Starting off in Portola, California we watch the Western Pacific Railroad Museum put on quite a show, as Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 overlays in the small town!

The Western Pacific Railroad Museum (WPRM), located in Portola, California owns a small portion of the Portola Yard. This trackage consists of a balloon track, and a small diesel shop complex. Multiple yard tracks surround the shop building, all of which are storing some sort of classic railroading marvels, from Cabooses, freight cars, and even a large sum locomotives!

On the overlay day for UP 4014, the WPRM hosted an event for people to come and see the locomotive up close, as well as what the museum had to offer.
We take advantage of this day to get our first close-up looks at 4014, as well as the Western Pacific 0-6-0 No. 165 making trips from the shop complex, up to Big Boy!

Upon arrival, the first Union Pacific train of the day arrived! This also happened to be the only mainline freight to arrive in daylight. With not much activities occurring at the museum yet, we take a small trip to Blairsden, and Williams Loop for some extra footage of this Union Pacific manifest!
This short chase acted as practice shots for the chase down the Feather River, which would be happening the next day!

After arriving back to the WPRM, the crowds and activities had almost doubled!
Most of the time was spent following Western Pacific No. 165 around, gathering different shots. With much of the museum open for public access, a unique chance to shoot from the cab of UP 6946 was presented!
Union Pacific 6946 is a DDA40X type locomotive, referred to as the Centennial. The 6946 was position directly in front of where WP 165 would stop for passengers, and was open for people to climb up and go inside!

Soon enough, the WPRM hosted photo event began, and the restricted access was completely removed! Everyone was free to roam about the yard tracks, with the only restrictions being that you had to be 25 feet from the locomotive, and that you had to be aware of any trains on the mainline.

After about 30 minutes of photographing UP 4014 in the golden hour light, WP 165 was brought out into the Portola Yard. This was a historic event in itself, as it was the first time Western Pacific steam had entered the Portola Yard since the 1950's.

After posing the 165, photographers had to get creative to try and include the 4014, and 165 in the same photo. After many attempts, a shot had been found! And a new photo-line was formed for photographers to gather images of 4014, with the smaller 165 in the background.

Before long, the sun had finally set, and the 165 was backed out of the yard. Photographers slowly began leaving, as it was too dark for many to get photos. The final shot of Union Pacific 4014 was taken as the last available light reflects off the boiler, as the day came to an end!

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Featuring:
@Railfanner4014 , @Tracksidechase , & @silverstatehighiron !
7-10-24

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