Margaret (SP fan) Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It seems to me that the UP does have a de facto
> ban, and has never yet -- AFAIK -- allowed any
> steam locomotive they did not own to pull a
> public excursion on any tracks they own.
>
> If I am wrong, when and where did such
> excursion(s)
> happen?)
>
> (AFAIK, the 2007 double-header was not on the UP,
>
> and was not a public excursion.
>
> TIA for any info on this.

UP has a policy in place of not allowing non-UP steam excursions on their mainlines. The do however assist when say 4449, 700 or others need to make a deadhead move from one point to another over their mainline to attend or run a special on a different railroad they connect to.

The 2007 doubleheader started on the UP in north Portland at Kenton, ran over the BNSF to Tacoma then went into the UP Fife yard for display. This portion of the doubleheader was not an excursion and was a UP trackage rights train move. Both passenger excursions ran all on BNSF owned tracks from Tacoma to Everett and back and were a joint operation by both UP and BNSF. One of my friends asked Steve Lee when visiting with him why they did not run on the UP owned line one of the directions up the Kent valley and the answer was simply because you would have needed a UP pilot from Tacoma to Seattle over that line, then you would have had to stop the train and get the BNSF pilot near the UP Argo yard in Seattle for the trip up to Everett. It was just more efficient and less potential for delays for both the railroads to do all BNSF for both excursions,the private one and also the public one.