The start of the work week often has people rushing to get to their jobs after a weekend, but if you take the train at Stonefield Historical Site, you will never be late as the sign by the train depot reads The Governor Nelson Dewey Line “Going Nowhere and Always on Time”.
Always on Time
Union Pacific’s historic steam locomotive, Big Boy No. 4014 after two years of restoration, traveled the rails through Wisconsin today as part of the celebration the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad’s completion.
Big Boy weighs 1.2 million pounds and has a water capacity of 24,000 gallons. Because of its great length of 132 feet, the frame of the Big Boy is “hinged,” or articulated, to allow it to negotiate curves.
Big Boy No. 4014
Watch Big Boy rolling by on the rails.
The few summer birds who have return may want to book a trip south again with all the colder temperatures and snow in the forecast. But they wouldn’t likely be able to hitch a ride on a caboose as most of them have been put out to pasture. Until the 1980s, a caboose was required on all freight trains in the United States but technology changes reduced the number of crew needed on a train and eliminated need for a caboose. Use of cabooses began in the 1830s, which sheltered the train crew, provided a sleeping area on long trips and was the office area for the conductor. The crew could exit the caboose to switch the tracks and watch for shifting loads or maintenance issues. The most common caboose form had a cupola where a crew member could sit an an elevated seat to inspect the train from the higher perch.
Cupola Caboose
With more chances of snow in the forecast, the spring arrival birds and the critters that came out of hibernation, just might take a train ride south for a couple of weeks until winter is really over.
Soo-Line Caboose
