Eight hours after being coupled to UP SD70ACe 1996 in Pomona and dragged onto Metrolink's San Gabriel Sub, Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 4014 is back on Union Pacific rails in Bassett, California. (Bassett, also called Avocado Heights, is an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County's San Gabriel Valley, near El Monte.) Admittedly, UP's Alhambra Subdivision used to be Southern Pacific rails (but so was the Metrolink trackage). From here, this train, led by the appropriately numbered UP SD70M 4884, will haul the "Big Boy," UP 1996, a short train of covered hoppers (for braking power), and SD40-2s 1739 and 1596 to West Colton Yard, where the big steam engine will stay until April when it will be placed in another special train for its trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming, for restoration to operating condition.
