Out of the darkness....and into that beautiful Utah sunshine come the two Golden Spike Locomotives as they prepare for the second day of the 3-day "Spike 150" celebration at the Golden Spike National Historical Park at Promontory Summit, UT. When the locomotives emerge each morning, they spend just a few minutes in front of the engine shed, mainly to take on fuel. In this case, a forklift in the shadows on the right is delivering a load of logs to the tender of the CP "Jupiter". Wood-burning locomotives go through fuel much more quickly than coal-burners, so the Jupiter will take a stack of wood pretty much every day. This head-on view also gives you a better look at some of the distinct differences between the two engines (stacks, coloring, cabs, headlamps, etc.) Shortly, the two engines will begin the morning ritual of positioning themselves at the last spike site, roughly a half mile from this location. Jupiter will take the east leg of the wye and then back down to the site. The 119 will simply pull forward on the west leg of the wye and will be pointed in the right direction to face down her stablemate for the big re-enactment later in the morning. In the late afternoon, they will reverse the process and return to their respective quarters.
Come and visit the remote site of the iconic Last Spike Ceremony, and enjoy the beautiful replicas of the engines that represented the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads on May 10th, 1869.
