I know it is early, But my idea for train festival 2012 is to be at the grand canyon railroad for the Arizona Centennial.The four day event will feature Santa Fe 3751,union pacific 844,Santa Fe 2926 "if ready" and southern pacific 4449 and 2472.

Well, you could always dream, but Train Festival 2011 still hasn't happened yet! Personally, I'd love to see somewhere in New England, but lets wait until after this summer to start wondering about 2012's festival

Problem:
Williams is deep in Santa Fe territory. The only way for UP to get there is east out of Barstow or north out of Phoenix (by way of El Paso?!?), and both are roundabout routes for UP. I just don't see that happening, because UP of late doesn't want to run their steam locos over other peoples' routes. Ditto SP 4449 for a roundabout route.

The Grand Canyon is more than a scenic view. It's also one of the biggest obstacles for American freight railroad routing on the continent, up there with the Great Lakes.

Another consideration: The Santa Fe "Transcon" is one of the busiest main lines in the United States, with a frequency of trains that has been described as "streetcar headways." It's not going to be easy to fit special passenger trains onto that busy route.

Never say "never," but if this were a realistic possibility, the planning would have had to have commenced a year or more ago. And mind you, I'd want to see this as much as anyone........

Until Jason has official news to share, may I suggest taking this thread over to Trainorders or Railroad.net? We've had a lot of clutter on RYPN pushing down threads that are more aligned with RYPN's traditional role in the cyber conversation. Speculation and railfanning planning are perfect for those other sites.

Just my opinion, representing only me. Not singling anyone out. There has been a recent barrage of posts that are of general railfan interest, and there are better places for those discussions.

Rob

I don't know anything about TrainFest 2012, but these ideas are not too far from reality.

Union Pacific has already talked about running excursions through New Mexico and Southern Arizona sometime late in 2011.

As for 3751, there is always some plan in the works with that locomotive. We will have to wait and see.

The actual Arizona centenial is Feb 14, 2012. On that date, Grand Canyon Railway is planning an excursion with 4960 to the Canyon, using the old Harriman cars, 1912 ticket prices, plus special events in Williams that evening.

Eric

Not to fan the flames of daydreaming, but:

Isn't the 4960 out of boiler time after the summer and in fact running on a waiver to operate its final days later this year?

The previous posters are correct. The BNSF Transcon is the last line I'd pick as my connection to the outside world if I were planning an event. The frequency of trains on that line is what ruled out the 3751 trip this year.

Dave

An alternative is available, if you can make a fast run over the Transcon from Barstow to Cadiz: The Arizona and California regional/"short" line from Cadiz through Parker to Wickenburg, then north over the ATSF "Peavine" to--get this--Williams Junction......

That's the route the 3751 and train used returning from Williams to California when there was an NRHS convention out there a few years ago.

I believe you meant Williams proper, since the Peavine goes to Williams first then on to Williams Junction when heading north.

Keep in mind, though, that Cajon Pass to Barstow is still the biggest bottleneck where a run by 3751 is concerned; UP shares that route with BNSF and the amount of traffic through there is one reason why BNSF has been very reluctant to let 3751 run on that route in recent years.

Grand Canyon Railway has already approved to do the 1472 on 4960 as soon as the summer season is over.

Eric