You said:
"Something is really wrong with a railroad that comes into a state that they were hardly in before and kills almost every steam program in it. If it doesn't say UP it doesn't exist."
May I remind you that before UP came in, there were no railroad-backed steam programs in California anywhere except ours.
Doyle MacCormack (lessee of the 4449) couldn't run on the SP at the end because SP management said "No", the same thing that the ATSF management said to the 3751 people after that initial excursion.
UP at least still sponsors our own in-house program so you can still see main-line steam run, unlike those people on CSX, NS and BNSF. The special movements for the 4449 that you were referring to in 1991 almost didn't happen and without a lot of pushing the SP's buttons by some people at another railroad, it never would have.
So before you talk down about the UP, who has been in California since the SP,LA&SL days, PLEASE get your facts straight and don't swallow those idiotic Railfan Rumors.
As far as the 2471 (?) and the other groups go, it is too bad, but they should have thought of were they were going to run them before they started their projects. Just because you have a steam locomotive doesn't mean that the carriers who own the tracks have to allow you to run over them. No Way, No How. It's like you asking to drive your Datsun at Daytona.
Rick Steele