I don't know about you, Mr. Randall, but I've certainly had bad days (usually of the 36 to 48 hour kind) where I was tired, cranky, had to deal with a crapload of problems and was certainly in no mood to answer a ton of questions; that was probably the case with those members of the Steam Team at Roseville that you encountered. Such behavior is certainly unexcusable, but it's also understandable when you consider how much time and effort these guys have to spend to make these excursions work at all. It's also very rare behavior; otherwise UP's PR people would've pulled the plug on the steam program a long time ago.

The UP Steam Program has absolutely no control or influence whatsoever over deciding whether to allow steam locomotives from other organizations to operate on UP trackage; that is (and always has been) the domain of the operating department and/or upper management.

Blasting UP's management is one thing; attacking a group of hard-working employees who certainly deserve the respect they've earned just because you had a single unpleasant encounter with some of them is quite another, and is totally ridiculous (not to mention very "rude" as well).