RARE BIG BOY MOMENT: All Alone with UP 4014 at Cape Horn, CA 07.14.2024

Cape Horn, CA
07.14.2024

On the second Sunday of July 2024, thousands of railfans and steam curious everyday people, tourists and random bystanders ended up trackside on Donner Pass to witness the UP Steam show of all steam railroading shows… BIG BOY UP 4014 heading up and over the mountain. Unfortunately this steam spectacle meant elbow room jockeying for vantage point positions with railfan amateurs, tourists and rude people walking into your shot at nearly every trackside location. Trackside crowds in the thousands showed up to officially announced steam stop spots in Roseville, Colfax and Truckee.

For one person that planned ahead, wasn’t afraid to walk (run) on ballast for 3/4 mile and somehow managed to drive his mom’s old 2WD Toyota Camry (with low underside clearance) up a steep, rocky and dusty clay/dirt road used mainly for 4 wheel drive railroad maintenance / fire trail access vehicles… a unique Donner Pass railroading spot to experience Big Boy ALL BY HIMSELF actually existed!

High atop the American River canyon near Robbers Ravine or just East of Long Ravine bridge near Colfax, that one mentioned railfan had his work cutout from him:

1. drive up the steep, poorly maintained access road
2. run up the edge of the right of way in 90-100° muggy heat while hearing the whistles of UP 4014 highballing their planned service stop blowing through Colfax 2 miles to the west
3. quickly / carefully set up tripod while clinging to the edge of a cliff
4. control out of breath panting after the fast jog / run while carrying a decently weighted camera gear backpack with too many lenses,
bottles of water/gatorade and tripod and
5. capture this clip of Big Boy chuffing up the steep 2.4% grade around Tunnel 33 at Cape Horn!


This historic Donner Pass location is one of the many hand built retaining walls of the original 1865-1867 built Transcontinental Railroad route over the Sierra Nevada maintain range. Rumor has it that the Chinese immigrant laborers hired by the Central Pacific RR were suspended over the cliffs in wicker baskets to hand build right of way walls, fills and cuts. It has since been rebuilt with concrete and steel reinforcement upgrades but the American River canyon view and steep drop down to Robbers Ravine is still a vintage 1867 original experience!