Clean running at Leroy Road. Just less than an hour out of Evanston eastbound, UP Locomotives 4014 and 844 haul their special passenger train east (compass northeast) along Leroy Road, not far from the little hamlet of Piedmont, Wyoming. As was the case during most of her journey, the 4014 was running clean stack through this stretch, indicating that her fireman had a really good handle on the proper fuel/air mixture. Although I'd read some reports on line that the two UP steamers were burning some particular grade of fuel oil, a quick conversation with UP Steam Program Manager Ed Dickens assured me that like most oil-burners today, the 4014 and 844 are burning waste motor oil, which is relatively cheap and readily available. On the Great Race to Ogden, they were refueled each night from a large tanker truck, which would be strategically positioned in the yard. Water was typically taken from local city hydrants and filtered and treated by a portable plant located in the tool car behind 844's auxiliary water car, before being piped into the locomotive tenders. Logistics are a big deal for mainline steam operations these days and the UP Steam Crew had clearly seen to all of those details well in advance.
