Hip-Hip-Hoorrrrraaaaaaayyyy !!!!!!!!

and a year waisted off the 15 year tube life? That's a smart move Ed.

Well what’s the use in running a locomotive, no less the biggest one in America, for no one to see?

I don’t really see a reason to criticize operations that only ran their locomotives at most for one weekend in 2020, if at all.

It’s almost as if big crowds were dissuaded for the past year.

and that is my point. All the hype, all the money (it's UP's money granted, but remember all the UP workers that got pink slips) waisted to run it one weekend, and it's gathering dust this year until August?

.

It's 1472 operating days over 15 years. If my math is correct, and someone like Kelly Anderson can correct me, that works out to something like an average of having about 90 operating days per year if the railroad wants to stretch out the time to cover the full 15 years. So, a busy operation, like Strasburg, or even UP, might use up 1472 days in much less than 15 years anyway. A group like Fort Wayne might not use all available operating days in 15 years, since they operate more sporadically.

Correct. The tourist railroad where I worked would use up those days in 10 years.

By that rationale, every engine that doesn't run at least 1,472 in a 15 year period has wasted life. That would include the vast majority of locomotives save for some of the very busy tourist railroads.

UP did the right thing by waiting out the pandemic. All it would take would be one negative news story regarding how the train brought out large crowds during the pandemic to erase the positive impact that the steam program exists for.

Steering the conversation a bit, apparently the plans include a visit to the Pacific Northwest. Ed apparently also went on a scouting trip to St. Louis.

St. Louis is in the Pacific NW?

St. Louis may not be in the Pacific Northwest but it is the only practical location where it can sit next to another Big Boy. That would be #4006 at the National Museum of Transportation, where there is a connection to the UP main line. Yes, there is another such place at Steamtown in Scranton, but that is way, way off the UP. I'd love to see #4014 next to #4006.

Yes, Ed scouted out the Northwest in early 2020 right before the pandemic took off too. I am also hearing a lot of rumors about the former Rio Grande and the Moffat being another potential route. At this point though, its all idle speculation until UP officially announces the routes.

Amen. For a PR effort, it would have counterproductive to run 4014 at all except for any test runs Ed might have wanted and even then, the headlines would have read, "Big railroad places foamers in jeopardy by having them show up to take photos"
That's where 4014 was going in 2020 before COVID came a'calling. I can only assume this means Portland. When 3985 came out to the area in 2005, Albina yard was as far as the Challenger got, so I assume a run up the joint BNSF/UP line heading toward Seattle is out of the picture. I can't even imagine the crowds that'll choke I-84 on such a trip if indeed 4014 heads to Portland.
Well, in somewhat proximity but nowhere near next to each other. Unless they've moved the Big Boy at the museum, the last time I saw it was pretty far away from the main line that passes the museum, with a lot of displays, buildings and other stuff between where that Big Boy sits now and the main line. While I agree that two BB's side by side, one in steam would be cool, I wouldn't bet $1.00 on it.