LNER4479

Hi Gilbert et al, Latest report from the S&T department who have been beavering away in their glacial-like manner... Last report was ... er ... probably more than a few pages ago so I can't be sure that I haven't posted the left hand photo before; no matter, this is the point at which I've made the signal arms and some crank supports added. Right hand - now with paint, and spectacle plates fitted. Not readily apparent, but some light weathering has been applied. I'm delighted to report that this was done using the Dave Shakespeare airbrush that you kindly facilitated me acquiring. It was the first time I've used it for such work so it was I was pleased to be able to use it for such a task. And this is where we're up to currently, taken within the last hour. As you can see, all the cranks and linkages are now connected up to impart motion to the arms on the offset posts - and it all works, despite some challenging clearances. Phew! You are - understandably - careful not to focus too much on the existing signal that mine is due to replace but I hope you don't mind me posting my reference image so as folks can see why the replacement is being constructed. Hopefully not too much longer now (!) I always feel that boost of motivation once the finishing line is in sight and I think the new signal is at that stage now. In other positive news, I have now had a set of etches made for the brackets for the other two similar signals so that should speed up their construction once the first one is installed. Graham

Well, playmates. After a long period of activity - with attention focussed on all things LMR - Grantham has emerged from its latest hibernation. Grateful thanks first of all to Jonathan & pressgang and Tom who helped get the basic layout set up on Thursday evening. Behind, it's the turn of the Shap boards to be stacked and stored. By Saturday morning, the layout was functioning with visiting stock emerging. As is often the case on these weekends, we were devoid of the prestige sets so here the rival 10.00 Scottish express (Shap's new 'Royal Scot' set) deputises for the 'Flying Scotsman', albeit with the addition of Jonathan's new all steel brake van and Jesse's triplet set-to-be. A sign to gladden the hearts of all wagon enthusiasts (ie Jonathan). The rather excellent meat / fish train (depending on which way the wind is blowing) takes centre stage with a chokka full yard behind (all four 'big four' represented). Graeme (Mr. 3279) observes the passage of the Junior Scotsman, and with good cause ... ... for this is his latest exquisite creation, given a welcome run out, substituting as a restaurant triplet set. And so to today, with layout now adorned with signals, the customary running session, once round the schedule. Barry and Craig bravely braved the main control panel. Here, the loco change on the afore-mentioned Junior Scotsman proceeds. Jonathan, as per normal, shuns the spotlight in the background. If I be permitted a moment? My new Nottingham Quint set, still devoid of underframe detail and interiors, but having at least gained some lettering on one (this side), stands in platform 5, with Atlantic at the business end, awaiting departure with the 3.0pm service through to Burton - just as per the Cawston photograph that first inspired me to create the set some ten years ago now. Well, you can't rush these things. Layout is now intended to stay set up for a couple of months so there may be the odd update as we make our way through a still sizeable to do list.

OK - herewith the second batch of photos from the weekend, this time focussing on the 1960s. Here the Keswick portion of the Lakes Express, scuttling up the bank. Still an all Stanier stock formation well into the 1960s, this is all Barry's work, originally built for another WCML modelling project, I believe. First coach is in fact not quite a Stanier coach, being a re-skinned PdII vehicle. I have to confess that I didn't realise such things existed. Not quite sure what a Midland Division Jubilee is doing on the working, mind ... Here is the car train, now extended to 11 vehicles and thus in need of a banker (now the ex-Crosti 8.5F is fighting against two resistanci in its motor circuit). Comparison with the prototype pictures reveals that Messers Oxford and Corgi are a bit over-zealous viz-a-viz the Ford cars colour palette. It seems that, in the 1960s, you could have any colour provided it was white or a shade of blue-ish grey. At the summit, it's 1967 and a typically filthy Black 5 staggers over with a southbound parcels. This is a 92220 temporary reallocation from Camden, No.44684, one of the later BR-built examples, with top feed forward. Nice weathering job. Meanwhile, droning up the bank is the now ubiquitous Brush Type 4 on a Birmingham-Glasgow train. This loco used to run on Stoke Summit. Summit? Pah! Old meets new as the express emerges from the final cutting. And ... That's all folks for the time being. The layout is already packed away and Grantham set up in its place. Mind you, there is a rather long list of loco detailing work to be getting on with so might pop an occasional update on here accordingly. Otherwise, you'll just have to come and lean on the barriers at Hartlepool, Peterborough, Glasgow, York ...

Very nice Tony - but not a patch on seeing the real thing in the flesh. Cheyenne, 2nd May

Can't fault your logic Clive. The plan with Manchester Central was to have the central section as a removable section so as you could get inside for photography, uncoupling, etc - but I never got that round tuit thingy in its case. I did get as far as cutting the central arch sections and they have come along with it so I could finish the job one day. FWIW, the roof was four feet long, with the central lift out section accounting for the middle two feet. Of course, I will have this conundrum all over again when it comes to Carlisle's overall roof, not to mention whether to go for the original full roof with impressive end screen or the later cutback version (as exists today). The roof was altered c.1956-7, right in the middle of my time period so I could legitimately have either. Hmm ... Nice to see the old place cleaned up all nice after recent efforts.

Aha - that is one day destined for a prominent role in my grand 'layout of a lifetime' that will one day fill the chapel. It will in fact adopt the mantle of 'the rest of the world' where all trains will start and finish. Rather than a bland fiddle yard, having taken several years to build the darn thing, it will all be depicted as a terminal station with adjacent goods yard, loco facilities, etc. Operators who enjoy working a terminal station should have a fine time. The platforms are only currently suitable for 7 coach train but my idea there is to site the station 3 foot away from the end wall and let the tracks run through - the end screen is detachable with such an idea in mind (how about that for forward thinking?). Of course it will be a load of nonsense for WCML trains supposed to be at Euston (although it will fit in nicely for trains over the Midland route from St Pancras ... all two of them!) but - hey - you only have one lifetime and a healthy dose of rule 1 will be applied. Myself and Barry have also threatened to do something with it in conjunction with the Leeds lads for their Chapel-en-le-filth layout. Maybe, one day ...

Thanks Barry, Here are some of mine, starting in the 1950s era (my favourite!) Here is the 1950s banked goods. This is based on an Eric Bruton 1952 picture which actually has a Patriot at the business end. The Stanier moguls weren't that common but there are a couple of pictures of them on Shap in the Derek Cross book. Out of the box for now, it is a part of a lengthy queue for detailing, etc. The same train seen from the shoving end. Another out-of-the-box loco for now - I intend to do the Stanier 'limousine' cab conversion as this was the norm for the Shap bankers, on account of weather considerations. Both this and its sister Fowler tank turned out to be far too lively for reliable banking, either creating a pile of wagons or spinning their wheels madly. Not to be outdone, I've wired a couple of resistors in series with the motor and - hey presto, well behaved bankers! This is what has happened to the large parcels train. I was originally going to make it a homage to my Dad's cine film of 46256 taking a large parcels train up the bank unaided in 1964. However, in the end it has turned out like this, based on another Derek Cross photo, this time from 1958 - note the blood n custard BG towards the end (needs weathering!), as per the picture. The 'Up' Midday Scot head down the bank. This is my Princess Royal that has featured previously being worked on. I now have the plates and numbers in stock for her to become 46206 'Princess Marie Louise'. Perhaps I should change the emblem to be the earlier one to better match the all blood n custard rake? Not the normal viewpoint but I thought it might make a change to see things from the operators' viewpoint. You can see some of the 'fiddles' from this side of course (not to mention the council rubbish bins!) Quintessential 1950s LMR steam over Shap. This is what the Black 5s were built for in squadron numbers - fast, fitted time-sensitive goods traffic. We haven't seen much at the summit itself so here is the train passing the legendary '916ft above sea level' sign and the attendant 'box. The banker is just out of sight round the corner. The banker drops off (revealing the pusher bar on the rear of the brake van to prevent buffer locking on the curve out of the fiddle yard) as the train accelerates away. Berthed in the siding, awaiting a path back down to Tebay. Next time: your favourite era (1960s)

Good question, Mike - perfectly valid, constructive criticism always good. It is indeed a question I repeatedly asked Andrew, ie where's the 'doors to manual' switch?(!) Firstly, he intends to attend as many shows as possible as he does enjoy operating and naturally wants to 'play' with the system he has installed. Secondly - hopefully because of my asking the above question - it all in fact does work manually as I've tried it! So we should never be presented with a situation of total shut down. Even though I make out that I don't understand it, I do after a fashion. We also talked it through in some detail earlier in the year and he has kept pace with the construction of the fiddle yard whilst I have - in turn - put insulators etc in places where we agreed they would go etc. So we have sort of designed it together and I have 'reined him in' in one or two cases where I felt it was getting TOO clever with attendant risk of defeating us in an exhibition environment. We've been friends over 30 years so understand each other quite well in that regard. Of course, this will all be 'famous last words' when you're leaning on a barrier at a show and no trains are running!

With the fiddle yard as good as finished constructionally, there's now been a serious outbreak of 'lectrickery. Electrical whizz Andrew visited last week for a concentrated wiring up session and, having already talked through what was required, he came armed with every conceivable electrical gizmo and gadget a travelling electrician could possibly need. This is going to be a rather different beast to the almost totally manual Grantham fiddle yard. Here he is, soldering iron all a-blur, happy to make up electronics logic boards as required. Keep your eye on the one bottom centre, with the digital number indicators... I spent Monday morning constructing the master fiddle yard panel, big enough (hopefully) to cater for all Andrew's demands(!) The effort has now moved down to this end with wires starting to appear in serious numbers. My modest contribution was to wires leads to the track. An enticing array of crack LMR motive power is straining at the leash for me to finish. Top to Bottom: Princess (Barry) on the Birmingham-Glasgow; Jubilee (Barry) on the 'Lakes Express'; Patriot (mine) on a fully fitted; Black 5 (Paul) on the cement train; 9F (Barry) on the Ammonia train. Here is the panel as currently exists. Lots of push buttons. Top left are 'shuffle up' buttons (to take train from back to front of loop); next are the 'draw forward' buttons (to take a train from its fiddle yard road to its departure point (two roads); then on the right are the 'offer to Shap' buttons, which gives an indication to Shap 'box what his next train is. Here is what it looks like from behind! LOTS of wires, together with a bank of relays and a couple more logic boards. The board is designed to fold away flat for transportation - it is mounted on what is part of a hinged pair so it will be snugly sandwiched in between the two when folded away. That's the theory. Here's the REALLY clever bit (well, I think so, as a non-electrician). To the right of the lever frame are now two LED indicators. It doesn't say '73'; it says '7' and '3'. The one on the right is green coloured and indicates the 'train on line' making its way up the bank, from fiddle yard road 3. The one on the left is yellow and is the next train offered from Scout Green (aka the fiddle yard). The really, REALLY clever bit is that the system has recorded which road a train has come out of and has passed that information over. When the Shap signalman pulls lever 3 (his starter signal), this causes the fiddle yard entrance points to fire to set up the route for the correct road. If the green LED shows '3' then the road will be set for road 3. This should avoid the rather too many instances we had first two times out of trains heading into the wrong fiddle yard road, which then caused any amount of angst to untangle. The bottom pushbuttons below are for the banker return, which sets the road at the entrance to the fiddle yard for the returning bankers (providing the Shap signalman remembers to press them, that is...) Under the boards are further logic boards doing ... er ... lots of clever things I don't pretend to understand. Happiness is a fiddle yard full of trains - all 33 of them. Half way along, we even have an indication of which road is which. Shamelessly copied from 'Sir's Little Bytham, here is what has immediately been dubbed 'the bridge'. Somewhere reasonably safe / handy to keep spare / changeover locos. Talking of trains, let's finish off with the pride of the line. This is (of course) the 1950s 'Royal Scot' in its full (for the layout) formation - the two Lima conversions standing out, pending their final completion. Tom has treated himself to a latest 46232, as a homage to his original Hornby Dublo 3-rail version from severereal years ago. More trains to follow shortly.

Hi Alan, I'm retaining as much of the body shell as possible so it will keep its shape. An unsupported thin brass side can easily become distorted, especially over such a length. I do like soldering up coaches from brass kits but that's a completely different starting point so far as I'm concerned. Graham

Replacement Bachmann BR1 bogies, John - so will ride like a pig(!) I had to lower the mounting to achieve correct ride height, which involves gouging out some material from the coach floor above the wheels. I'm only after the shape of the Lima's body ... I always thought that, despite their many shortcomings, the Lima offering did capture the shape of the MkI body shell well.

Continuing with stock developments... It was as long ago as February (cripes) when I last posted regarding the work required to create the two missing coaches for the 1950s 'Royal Scot' train (a PROPER train!), Here they are. As a reminder, we have Restaurant Third (Dia. 56) and Kitchen (Dia. 700). Comet sides, affixed to Lima bodyshells. The Kitchen car requires the most work, including additional undergubbins - provided for in the Comet pack. Picked up some Precision carmine and cream spray cans at the York show so here we go with the livery application (not done blood n custard before!) Not displeased with the result. I splashed out on some Tamiya masking tape and took me time. A few tiny tears of the cream as I (gingerly) unmasked it but relatively easily touched up (just sprayed some cream into a small container and brushed it on). No respite with the Dia. 700 - the roof also requires a fair amount of work requiring two packets of roof vents fitting. Here I have soldered two lengths of 0.5mm n/s wire into each of the water fillers at 90 degrees prior to bending to shape. Not yet complete (obviously!) but beginning to take shape. Footboards still to add then lining and lettering. And handles. Lot of work in a coach... Hopefully this should give some idea?(!) Still short of the RTO and the loco requires a bit of work but otherwise aiming to have it all finished by the time of Peterborough show. Meanwhile, a rather different train being worked on. This is intended to be as faithful as possible a recreation of a Derek Cross photograph at Tebay in September 1964, right at the end of the Duchess story. Towards the end, their use on trains such as this was sad but typical. This was the 'Maiden Lane' fully-fitted perishables train, so at least some element of prestige in such a service, a sort of LMR broad equivalent to the ECML 'Scotch Goods'. This is largely the work of Paul Bolton, with a few wagons from Tom D, with Jonathan in the background as wagon consultant. Back in the 1950s, this is the Liverpool-Glasgow/Edinburgh express complete. Was all ex-LMS stock throughout the 1950s so a lovely counterpoint to the Royal Scot. Usually nothing more powerful than a Jubilee was provided for such trains and, although many a game crew 'went for it' up the 1-in-75, we're going to have this as the one banked express train. The cameraman has zoomed in on the front of the train. 92220's Bachmann Jubilee is at the business end - I have permission to renumber the loco if necessary - but the real 'star' item here is the first vehicle in the train. An old LMS 'period II' (pre-Stanier) open coach, added as a strengthener at the front of the train, typical of the era, this is Barry's work which adds a lovely touch of individuality to such a train. The man himself can be seen here, together with Tom and Paul doing a spot of scenery blinging at the bottom end of the scenic section. Finally, another distinctive train in the making. This is intended to depict a 1950s Tebay-Penrith pick-up goods. In case you might be querying the motive power, Fowler 2-6-2T No.40067 was indeed a Tebay shed resident until 1957 so a likely candidate for such a train. No direct photo to work from for this one so we made this one up from what might be typical local traffic, including the inevitable household coal loads. The van was just an out-of-the-box item plonked in the train for now; it will be replaced with something a little more in keeping. All-in-all, a very pleasant afternoon. Thanks, guys.

Another '0rgy' of tracklaying today (oo-er missus), just leaving the entrance pointwork into the five 'Up' roads to do. Some initial wiring up is also happening, in anticipation of the 'sparky' (Andrew) visiting early next week but that's REALLY boring ... We want more trains! And coaches. Just discovered that the Keswick portion of the 'Lakes Express' requires TWO Stanier six compartment brake composites... What odds on the RTR boys doing such a vehicle any time soon?

Yes, I can provide a bit of an update. As well as Hartlepool, Peterborough and Glasgow (as per footer), I can confirm that we will also be at York with the layout over Easter 2020 (forms came through today). We also have a confirmed invite for Wigan, October 2020. That's more the right area of the country (shh - don't tell Apollo...) All a bit far from the Exe, though, I have to confess. HOWEVER, and at risk of getting you too excited, we have had an e-mail conversation re taking the layout to Taunton in October 2021. So, if you can wait two years... Yes I agree. That leading MkII does grate a bit, doesn't it ...

8th August 2019 Happy now, children? We have two locos to cover for any failures. Bit like the real thing (although to be fair they do run very nicely) Thanks to Barry O for adorning both locos with correct northbound headcode.

1971 ... I think. Accelerated timetable, following route improvements, as a prelude to the wire scrapers in 1973. No doubt someone who knows more about such things will correct me. I'm happier answering questions about hiss n p1ss locos...

Ahem... Sorry, Tony - couldn't resist! Open air worship... Incidentally, most of this train in the work of Iain '92220' who I know has visited you at Little Bytham. More details of his very welcome contribution to Shap here Graham

I can spell Altrincham - it's on my birth certificate! Love all the announcement stories Bien Sur. Talking of which, this tracklaying lark is all very well but how about this little trio to stir the soul of all red blooded LMR fans? Royal Scot 46146 'The Rifle Brigade' makes steady progress up the bank with a Birmingham-Glasgow express c.1958 46256 purrs past Shap Wells with the lightweight 'Caledonian' express (introduced in 1957) Can you hear it shouting to the surrounding moorlands? Patriot 45543 'Home Guard' makes some three cylinder music at the head of a Euston-Perth express I've said it before but isn't RMWeb a wonderful family? I've not wanted to make any presumptuous posts before now but I am now delighted to introduce another rolling stock contributor to the Shap project, Mr '92220' of this parish. Thanks to his generous offer of making some of his currently idle '1B Camden' stock available, we instantly have these three further expresses in the roster, each filling a sizeable gap in the late 1950s/early 1960s timeframe. As a result of this and Barry's visit on Tuesday, the fiddle yard is rapidly starting to fill up - and I haven't even laid all the tracks yet! The 'down', non-banked roads (right hand side) are starting to fill up quite nicely now. Starting over on the right hand side (Road 1), so far we have: Road 1 - Nine out of the 11 vehicles of the 1950's 'Royal Scot'. LMS train behind (stock just stabled there for now) Road 2 - Birmingham-Glasgow. Caledonian behind Road 3 - Empty (but not for long) Road 4 - Crewe-Carlisle parcels train Road 5 - 1967 Birmingham-Glasgow Road 6 - 1967 Royal Scot. Freightliner behind Last two trains are Barry's and it would be very remiss of me not to mention three further distinctive rolling stock contributions from the man himself (as recently seen on his kitbuilding thread). I'll ensure they get properly photographed at the weekend but they are two LMS Period 1 and one LMS Period 2 coaches, all kit built in blood n custard. One of them can be seen as the second vehicle of the 1950s Birmingham-Glasgow. More soon - if you will excuse me, I have some track to lay!

Oi! No swingers on here - this is a good clean website, is this Tell away - we're all ears... (PS - the disc did start out at approx. 1.5 inches. We didn't realise how much it was wearing until we changed it! That photo was towards the end of its usefulness)

More fiddle yard progress, this time down t'other end. The final board to be constructed . This of course essential to have the rest of the layout up to ensure an accurate fit for a portable, roundy-roundy layout. Now with top boards being put in place. I've tried to set this out on as generous curves as possible to minimise any running problems (= minimise pregnant pauses round the front viewing side at exhibitions!) That just leaves one more board to fill the final gap, a 1 foot wide, 4 foot long piece for the south end of the 'Nottingham' lines. Milestone moment 1 - All boards in place. Final cork sheets being laid out. Meanwhile, Tom (LMS29) visited a few days ago, armed with his Dremel (that isn't really a Dremel, apparently). We soon got into a double act routine to attend to the baseboard joints that won't be sliding fishplates, me soldering and Tom slitting. Now working on the all-important connections on the south end link board. Existing tracks are in the process of being lifted and put into new positions. What you can see here on the right hand side are two exit roads from the 'down' (uphill) fiddle yard converging. On the right, is the link from the six, double roads (on the 'Nottingham' boards) for single headed trains not requiring banking. The left hand one is for trains out of the three, double length banked roads. The ideas is, as before, the fiddle yard operator draws the next train forward into position as soon as the preceding train has gone, including positioning the banking engine at the ar$e end; this new arrangement however should mean that the Shap operator always has TWO trains waiting rather than just the one. Milestone moment 2 - you'll have to trust me on this one but we now have a complete circuit again! It was the three banked roads that got connected first so here is a raft of 29 wagons (c. 30 SLUs) in position on the afore-mentioned banked train release position. There is room for a loco at the business end, clear of a train on the adjacent road, together with a banking engine at the rear, clear of the final point (which can just be seen extreme bottom left). This was one of the objects of the exercise. It looked good on paper but always reassuring to see it translated into practice. Here is a bit more stock! Enough track laid now to get it all out and start to see what we have to hand. Similar to Grantham, the Shap stock list is a combination of several people's collection. although in the case of Shap I'm providing a slightly higher percentage, approx. 30-40%. As always, not enough goods wagons ... but folks do like to see express trains. I'm on a roll now as I have designated this week as Shap work week with the aim of having all tracks laid by the end of the coming weekend, when the wiring up team are due to make a start.

Yes, I saw that. I'd otherwise not clocked that the L&C is 175 years old(!) 200th perhaps?(!)

Well, it's been a little while since the last update ... but work has been proceeding nonetheless. With the new boards made, modifications were required to the north end corner boards. These were made in 2017 to link up with the Grantham fiddle yard boards but this is not now of course required. The main alterations was to change the alignment of the rear raised boards; this required it to be removed and repositioned, as shown here. Here is a close up showing the work involved. One issue previously was a rather tight curvature even in combination with the curved points so I've taken the chance to ease things a little. Now with the new track formation starting to appear. A hangover from the use of the Grantham fiddle yard will be the rear section of the yard being raised (and no doubt forever known as the 'Nottingham roads'!). It does have the slight advantage of being slightly easier to reach across, being raised; hopefully however there should be no need to reach across as it will be fully automated. The arrangement shown here includes a 2 inch overlap so it's 2ft 10ins total width, six roads on these rear roads, 17 roads in total with space for 33 trains, most roads having two trains. Although my preferred arrangement of sliding fishplates is retained in certain places, the prospect of 17 times 2 for each joint along the straight run of the yard seemed worth avoiding if at all possible. Here I'm using copper clad sleepers, pinned to the board ends and laying the track straight across before soldering and cutting through. And here is more or less where we're up to at the moment. Tracks about half laid, with just the south end corner board to make. Need to pick up the pace a little though if this is all going to be ready for the forthcoming season. Talking of which, need to start getting the stock sorted for the 'new' 1950s trains. Here is the likely formation for the mid-1950s Liverpool-Glasgow/Edinburgh express. This train did not receive MkI stock till the end of the decade so will be a nice counterpoint to the all MkI 'Royal Scot'. The 12-wheel restaurant car needs lowering on its bogies. More soon.

Third and final instalment of our USA Big Boy / Golden Spike adventure: Having checked into a hotel in the locale for three nights, we made our way to Ogden's Union Station The 'Steam Meet' was set up to the south of the station, with #844 already in situ. UP CEO Lance Fritz was amongst those making speeches and called #4014 to come into the arena And here they are, in a homage to Promontory 1869 The inevitable cheesy photos (but not too much so) And then a prolonged photo opportunity, with crews on the front of the locos, Promontory style. We went for a walk around to let the crowds subside and the locos were duly able to be photo'd unhindered (similar, it appears, to Wendell1967). Today, had tickets for Promontory Huge crowds but great to be there under cloudless skies The re-enactment And then a stunning finale. Fireworks were set off (despite it being broad daylight) and - completely unexpected (to us at least) - a flight of four USAF F-35s to complete the picture. Quite a moment. Nice locos but very difficult to get many decent photos due to crowds. Hope you enjoyed the story of our visit. We're not hanging around to see the locos head back to Cheyenne so that's it ... for this visit, at least!

Some pictures of mine from Saturday - a first ever day spent chasing a train as a 'railfan' in the US. Here we are just a few miles outside Cheyenne, where the 1952 'Harriman Cut Off' route up Sherman Hill branches off from the original route (seen in the background). Train more or less on time at this point but that was not to last. Other than Harriman itself, there is only one other point on the 1952 route that is publicly accessible, fortunately the other side of the booked stop at Harriman so we managed to get past the train and bag this rather satisfying result in full sunshine. 4014 was clearly taking it easy (understandable in the circumstances) and you can see the ridiculous amount of head end power on tap but - hey - I've seen a Big Boy climbing Sherman Hill which was the main object of the exercise. An interesting experience to be part of a US chasing posse of cars - there was as many behind us as in front of us! Taken from the car window during the chase! To be honest, after the excitement of Sherman Hill, the vast plains of Wyoming offer few really great photo spots - but, hey, it was fun all the same. With all the attention of #4014, it would be easy to overlook No.844, which is a mighty impressive beast in its own right. For those unaware, this was the last steam locomotive delivered to Union Pacific (in 1944) and is remarkable for the fact that it has never been officially retired, remaining in active use (overhauls etc permitting) for publicity / promotional use, sometimes referred to as 'The Living Legend'. Saw her in the steam shops in Cheyenne five years ago undergoing repair so this was the first time I'd seen her in steam. Photo taken as the train rolled in for its stop at the location below. This was the final en route servicing stop of the day at Medicin Bow. The locals were all delighted to see the train, cheering and waving American flags as the train pulled in. This is a live, running railway, with humungous freight trains passing regularly on the other tracks but that didn't stop the crowds getting up close. There was a degree of policing but all generally good humoured and relaxed from what we could see. Final sighting of the day, train now a good two hours late. This it the small town of Hanna and, on this occasion, the sun didn't play 'ball', retreating behind a cloud as the train appeared, only to bathe the scene in brilliant early evening sunshine the moment it had passed. Not that it was a particularly photogenic spot in any case, so more 'for the record' - at least it's a reasonable broadside of the main item of interest. An amazing and at times surreal day. We've headed off elsewhere for a few days now (Jellystone to try and catch up with Yogi Bear and Boo-boo, to be precise) but we hope to catch up again with 4014 and 844 at Ogden on May 9th before heading to Promontory on May 10th. So, hopefully one further update shortly after that.