WEST COLTON, Calif. — Tickets go on sale Aug. 24 for two one-way excursions across famed Cajon Pass Oct. 12 and 13 with Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014.
The Rail Giants Museum said Friday in a posting on its website that the excursion will begin with a bus from the Metrolink Rancho Cucamonga Station to UP’s West Colton Yard, where passengers will board the train and ride to the Barstow area with a bus return on Oct. 12. The Oct. 13 trip will start at the Metrolink station, go to the Barstow area, and return to West Colton by train, and end with a bus transfer to Metrolink.
The museum said no space is available for viewing the train at West Colton or for passengers to park. “West Colton is a secure railroad facility owned and operated by Union Pacific Railroad which is closed to public access. Excursion passengers and railfan spectators cannot park vehicles there. Therefore, all passengers must arrive via our charter buses that load from our staging area at Metrolink's commuter train station in Rancho Cucamonga,” the posting said.
This is only the third Big Boy excursion ever operated, and the first two with limited capacities in Utah in May and in Nebraska and Iowa in July, both sold out. This train will seat about 600 passengers.
Coach seats are priced at $700; dome coach seats at $1,100; dome diner lower at $900; dome diner upper, $1,300; first class diner, $1,100; first class lounge, $1,100; and first class dome, $1,500. Office car Cheyenne for a party of eight is $15,000.
The 15 car train includes 12 passenger cars; 3 support cars; 2 water cars, and a diesel helper.
The museum also said that buses will board Oct. 12 between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m. to take passengers to the train, that the train would arrive in Barstow mid-afternoon, and the return would be 5:15 p.m. On Oct. 13, buses would board 4:30 to 4:45 a.m., that the train would arrive in West Colton in early afternoon, and return to the Metrolink station would be 3:30 p.m.
The museum said that it would limit passengers to age 10 and older, there would be no photo runbys or opportunities to get off the train during the trip, and tickets would be limited to four per purchase.
Details: https://4014traintix.com/index.html