Ken's Featured Photo
Above Photo by Ken Rattenne      (click to enlarge)

Land Of The Giants

In 1977 Union Pacific's Overland map extended no further west than Ogden, Utah, and was an important link to Southern Pacific and Western Pacific in that Beehive state. 

If one was driving across Wyoming on Interstate 80 in the late 1970s, it would not be unusual to see UP's giant 6,000 horsepower Centennial diesels pulling freight in tandom with the relatively "puny" SD40-2. 

I was on just such a trip in August of 1977 when I caught up to an eastbound manifest speeding towards Rawlins. A pair of "Big Jacks" is assisted by another pair of SD40-2s as the train rolls over the high plains of the Cowboy State. Note the road next to the mainline: that's U.S. 30, the two-lane  predecessor to I-80, many sections of ewhich can still be found and used to chase UP along the old Overland Route. 

(Right) Earlier in the day class Centennial No. 6900 marches east out Green River, Wyoming with a sister after changing crews. Truly the land of the Giants! 

- Ken Rattenne

Photo Details
Both images were shot with a Nikkormat FM2 using a 70-150 Nikon E-Series lens, and shot on  Kodachrome 64, exposed at 1/500th at 5.6. 

Text and photographs copyright ©1999-2018 by Ken Rattenne & KPR Media Services