WHAT'S IN A NUMBER? This afternoon I was marking papers at the coffee house with a view of the tracks and one of the afternoon stack trains rolled through town behind No. 4014 and some of the high-nineties series GEs. (No, I didn't jot down the numbers.)

At one time, UP 4014 was this Big Boy, now in preservation at the Los Angeles County Fairplex. In full cry, they were impressive.

Photo courtesy Southern California Chapter,
Railway and Locomotive Historical Society.

The current 4014 is not as imposing, but stack trains at 70 mph are. In many ways, these are the good old days of railroading.