Enjoyable Day

Engineer for Big Boy #4014
Medicine Bow, WY
May 4, 2019

Workers on the ground, tossed "fobs" to the engineer, and he clipped them to the blue metal holder. No one seemed to know what these items were. Any ideas?

a railroad security guard answers questions from spectators.

Four uniformed Railroad Special Agents wandered around the area, and based on my observations, I think there were at least one/two plain clothed agents as well. I believe they were at this stop because it did not have barriers between the spectators and the tracks.

I visited with several people as we waited for the train, and some were from Maryland, New York, Missouri, Minnesota, Colorado and northern Wyoming. Many other states were represented, based on the license plates I saw. One couple was staying the night at the historic Virginian Hotel, across the street from the depot.

The population of Medicine Bow is not quite 300, and the spectators stopping for the steam locomotives caused that number to clearly triple in a little over two hours. Two Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers and a couple of sheriff deputies directed traffic before the train arrived and when people started to leave.

I stayed in the area to watch the train depart and then headed home, happy but tired.