe of the great condition of the train. From the 1955 E9
locomotives to the fifty foot double-door boxcar to the many passenger
cars, some of which date back to 1915, this train was fantastic.
The two locomotives were across the street, facing one another.
Numbers 949 and 951 looked like they just rolled onto Union Pacific territory
for the first time. Unfortunately, the rest of the train was behind
the fenced property of the First Union Center. While we were there,
final preparations for the convention were being made, including the addition
of barbed wire fencing and repainting of the fence. We spent a good
ten minutes walking along the sidewalk looking and getting photos of the
cars (as best I could with the fence in the way). I snapped a whole
roll of film before I knew it.
As we headed back to the car
to make our way home, the Union Pacific rep came back over to check on
us. I told him we were just getting ready to go when he asked us
if we wanted to see the cars. We had told him we had already done
so.
He asked us if we wanted
an inside tour of the cars. Before you could say Union Pacific, the
three of us hopped onto the cart with him and were heading inside to get
an unobstructed view of the cars. He was answering our questions
as we drove among the cars. His one request was to not take any pictures
of any of the people for the convention. That was no problem as I
wasn't there to see them. Our final car was the Observation Car Shoshone.
He offered to take our photo standing on the platform of the observation
car. We were very thankful and were standing on a Union Pacific Observation
Car built in 1915. We were then back to our car, very thankful to
Thomas for what he had done for us. This was an event we will never
forget. And while my nineteen-month-old son probably will not remember
seeing the train, we have the pictures to show him of this eventful occasion.
Unfortunately, the photo of the three of us did not take, and while I am
sad the photo was not taken, I cannot complain, because if Thomas had not
offered us the tour, we would not have experienced the cars up close.
Before viewing the photos
yourself, here are some facts that we learned from Thomas. This is
the first time the Union Pacific train ever ventured east of Chicago.
(Of course, no one knows if it'll happen again.) Most of the cars
are of UP heritage, though some came through UP's acquisition of other
railroads such as SP, WP, and C&NW. Though he did not know which
one, he even stated one of the cars was of CNJ heritage. One of the
baggage cars was being used as the check-in point for the convention and
the diners would host luncheons throughout the convention. Here are
the photos, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
