Re: Historic "UP" steam

Everett,

The no foreign steam policy was in effect long before the incident in Texas.

I can remember it in place back in 1990.

It's not a new thing at all.

Yes, it's mostly about liability. It is also about money. What restoration crew could afford the cost that UP assigns to a train that is immobile and blocks their main line and the flow of their freight traffic?

Who is going to pick up the cost for security? Ultimately, who will be held liable if some railfan gets hit by a train, like almost happened in Cheyenne a couple of weeks ago?

The cost that UP used to assign to a blocked main line was $1,000,000.00 per hour, and that was in 1980. I can imagine that it's now 4 to 5 times that much.

At least the UP is running steam, it's company sponsored and paid for, it uses UP equipment.

Show me the equivalent BNSF program, or even the NS, as NS uses borrowed or leased passenger equipment.

Be thankful that they haven't banned steam completely.

Rick