Actually, it’s called corporate CYA and Risk Management: Nothing More. If UP Executives and Management were smart—-I used to be one of them, and most aren’t—-the steam program would have been dead before NS. UP should ditch the Heritage program, it’s simply not the safest thing around from a Risk Management perspective. The risk of boiler explosions, foamers being killed on the tracks as witnessed in the last couple years for being too close to the tracks aren’t in the equations of making sustainable, profitable railroads. Steam needs to be in a museum, not on the high-iron—-at least not anymore. Steam and heritage operations on UP must GO the way that UP intended 5511 to last, no piston rods, cut. UP should have disabled the steam more, damaged the boilers to the point of not being usable anymore.

The past is the past, get over it, move forward.