Mighty Engine of the Past...

UP Gas Turbine on Display in Ogden
Originally uploaded by Dornoff Photography

This photo is of a Union Pacific Gas Turbine engine that UP used sometime in the late 50's through the 60's. UP was looking for massive horsepower in order to pull its trains along its main line especially through Wyoming.

These engines only had one minor little problem. Or one big problem if you lived near the tracks as they were extremely noisy. So noisy in fact that many municipalities banned the use of the locomotives in their area (of course didn't that interfere with interstate commerce so became a federal issue?).

I took my first revenue ride on Front Runner one day then rode some buses in order to get pictures of the area. Finally I came back to Union Station before heading back to the transit center in order to ride Front Runner back to Salt Lake City.

It was a very hot and unusually humid day with temperatures reaching 95 degrees and the humidity level following close behind. While I may have lived in Charlotte for a couple of years that as several years ago and I was not used to the heat and humidity anymore. I was glad to get back on that nice cool Front Runner train.